General Motors plans to start production of its recently announced BrightDrop electric light commercial vehicle, the EV600, to its CAMI manufacturing plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. The company will invest C$1 billion (£588 million/$800 million/€660 million) to deliver the new BrightDrop EV600 electric van in late 2021.
Just a week ago General Motors announced BrightDrop, which will offer an ecosystem of electric first-to-last-mile products, software and services to empower delivery and logistics companies to move goods more efficiently. These BrightDrop solutions are designed to help businesses lower costs, maximise productivity, improve employee safety, freight security and support overall sustainability.
General Motor’s initial BrightDrop products include the EP1 electric e-pallet and a software platform for fleet and asset management. The company will also deliver its new EV600 light commercial vehicle that will bring its Ultium electric platform to commercial vehicles.
Mary Barra, GM Chairman and CEO, said: “BrightDrop offers a smarter way to deliver goods and services. We are building on our significant expertise in electrification, mobility applications, telematics and fleet management, with a new one-stop-shop solution for commercial customers to move goods in a better, more sustainable way.”
This new investment will enable General Motors to turn its CAMI factory into Canada’s first large-scale auto plant converted to produce electric delivery vehicles. Work will begin immediately to transform the CAMI plant to support electric vehicle production. This will support jobs and transform work at the plant over the next two years from Chevrolet Equinox production to a new focus on the production of EV600s, to serve the growing North American market for electric delivery solutions.
