General Motors on Tuesday announced the opening of the first dealership for BrightDrop, a new standalone business initially focused on electric trucks for commercial fleets.
Located in Fontana, California, the BrightDrop Greater Los Angeles store will be operated by an existing franchisee, GM confirmed in a press release. Franchisee is Mike Caposio, who also has Chevrolet and Buick/GMC dealerships in California.
GM only announced the initial BrightDrop EV600 model in January and confirmed at the end of September that the first trucks were built in Ontario, Canada. At the time, GM said the first trucks would arrive at FedEx in time for the holiday season.
BrightDrop EV600
However, the automaker has said that it will initially remain in low-volume production. GM has said it won’t raise prices completely until November 2022. Next is the short-wheelbase EV410, which will be built at the same factory in Canada starting in 2023.
GM quotes a 250-mile range and a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of under 10,000 pounds for both versions. BrightDrop has also previously mentioned plans to launch the EP1 electric pallet system before the end of 2021.
GM is also preparing a fleet version of the Service Ultium Charge 360 with fleet and facility management tools plus integration with OnStar Vehicle Insights telematics technology and BrightDrop’s own management platform.
BrightDrop EV410
While GM is going with a clean design and branding, the competition Ford’s E-Transit is the electric version of the very popular Transit van.
Many startups are also aiming to sell electric trucks to fleet customers in the United States. After investing in Rivian, Amazon ordered a team private delivery electric truck From the company. Electric Last Mile Solutions (ELMS) is assembling electric trucks at the old Hummer factory in Mishawaka, Indiana, delivered the first cars to customers earlier this year.
