Motor news briefs: Electric vans and Silverados

GM’s BrightDrop delivers first electric vans to FedEx

BrightDrop, General Motors Co.’s new electric delivery and logistics business, has delivered the first five vans of an order of 500 to customer FedEx Corp., the company said Friday.

FedEx is the first customer to receive EV600s. The first few will be operated and stored at the FedEx Express facility in Inglewood, California.

BrightDrop, which GM introduced in early 2021, has revealed two electric delivery van options: the EV600 and the smaller EV410.

Both are powered by GM’s new Ultium electric platform. The EV600 has an estimated range of up to 250 miles on a full charge and has more than 600 cubic feet of cargo area. The EV410 hass the same range and has more than 400 cubic feet of cargo space. It’s designed for more frequent trips with smaller loads.

The larger EV600 will be built at CAMI Assembly in Ontario starting in late 2022. Production of the EV410 is slated to start in 2023 at CAMI.

· The Detroit News

Canada proposes deal to align electric vehicle credits with US

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada has put forward “a number of solutions” for resolving its complaint over a proposed U.S. tax incentive on electric vehicles made only by unionized American workers.

Canada has slammed the tax credit as a violation of the North American trade pact between the Canada, U.S. and Mexico, saying it amounts to unraveling five decades of integration in the auto sector.

Trudeau, speaking Monday in Ottawa, said one option is to align electric-vehicle incentives in Canada and the U.S. “to make sure that there’s no slippage or no unfair advantages on one side or the other.” He added that conversations on how to solve the dispute are ongoing between the two sides right now.

On Friday, Canada sent a letter to U.S. Senate leaders threatening to levy targeted tariffs on U.S. goods and take other retaliatory measures under the USMCA trade deal if its concerns aren’t addressed.

The proposed tax incentive is a part of the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act currently before the U.S. Senate. A version of the bill that was approved by the U.S. House calls for all automakers to be able to offer $7,500 to consumers for EV purchases for the first five years of the law. But cars made in the U.S. by union-represented workers would be allowed an additional $4,500 in credits under that bill, to the consternation of Mexico and Canada.

· Bloomberg News

Electric Chevy Silverado production to start in early 2023, GM says

General Motors Co. will begin building the electric Chevrolet Silverado in early 2023 at Factory Zero Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center, GM Executive Vice President Doug Parks said during a virtual chat with Deutsche Bank on Thursday.

GM’s first product based on its new electric platform Ultium is the GMC Hummer EV pickup, which is also being built at Factory Zero and will be delivered starting this month.

The Detroit automaker is planning to have 30 EVs launched globally by 2025.

Next year “is a big year for us as we start to launch the first Ultium products and then in ‘23 you’ll see multiple launches and we’ll be off to the races at that point,” Parks said on the chat.

GM is revealing the electric Silverado at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

· The Detroit News