GM To End Production of Electric Chevy Brightdrop Vans (theverge.com)
- Reference: 0179848018
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/10/22/0413239/gm-to-end-production-of-electric-chevy-brightdrop-vans
- Source link: https://www.theverge.com/news/803385/gm-chevy-brightdrop-ev-end-production-van-canada
> Brightdrop first launched in 2021 as GM's effort to capture a large portion of the commercial EV market, starting with a pair of electric vans, as well as fleet management software and electric-powered carts for goods delivery. The automaker made deals with Walmart, FedEx, and other major retailers to add the van to their delivery fleets. But after trying to make a go of it as a standalone brand, GM reabsorbed BrightDrop in 2023, and then later assigned it to Chevy in order to tap into the brand's sales and service dealer network.
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> Now the van will stand as yet another casualty of the expiration of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, which ended on September 30th. In addition to the consumer credit, there was also a $7,500 discount for commercial EVs under 18,000 lbs -- which Brightdrop was eligible for. The van was a range leader, but also was more expensive than its most prominent competitor. Brightdrop's vans started at $74,000, while Ford's E-Transit van with extended battery range sold for $51,600.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/news/803385/gm-chevy-brightdrop-ev-end-production-van-canada
Too specific (Score:4, Insightful)
This is really only suitable to large package delivery, so you either land one of the handful of fleet contracts or you're shot.
A small percentage of Americans could barely get used to cab over vans, but those ultra-utilitarian box vans aren't going to sell as work vans or even small independents delivery.
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> This is really only suitable to large package delivery, so you either land one of the handful of fleet contracts or you're shot.
> A small percentage of Americans could barely get used to cab over vans, but those ultra-utilitarian box vans aren't going to sell as work vans or even small independents delivery.
Ford has made an electric version of their Transit van, this is a GM problem rather than an America problem. Just about every van manufacturer in Europe now offers an electric version of their van product.
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And yet the lack of policy, availability and willpower of the governments isn't driving fleet sales, bonus points that tax credits are being rolled out. In the meantime DHL has partnered with Peugeot, Ford, Renault, Fiat, and VW to effectively electrify their entire European fleet. It's not just a DHL thing either. American companies such a FedEx have moved to exclusively purchasing Mercedes eSprinters, UPS has new IVECO eDaily trucks as part of their delivery fleet. There seems to be enough fleet orders to
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It also helps that in Europe, many big cities ban ICE trucks from doing deliveries during the day to limit pollution. Of course, EV trucks are fine.
EV trucks are also rather zippy - their ability to accelerate means they fit in very well with traffic - you're not having to deal with the dread of being stuck behind one where the light will turn red before they're even clear the intersection.
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In Europe these types of van are used for all sorts of things beyond delivery. Because they are enclosed you can build a little workshop in there, or at least have nicely organized tools on shelves and racks. With seats they can be used for crew transport as well.
Basically most of the times an American would have a truck, Europeans have a van.
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> A small percentage of Americans could barely get used to cab over vans
Driving a cab over is not hard. We got a diesel pusher bus where you're way further out in front of the front axle than that, and the only adjustment really is turning a little later. You get reasonably used to it in short order. If you don't have to deal with an 8' vehicle in a 10' wide lane (yeah they're meant to be 12' but then there's bridge crossings and such) then I bet it's not even scary.
Not just EV credits (Score:3)
This sounds like a hot potato nobody wanted from the beginning. It couldn't survive as a separate project under the BrightDrop name, so it gets brought back into the GM fold. Then it gets "assigned" to Chevrolet. Yeah, maybe these were warning signs.
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If a tax credit is required for it to be a viable sale, then no, people don't want it sufficiently to be a viable product.
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These aren't people. They are corporations exclusively focused on cost. People were the ones who voted a government in that introduced tax credits. The people wanted it.
Corporations will fuck you over any way they can if it saves them a dollar. They don't "want" their current diesel trucks either. They want the diesel truck of your granddaddy, the one that belches black fumes as it drives down the road giving you cancer.
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Corporate decisions are made by people.......
As for private citizens...yeah, I don't know anybody who cares primarily about cost. Not me, not my neighbors....not anyone. Cost is at the bottom of their list of things to consider when making a purchase........yeah...that's the ticket.
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> Corporate decisions are made by people.
Not so sure about that, I rather suspect that most of the C-suite executives are really reptilian aliens. They don't seem to have a conscience like real humans do. /s
Way to go America (Score:3)
Solar, renewables, electrification, battery tech are the next industrial revolution so what better way to foster a growth and development than to pull the rug from underneath companies. I'm sure it will work out great and definitely won't end with China commanding an insurmountable lead.
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It's in the name, "Making America Second Rate Again."
And the first to cry foul. (Score:2)
So GM is their EV production but they are also crying foul about cheap Chinese EVs? Sounds like just another day the the land of greed and bullshit.
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> So GM is their EV production but they are also crying foul about cheap Chinese EVs? Sounds like just another day the the land of greed and bullshit.
Yes, because there is absolutely no other reason why Chinese EVs are cheaper. Just ignore the virtual (and actual) slave labor, skipping R&D costs by stealing IP hand over fist, strip mining for materials with no regard to environmental concerns, disregard of consumer safety, and massive subsidies from the authoritarian single-party government.
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> Just ignore the virtual (and actual) slave labor, skipping R&D costs by stealing IP hand over fist, strip mining for materials with no regard to environmental concerns, disregard of consumer safety, and massive subsidies from the authoritarian single-party government.
Are you sure you're talking about China there? That sounds like the MAGA party to-do list, especially if you add on corporate extortion and mandatory bribes to the leader of said one party state.
First! (Score:2)
This article is the first that I have seen or heard of these vehicles.
If no one knows they exist, how can they expect sales?
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If it was some hidden gem, wouldn't we have heard about it? It probably sucks, fails to live up to the hype, more scams. Maybe its the name? Have you tried using Brightdrop in a sentence? Its bizarre. If they rebranded it and dropped the price to less of a scam, maybe that'd make up for the lack of govt enablement?
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> This article is the first that I have seen or heard of these vehicles. If no one knows they exist, how can they expect sales?
Who are you again? I'm wondering if you work in commercial fleet management. Because if you don't, not only can you not have a basis for saying that no one knows they exist, but it is also completely irrelevant that you know about them.
The world is full of special purpose products marketed specifically only at the people who are inclined to buy them. Quickly off the top of your head name 10 models of electric 3.5tonne trucks. They do exist. There's likely whole companies you've never heard of that provide p
Their product was 50 percent (Score:2)
More expensive than their AMERICAN competitor, let alone whatever Chinese products are out there. And they’re blaming the loss of a little tax credit? Um. No. Their problems are that they priced themselves out of the market. Their van was 75k while Fords option was 50k. Can’t imagine why they didnt sell many of them. Eyeroll.
gm vehicle. (Score:2)
First question. WHo has ever heard of a Chevy Brightdrop Vans?
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Second question, who here buys corporate fleets of delivery vehicles?
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Amazon, although they already contracted with Rivian for 100,000 electric delivery vans.
OT: Rivian was unable to get financing to build its factory, since banks were hesitant to fund yet another US vehicle startup after everything but Tesla had failed in the past. Then Amazon committed to buy the delivery vans (which they designed specifically for the company's needs) and money suddenly appeared.
Sad and wasteful (Score:2)
My neighbor works at the facility that's being shut down. After investing ~$2 billion to re-tool the plant for "state of the art" EV production, it's pretty sad to see all these jobs just go up in smoke, with no alternative production slated. It's so wasteful of resources.
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> I think it's a good thing. EVs are a dead end and they use SO MANY RARE EARTH METALS. People think petrol emissions are bad, lithium mining is horrific and it's expanding all over the US. Global warming is bullshit and replacing everything with batteries is impractical and will end up causing more pollution.
Really? How?
Before you dunk all over this van... (Score:3)
I'd like to hear if even one person in this discussion had ever heard of it before this was posted here. I follow quite a bit of automotive news myself and had never heard of this van before now. Granted it is a commercial vehicle that would have been difficult to obtain as a regular consumer here (similar to the larger current model Ford econoline (not transitconnect) vans) but I had never heard of this at all. I've seen news on the new USPS delivery vehicles, the new NYC taxis, but never on this.
It's awfully difficult - at least in real space - to claim to be an expert on something you never heard of. I'm sure that won't stop people here but nonetheless it is worth pondering why we had never heard anything of this vehicle. If regular consumers hadn't heard of it, how many potential commercial customers hadn't either? Plenty of commercial customers exist in this country who would do well with an electric van, if only they knew this one existed.
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I am aware of it because I follow a lot of van conversion people (not literally, I follow their conversion progress online). A small number are using Bright Drop vans. Not many, but some.
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I am an aware of them because I read. I have also seen videos of the inside of them. And I have seen them on the street, here in Chicago, because I look at things around me.
I think you're suggesting that the whole US has it's head firmly planted in the sand, just like you. I worry you are correct.
IEA:s yearsly Global EV Outlook (Score:2)
... is what to read if you want to be informed about EV, with lots of numbers and trends.
Trucks: [1]https://www.iea.org/reports/gl... [iea.org]
Strong growth in China while Europe and the US falling behind.
"In 2024, Europe saw more than 10 000 electric trucks sold for the second year in a row, ..."
"In the United States, electric truck sales in 2024 were similar to in 2023. Nevertheless, the number of electric trucks sold in 2024 – over 1 700 – was more than the cumulative number of electric trucks
[1] https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2025/trends-in-heavy-duty-electric-vehicles
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Yikes. One graph shows that the US customers bought about 2,000 electric trucks last year, European about 12,000, and Chinese 76,000. Of course China also has some of the cheapest electricity in the world, at an average of $0.08/kwh, as opposed to $0.18 in the US and $0.24 to $0.48 in Europe. I'm a bit surprised to see that India has the same cost per kwh as China.
[1]https://www.statista.com/stati... [statista.com]
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-prices-in-selected-countries/
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> Strong growth in China while Europe and the US falling behind.
This implies it is a race. It is not.
Build it ... (Score:2)
... because the economics justify it. Not for the [1]free cheese [imgflip.com] of subsidies.
[1] https://i.imgflip.com/9174fo.jpg
VW expanding lecce van factory (Score:1, Troll)
Meanwhile in Europe, VW is expanding its lecce van factory in Poland.
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Which has what do to do with anything in the article?
Different product.
Different market.
Different laws.
Different regulations.
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What is wrong with the US that businesses can't take advantage of the obvious cost savings that EVs offer?
Cheaper "fuel", lower maintenance, green credentials. Businesses were early adopters in Europe because the benefits were obvious and quickly realized. Even the higher purchase cost in the early days was not a big issue, because they were often spending big chunks of money to kit the vans out anyway.
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> What is wrong with the US that businesses can't take advantage of the obvious cost savings
Nothing is wrong with the U.S. You are misinformed. The cost savings afforded by EVs in Europe do not exist in the U.S. If they did, business and consumers would flock to EVs. The fact is that EVs are considerably more expensive than comparable ICE vehicles AND EVs bring additional inconveniences.
In Europe, the taxes, regulations, and fuel costs are so high that EVs are a cost effective alternative to ICE vehicles, in Europe.
In the U.S. the government literally has to subsidize EVs with tax credits and the
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The estimated 177-179 mile range could also be an issue. It's fine if you have a distribution center just out of a city and the route is to drive around the city and then back.
But it wouldn't work for something like appliance delivery to customer's homes which would be all over the place. By the times you made the morning deliveries you'd be under 50% of the range, and you wouldn't have 5-10 mins to refuel and get back on the road. Though you normally wouldn't need to refuel at that range with an ICE, norma
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You're correct, if your route is not predictable then that could be a problem.
But there are loads and loads of applications where this isn't a problem, or where the organization that would use them for their own technicians, mechanics, and other support personnel are geographically constrained to where it would be difficult to even come close to that sort of range anxiety.
At one point I worked for a K-12 school district doing IT support, and that district had hundreds of vans as part of the "white fleet", s
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It could be an issue if vans were being used for purposes they weren't designed for. But these "last mile" type vans have a planned route which isn't enormous - they travel the route, they go back to the depot and they recharge for the next day. It should be very easy for operators to maintain a fleet of vehicles suitable for different tasks and they don't all have to be electric, but where it makes sense then they should be.
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+1
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AND EVs bring additional inconveniences.
AND ICEs bring additional inconveniences.
A lot of delivery and vans spend the entire day tooling around the same city. This is very predictable, and the ranges aren't huge. Electric vans are better in stop/start conditions, need less maintenance and don't even need refuelling, you just plug it when it's returned to the depot, end electricity is cheaper than fuel.
The other thing that's frankly weird about American is the obsession with huge pickup trucks. They're like
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The stupidest thing about pickups is the actual load bed is almost vestigial in a lot of models - it's so short it's useless for anything. People buy them to drive their kids to school and buy shopping imagining they're going to offroad or go camping when most of them never leave tarmac.
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Honestly I don't see the point of these four foot bed pickups. What's the point of something that can hold two trash cans and nothing else? I'm NOT a person who works out of his truck doing construction or anything but do use my pickup all the time for hauling things. Of course, I also have a Toyota Yaris for driving back and forth to the grocery store -- which is a 100 mile round trip. Is it just because the owner wants to pretend he or she 'has a truck'? If you want to carry a lot of people get a pass
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> The stupidest thing about pickups is the actual load bed is almost vestigial in a lot of models - it's so short it's useless for anything.
Gravel, topsoil, debris.... Admittedly this is less useful in place than don't have suburbia, but that is not North America.
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The real reason why they are stopping production of the Brightdrop is because it is manufactured in Canada and the tariffs are making it unprofitable. Even if it still had the subsidies, there's no way for it to survive a 25% import tax. Every problem in this story is uniquely American.
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> When EV pricing in the U.S. is on par with comparable ICE vehicles, or cheaper, then EV sales will dominate.
Used EVs are cheaper than used ICE cars, but that hasn't significantly improved the uptake. Recently I read that, right now, commercial fleets are the biggest growth market for EVs, not individuals.
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Aside from lower fuel costs,
which do not completely justify the price difference,
and lower maintenance costs and lost downtime
which actually probably tip the scales to making them more cost-effective,
you have the fact that these are designed from the ground up for deliveries.
They speed up your workers. They reduce accidents and injuries. They save you lost time warming up, and seconds each and every time you start the vehicle moving. They have way more start-f
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I was in Europe a couple of weeks ago.
The cost of diesel for our rental car certainly got my attention.
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> . For example all the hard work we put into electricity conservation (with LED light bulbs and so on) has been undone by massive data centers making AI cartoons of frogs
Wow, its almost like resources are getting allocated by a just few people at the top whose only qualifications are that they have wealthy parents and made a lucky bet.
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Long distance travel isn't the same issue that it is here in the US. For perspective, Spain is the size of Texas. Europe, minus Russia, is just under 1/2 the size of the lower 48. Population density in the US is a lot smaller in most of the US. This makes for what are already significantly longer road trips between towns and cities. Add on a charge that only gets you 80% of a charge that takes several times as much time as filling a tank of gas and for many. EVs just aren't anywhere near as practical. You'v
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With the increased range we're starting to see on EV models in the US this problem is becoming irrelevant to most Americans.
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Texas is 25% larger than the entire Iberian peninsula.
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EVs add nothing to long distance travel in Europe due to rules about maximum time behind the wheel without a break, but even in the US you are looking at an additional hour per 10+ hours of driving at most.
Maybe that's the issue. Contractors instead of employee drivers.
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Just that the US can't do anything right anymore because.
We wont develop the right products.
We have a deeply captive market that prevents actual competition. Therefore preventing true and useful innovation.
We have flawed laws designed to keep existing industry and products on top.
We don't have sufficient or effective regulations.
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Yeah. Anything! It can't do ANYTHING right anymore! That certainly explains away a lot of economics......
Re: VW expanding lecce van factory (Score:1)
I for one will buy a lot of Argentina beef over republican supporting US beef.
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I don't even notice where my beef comes from. I just buy whatever Costco is selling.
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Similar product, similar market (first world). Not sure why anyone should need that explained to them.
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> Similar product, similar market (first world). Not sure why anyone should need that explained to them.
The first world is hardly a consistent and homogenous concept. Take the difference between Texas and California (or BC and Alberta), and then figure the difference between the EU and North America is some multiples of that. Very different places.