General Motors launches a new brand: Brightdrop. This will build electrically powered commercial vehicles. The first model was immediately unveiled and GM said it immediately secured a large order.
At General Motors, they also want to take major steps in electrification this decade. The company’s plans in this area already broadly outlined at the beginning of this week, when GM also presented a new logo and brand identity. One of the components of that transition is the new BrightDrop brand. This is a new brand that is marketing electrically powered commercial vehicles. BrightDrop immediately presents its firstborn: the EV600.
The EV600 is a practically designed delivery van with a cargo space of just 17 cubic meters. The bus has GM’s Ultium-baptized battery technology on board, which will use no fewer than 30 new GM models by 2025. The battery pack consists of various modules that communicate with each other via WiFi and therefore require considerably less wiring. In addition, the Ultium batteries would contain up to 70 percent less cobalt than conventional ones. The GMC Hummer also has them on board. The EV600 gets enough from the Ultium battery pack to cover more than 400 km on one battery charge. Recharging must also be done quickly and can be done with a maximum of 120 kW. In that case, according to BrightDrop, you can charge more than 270 km of range in an hour.
The BrightDrop EV600 is also good in its stuff as standard. For example, there is a 13.4-inch infotainment screen, there are motion sensors in the cargo hold to detect shifting packages and it also has standard front and rear parking sensors, Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Alert, Front Pedestrian Braking, Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning and a reversing camera. This can be expanded with things such as blind spot detection, a 360-degree camera and more advanced automatic braking systems. Everything to prevent accidents when turning and stabbing in urban areas.
All in all, interesting enough, FedEx thought. The American courier company has an order for 500 EV600s outstanding from BrightDrop. According to GM, BrightDrop will also be able to offer EV600s to other customers by 2022 and there is already interest from many companies. BrightDrop will keep to itself for a while what has to be counted down for each EV600.