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FedEx’s BrightDrop Zevo 600 Vans Now On California Roads: Video

General Motors is making a pivot to all-electric powertrains, and that includes applications for both passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles. One example of the latter is the new BrightDrop Zevo 600 delivery van, examples of which can now be found out and about on California roads, as seen in the following brief video.

Clocking in at just 20 seconds, the brief video comes to us from FedEx, which is now leveraging the new BrightDrop Zevo 600 for last-mile deliveries across the Golden State.

“Electric vehicles are here,” the video declares. “Our first 150 BrightDrop Zevo 600s are in service in Southern California, bringing us closer to our goal of an all-electric pickup and delivery fleet by 2040.”

The video shows the FedEx-branded BrightDrop Zevo 600 delivery vans plying a number of California roads, including winding, tree-lined two-lanes, scenic beach roads, highways, residential streets, and even dusty desert dirt roads.

Going forward, BrightDrop will deliver a total of 2,500 new vans to FedEx over the course of the next few years. These include examples of the larger Zevo 600 model, as well as examples of the smaller Zevo 400 model.

Under the skin, the BrightDrop Zevo 600 utilizes GM Ultium batteries and GM Ultium drive motors for motivation. Specs for the van include an estimated 250 miles of range per charge, as well as a peak charging rate of 170 miles per charging hour via a DC quick-charge source. The launch model in use by FedEx incorporates two electric motors for an all-wheel drive setup. The delivery van also offers over 600 cubic feet of cargo room, as well as a wealth of standard safety features, including Front and Rear Park Assist, Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Alert, Following Distance Indicator, Front Pedestrian Braking, Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning, and more.

Full-scale production of the BrightDrop Zevo 600 and Zevo 400 will take place at the GM CAMI Assembly plant in Canada later this year.

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Jonathan is an automotive journalist based out of Southern California. He loves anything and everything on four wheels.

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Comments

  1. Dan B

    I’m seeing these all over out here now. I haven’t been able to ask one of the drivers what they think of it, but I plan to.

    Reply
  2. Ken

    Interesting to see if they keep getting these since they announced today those terrible earning numbers.

    Reply
  3. Bob B.

    Have seen them in L.A. for the past couple of months.

    Reply
  4. Carl

    LOL, are they allowed to charge them between 4 and 10 pm in CA?

    Reply
    1. Observer7

      What’s the problem with this time span between 4 and 10 pm in California?

      Reply
      1. Carl

        Do you follow the news? CA has a shortage of electricity and grid capacity and has been asking their subjects to reduce electricity use during those hours, specifically asking people not to charge their EV’s, move their AC to 78, and not use large appliances. All in the same week that King Newsome also decreed that new ICE vehicle sales would be banned in 2035.

        Reply
        1. Observer7

          Sure, Carl, I do follow the news, but here where it took me to live, the local news of California are rarely passed on,

          Thanks for letting me know via this forum!

          Reply
          1. Carl

            Yeah I live in the free Midwest and CA’s power / ICE issues are running jokes here.

            Reply
          2. Pity for the ignorant

            Please don’t listen to Carl He’s clearly a complete idiot, has someone who lives in California let me tell you what actually happened. During an unprecedented heat wave caused by, guess what, climate change certain temporary measures were taken to reduce strain on the grid so that people could cool their homes. The record-breaking heat and crushing drought is exactly the reason we have to move away from burning fossil fuels as quickly as possible something the governor understands and has taken action to ensure.

            Reply
            1. Carl

              Good luck with all of that, there may be a bit more to the story since people and businesses are fleeing CA in record numbers. Actually enough negative “growth” there to cause a first ever loss of a Congressional seat. Sounds like maybe the “idiots” are in charge in CA, of course you had your chance to get rid of him but didn’t. Where are the idiots?

              Reply
            2. Tigger

              I’m sure if everyone stopped burning fossil fuels all together, you would not notice the .001 drop in the temperature.

              Reply
            3. LeRoy

              Unfortunately, the earth has been getting warmer since the end of the last Ice Age 22,347 years ago. I really do wish that stopping burning fossil fuels and banning weenie roasts was the correct answer to “global warming”.

              Reply
              1. Pity for the ignorant

                Humans impact on the climate is a proven and undeniable scientific fact, no legitimate scientist or educated person can deny that burning fossil fuels is significantly warming the planet. The willfully ignorant such as yourself who continue to deny the absolute truth in front of them only serves to slow down progress and make the damage even worse.

                Reply
                1. Jeff sasse

                  Let me ask you a question since you brought climate change into the picture yes we do pump out some crap but what happened to the ice age there was no heavy industry or automobiles out there to increase emissions and increase temperatures?

                  Reply
                2. LeRoy

                  Well, I learned in my 4th grade science class that the glacial ice pack on top of Indiana was estimated to be about one mile thick when it started melting away and receding. However, someone may certainly be willfully ignorant, or at least willfully misled.

                  Reply
                  1. Pity for the ignorant

                    So your entire counter argument to thousands of peer reviewed scientific studies showing the effects CO2 has on climate change is a fourth grade science textbook? A juvenile argument from a juvenile mind.

                    Reply
        2. Jeff sasse

          You would think that one of the largest states out there would have one of the best supplier for electricity also the system is so old and starts so many forest fires it’s pretty bad so tell me why California’s politicians can’t fix this issue

          Reply
  5. Rick

    Would be interested in knowing what they cost vs. ICE powered step vans. Installing chargers must be expensive. Glad to see them on the road.

    Reply
    1. theflew

      Charger installation in a one time cost. No oil changes, fuel, transmissions, etc… is a huge savings in maintenance cost over the life of the vehicle.

      Reply
      1. Tigger

        And buying tires twice as frequently as an ICE vehicle is not an expense?

        Reply
      2. Jeff sasse

        Will have to wait and see what maintenance Has To be performed electric motors electrical issues relays etc. and batteries tires are going to be an issue because they’re going to be a lot heavier

        Reply
        1. theflew

          The Volt is a decade old and holding up pretty well. The Bolt has been holding up very well as well.

          Reply
    2. Observer7

      This last-mile-delivery business is marked by a frequent start-stop situations.
      The driver has to stop, get out to deliver the package, restart.

      During the stop one could let the engine (the ICE engine) run, using gas while standing still, or you stop the engine and have to restart it. How you do it, it is a waste of energy which does not happen with en electric engine. The engine is stopped, and starts again, there is no starter battery and engine necessary, the electric engine provides the full torque from the very first moment.

      The German post office had even produced electric delivery vans in a factory they took over from a university study project. But since now the regular automobile industry can deliver such vans, the post office who did not want to become an automobile manufacturer found some other company they could sell the factory to.

      Reply
  6. CLC

    They are equipped with a number of sensors to enable a number of safety features. This would involve cameras, and possibly LIDAR. With these sensors, to go from enhanced safety to Cruise capability (no driver required), would take a retrofitting of the processing capacity. For highway driving and other high speed driving, the system may require driver attention, just as Cruise does now, but once you get into slower traffic areas, perhaps a driver is not required. This would allow the delivery person to be sorting and arranging packages.

    My point – GM/FEDEX may be able to make the delivery person more efficient. In an urban area where the vehicle will not travel at higher speeds, GM/FEDEX may eliminate the driver entirely – at businesses the business in notified a delivery has arrived at the curb and they retrieve a delivery, at an apartment building, the doorman/front desk is notified of a bulk delivery for building residents and they bring the delivery inside.

    I think GM/FEDEX is well poised to upgrade AV capabilities of these vehicles sooner rather than later. That will be a big cost reduction for FEDEX. It’s coming, sooner than most people think…..

    Reply
    1. Tigger

      And if nobody is at the business to retrieve the package it goes on its merry way back to the depot.

      Reply
  7. Larry Hively

    I wonder what the true mileage is when they are fully loaded?

    Reply
  8. Jeff sasse

    Yes everybody will have to turn off the air-conditioning in California to charge all the electric vehicles

    Reply
  9. roc

    I have seen these vehicles at the production plant. GM has done its homework. Regardless if you are pro/con electrification, GM’s EV600 is an excellent concept to enter the birth of electric vehicles. This entry makes more sense than passenger electric vehicles. Let’s see what happens as the data will give us the truth.

    Reply

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