5,000 BrightDrop electric vans were just ordered by both Walmart as FedEx added 1,500 more to its current 500 orders. With that, experts are now saying 100 million packages can be delivered every day in the United States alone.
GM's BrightDrop Gets Additional Orders from Walmart and FedEx
According to the story by Electrek, it will be a good day for GM as the company's very own BrightDrop brand has just announced new deals along with retail giants Walmart and FedEx. The news comes just less than a month after FedEx decided to take the delivery of its very first batch of BrightDrop EV600 electric vans in Inglewood, California.
The massive order from Walmart was initially announced during a call with BrightDrop president and CEO Travis Katz, the regional president of FedEx of the Americas, and EVP Richard Smith and Walmart SVP of the last mile Tom Ward.
Walmart and FedEx's 2040 Sustainability Goals
As per the publication, Katz was understandably positive throughout the said call, citing BrightDrop's very own Ultium-based delivery vans that took 20 months to get from the concept to the production stage. This made them one of the most quickly developed products from GM ever.
This was while highlighting BrightDrop's role in helping both Walmart and FedEx meet the 2040 sustainability goals stated. As per Katz, E-commerce deliveries are growing at a fast rate exponentially.
Experts Say 100 Million Packages Could be Delivered a Day in the US
It was also noted that some experts said that they would soon be seeing 100 million packages delivered every single day in the United States alone. In addition, Katz said that they are helping FedEx, their first customer, eliminate the last-mile emissions that remain the unseen footprint of e-commerce.
As for the deal, Walmart initially signed an agreement to reserve 5,000 BrightDrop EV600 as well as the smaller EV410 electric delivery fans. This is in order to supply the company's much growing "last mile delivery network" at over 3,400 existing retail stores.
BrightDrop EP1 Electric Container
On the other hand, FedEx signed an agreement along with BrightDrop to reserve priority production for an additional 1,500 electric delivery fans over the next few years. This is part of the company's standard schedule of vehicle replacement, as per Smith.
The agreement is in addition to the initial reservation made by FedEx for 500 BrightDrop electric vans announced in 2021. With that, FedEx's Smith notably spent some time on call on BrightDrop's EP1 electric container.
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25% Increase in Packaged Delivered with the EP1 Electric Container
In the company's Toronto and New York-based pilot programs, they were able to see a 25% increase in packages that were delivered per day on routes that made use of the EP1 electric container.
This allowed FedEx to remove one on-road vehicle from the delivery routes and even cut curbside dwell time into just half. According to the article by ArsTechnica, FedEx will deploy EP1s in an additional 10 markets in 2022.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian B.
