With Chevy now producing and selling the Chevy BrightDrop 400 and Chevy BrightDrop 600 electric vans, approximately 300 dealerships currently offering Bow Tie vehicles have signed up to sell the fully electric cargo haulers according to the latest news.
Bringing two significant new EV models to the Chevrolet lineup, the Chevy BrightDrop vans are now being marketed toward ordinary drivers along with the fleet operators who comprised the EVs’ customer base until now, as Automotive News reports.
The newly added retail focus of the Chevy BrightDrop van – formerly known as the BrightDrop Zevo – was highlighted by a unit equipped as an RV camper at the Detroit Auto Show. Scott Bell, global VP of Chevrolet, says that the new focus resulted in “a lot of enthusiasm and excitement.”
Speaking to Auto News, Bell provided further details. He observed that the Chevy BrightDrop was originally conceived of exclusively as a last-mile delivery electric cargo van for commercial customers. However, he also remarked that now “the vision does seem to kind of wander as people really start to think about what it could be used for.” This, he said, provides “excitement about getting 300 dealers fired up about it, because that’s what they’re doing.”
The lineup of 300 dealerships willing to sell the Chevy BrightDrop in 2025 is a massive increase from the 7 dealers offering the EV van in the U.S. during 2024. Specialized repair equipment and service training is needed to deal with the large, bulky BrightDrop vans. However, those dealerships already handling the sale and service of medium-duty trucks are well-prepared for these demands, and Chevy believes the majority will decide to take on selling the electric vans.
Experienced dealers expect further evolution of the BrightDrop, including variants suited to small business and consumer use. The chairman of the Chevrolet National Dealer Council, Andy Guelcher, describes the BrightDrop as “a great competitive vehicle against the Rivian that you’re seeing pretty much everywhere for Amazon right now.”
The Chevy BrightDrop was introduced in 2021 and moved to Chevy for the 2025 model year rather than continuing to be a separate specialized brand. The change was announced at the end of August 2024, though GM Authority predicted it as early as March.
In total, the seven U.S. dealerships offering the van in 2024 sold 1,529 BrightDrop units over the twelve-month period, or more than 300 percent of 2023 sales. Pricing for the 2025 Chevy BrightDrop starts at $78,625 for the FWD 400 trim with a single motor and 14-module battery. At the high end, the AWD configuration of the 600 trim with dual motors features a starting MSRP of $90,725. These prices include a $3,325 destination freight charge.
Chevy VP Bell stresses that the enthusiastic reception of the BrightDrop RV variant at the Detroit Auto Show is generating plenty of advertising buzz. He remarks that “the excitement that came out of that show with that van has got us on a mission to put it in every show we can because it’s just creating talk.”
Comments
Would love that body on a Chevy diesel chassis to become an RV camper.
Would love to see an EV RV camper on that platform. Why deal with expensive and polluting diesel?
Mr. Bell, It will take extensive fire training in the municipalities, that these will be sold, to deal with fires that battery platforms of this size will create. At GM’s expense. I was told on average it can take up to 35,000 gallons of water to extinguish the average EV fire.
Good thing EV rarely catch on fire.
theflew: The report that just came out today says that clean up crews in Las Angeles efforts are being hampered by the highly combustible lithium battery in EVs.
PipeFitter48,
When the fires were raging, I wondered if the proliferation of EVs in California, which are especially concentrated in affluent neighborhoods in LA, like Pacific Palisades, made extinguishing the flames more difficult.
If it takes 35,000 gallons of water to put out one burning EV, imagine having thousands of them concentrated in one area with raging winds. I haven’t heard that EVs were a complicating factor in the recent LA fires but they pretty much had to be.
The report was on Fox online today.
These would work for short haul, short time span delivery companies (i.e. not on the road all day). Which limits their audience.
So, a “last-mile delivery electric cargo van for commercial customers” as indicated in the article?
These sell into the same market as the Rivian EDV and Ford E-Transit, where it 272-mile range is significantly higher than the competition’s peak (highest range of 201 and 159, respectively).
Should be great options for tradespeople.
The current administration says buy one if you want it, but don’t expect us to help you. Everybody seems to forget GM had to be bailed out once before.
And yet I thought the GOP was supposed to be all for tax cuts and helping businesses?
You know there is a commercial clean vehicle tax cut for businesses to buy hydrogen, hybrids, and EVs right?
Can be up to $30k for a business.
And you seem to forget there was a world financial crisis going of at the same time. GMs bankruptcy wasn’t in isolation.
theflew: No, I haven’t forgot but evidently you forgot that they took the money. They want get it again as long as they keep EV-ing their way into oblivion. Only one person in a hundred will even consider buying one.
We bought a Brightdrop Zevo last year because California is requiring businesses of a certain size to purchase electric delivery vehicles.
We have zero use for a vehicle with such a short range, so has never been driven – probably never will. It just sits in our parking lot. Really great for the environment! Oh, by the way, taxpayers had to cover the $35,000 EV credit. I’ll bet Governor Newsom will brag about how many electric vehicles were sold in California last year and how he’s singlehandedly saving the planet.
Your business sounds pretty poorly run if you buy an EV and not use it out of spite. Imagine your customers seeing that a van parked out in front and you whining that Newsom forced you to buy it. You should stop complaining and just move Texas or Florida already. They’d love you over there.
If you’re doing deliverables over the 270 mile range of these vehicles maybe you should look for other alternatives.
“Chevy BrightDrop vans are now being marketed toward ordinary driver”
GM: PLEASE show me the demographic of the “ordinary driver” who’s gonna drop $90k+ on a white box with limited range. What are your projected sales to that group? This is 100% a local delivery fleet vehicle, and you’re grasping at straws badly if you’re trying to get it into other markets.
How far do you think FedEx and UPS trucks drive daily doing deliveries? They have planned routes so they know exactly how far they are going to travel. Plus with the stop and go driving it’s perfect for an EV. The only maintenance is tires replacements and charger when they return to the depot.
Also GM piloted these with FedEx, so I’m sure they are well aware of the demographics. Business with well known planned daily routes.
Needs the 3.6L
Useless as an RV, good grief, it’s got almost no range even unladen, how’s it going to cope with the accoutrements of a house on wheels? Vans are boxes on wheels by necessity, so they can haul as many boxes as possible. They are not aero teardrops. Will the camper van be painted in solar absorbing paint so it can get to Mount Rushmore? Such a silly concept in its current state.
Looking at some of the Specs. The Top speed is governed at 65MPH.
For decades I wondered if GM would ever update the Express and Savanna vans and very disappointed this is their answer. Yes it will work as a last mile delivery van but as a basis for an RV there is no way. I guess GM just exited the RV market and conceeded to Ford. Yes a handful will be made into campervans for people with low expectations. But you can forget about class C motorhomes.