Two giant companies in the U.S.–Walmart and FedEx have signed deals with another U.S. giant GM. The deal is to procure thousands of BrightDrop vans to help them in last-mile delivery as well as to move forward towards sustainable goals with electric vehicles. The announcement was made by these companies, on Wednesday.
Walmart said that it has signed a new deal that will reserve 5,000 electric vans from GM. FedEx said that it had already received some of the 500 electric vehicles last month It was the first customer to order BrightDrop vehicles. FedEx was increasing its order to add 2,000 additional vehicles over the next several years.
According to a report in CNBC, BrightDrop CEO Travis Katz said that the demand for the company’s electric vehicles was going “through the roof.” He said that there was “tons of customer interest.”
BrightDrop, a subsidiary of the Detroit automaker, has 25,000 confirmed reserved orders for its electric vans. Kratz also said that FedEx’s first order of 500 vehicles would be completed this year. It will begin delivery of electric vans to Walmart from 2023.
BrightDrop said that the cost to charge their electric vehicles is 75 percent less when compared with the fuel required for a gas- powered vehicle.
Both Walmart and FedEx had already announced that their zero emissions goals for their delivery fleets by the end of the next decade. The purchase of BrightDrop electric vans from GM will give them both savings as well as a means of reaching their sustainable goals.
None of the three companies have mentioned the financial details about the deals but both Walmart and FedEx are likely to continue ordering more BrightDrop vehicles in future.
Richard Smith, FedEx regional president of the Americas said that GM had a vehicle that worked as advertized and that they loved it. He also said that they “want to buy a lot more of them.”
Walmart said that it had plans to use BrightDrop’s vans to expand its InHome delivery service. It has plans to increase this service from 6 million households to 30 million households by the end of the year. As it expands exponentially, it might also need to order a larger number of electric vans from GM.
