GM Announces Brightdrop EV Connected Car Ecosystem

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GM at the 2021 Virtual CES show announced a new business unit, Brightdrop, which is a ecosystem of electric and connected products targeting commercial clients in the logistics and delivery industries:

 

From TechCrunch:

https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/12/gm-targets-delivery-companies-with-new-ev-business-unit-brightdrop/

 

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GM has launched a new business unit to offer commercial customers — starting with FedEx — an ecosystem of electric and connected products, the latest effort in the company’s ambitious $27 billion bid to become a leading electric automaker.

 

Driving.ca:

https://driving.ca/general-motors/auto-news/news/gms-new-brightdrop-sees-it-enter-the-electric-connected-commercial-delivery-biz

 

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For a company long dismissed as a dinosaur, General Motors is moving with surprising rapidity of late.

 

Just a few days after announcing its new “Everybody In” program highlighting its commitment to EVs – “all in,” says Chairman and CEO Mary Barra – The General has just announced the beginnings of an entirely all-new division.

 

Brightdrop, headed by ex-vice-president of Skyscanner and co-founder of Trip.com Travis Katz, is entering the commercial delivery business, offering logistics companies a soup-to-nuts compendium of “first-to-last” vehicles, software and services to make the delivery business of the future not only greener but much more efficient.

 

“BrightDrop offers a smarter way to deliver goods and services,” says Barra, “building on our significant expertise in electrification, mobility applications, telematics and fleet management.”

 

GM has so far announced two products under Brightdrop; the first is  an light commercial electric van called the EV600 with an estimate range of 250 miles. GM states it can carry 600 cubic feet of cargo, and uses GM's Ultium batteries and charges from a 120-kW DC fast charger. Inside, there is a 13.4-inch diagonal, full-color infotainment screen, front sliding pocket doors, wide cabin walkways and a large auto-open cargo bulkhead door. The EV600 also has a suite of driver assistance features common to most consumer vehicles these days, including front and rear park assist, automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assistance, forward collision alert, following distance indicator, front pedestrian braking and automatic high beams and HD backup camera. Additional features, such as rear cross-traffic braking, blind-zone steering assist, reverse automatic braking, HD surround vision, rear pedestrian alert and enhanced automatic emergency braking are also options as well for customers.

 

The second product also announced is the EP1, which is a pod-like electric pallet. It is basically a electric cart that can go 5km/h and carry 23 cubic feet of cargo. Inside the pod are adjustable shelves and lockable cabinet doors to allow for remote access to whatever goods are being transported. For now, it is driver controlled, but one can easily see a future where it is autonomous as well, being able to make deliveries or pick ups at locations without assistance from the driver.

 

GM is also working other products and is tinkering with a few concepts, including a medium-distance vehicle that transports multiple EP1's with the ability to rapidly load and unload them.

 

The other key component of Brightdrop is a new cloud-based software solution; both the EV600 and EP1 are connected devices. The EP1 knows which packages are in it, the EV600 monitors all the connected pallets in its cargo area, and it all can be remotely monitored and managed in real time, by headquarters. Drivers and dispatch staff can use the built-in connectivity to analyze data, improve overall operations, and manage the fleet remotely, for example if a driver locks himself out of the van, head office can unlock the van for him. It can also track the location and status of the van in real time, allowing dispatch staff to know where the vehicle is, the battery level and if the driver is on route and on schedule.

 

Per GM, FedEx is already testing many of the software features with Brightdrop and reports a 25% efficiency gain thanks to the driver’s reduced workload and the superior monitoring/routing of packages. FedEx is also going to be the first customer for the EV600, with 500 vans on order, with first deliveries later this year. GM also says the EP1 will be available sometime in the first quarter of 2021.

 

GM is clearly going all in on electrification and cloud computing of the logistics and supply chain, starting with the last mile delivery. Their timing seems to be excellent due to the explosion in the growth of e-commerce, in part driven by COVID, and they appear to be well placed to capture a large portion of what should be a multi-billion dollar market share.

[Taf the Ghost]

This is good to see. The problem with EVs is the Hype Train Effect. EV is useful technology and has been for over a century. However, technologies are only good when they're applied properly and we're still too close to the range of screwing up EVs like Solar is still recovering from. (Solar is great, it just isn't baseload. Somewhere north of 100 billion in government funds, globally, we're wasted in the direction. I highly recommend anyone in a climate that allows for it to have Solar Panels + Battery system.) And the big, screaming place where EVs makes the most sense is Local Haul. Sub-150 miles/250km range over 4 hours, moving local supplies, and with a system where you return to your base and then recharge. (Or have the ability to rotate out battery packs.)

 

So I'm very happy to see this actually coming to market. I'm not exactly happy it's GM, mostly as they completely botched the actual innovation in car drive trains by not knowing what to do with a mass scale Gas-Electric serial hybrid system. We'll have to see how this goes. I don't have high hopes, at least from GM.

[Kisai]

It is interesting to see. In the short run, it's GM trying to save it's own behind from whatever Tesla produces next.

 

I don't think that EV's will be that practical for Fedex/UPS/Amazon/USPS parcel delivery except in major cities, because in small ones, the truck often has to come form a neighboring larger city an hour away, since there are no local depot/sorting facilities. So shave two hours off the battery runtime just to deliver one package. (For reference, Fedex has typically dumped parcels sent to Vancouver Island on Canada Post, at least if you weren't in Victoria. Trying to order things that ship by Fedex or UPS outside Victoria on the Island, you may as well not bother paying for anything but post.)

 

And small cities just keep losing more and more services that large cities take for granted. Despite the increase in online shipping.

 

So I hope such vehicles become available to small businesses as well, maybe some people can operate their own delivery, or piggyback off Uber (apparently this is in the Uber app?) to deliver things in-city, where the shipping companies have no service.