The electric van space is the most utilitarian of the EV spaces and thus, for many people, the most boring, though not for freaks like me, who find it extremely exciting. There was big news in that space today from General Motors.
GM CEO Mary Barra announced what sounds like an electric Chevy Express, but also an electric truck intended for commercial and utility use. Hell yes.
Via CNBC:
GM CEO Mary Barra said the automaker plans to add a full-size battery electric cargo van for Chevrolet as well as a medium-duty truck for service and utility vehicles such as school buses and bucket trucks.
“Both will complement BrightDrop and keep our commercial fleet market share growing,” Barra told investors Wednesday during an earnings call. “We’ll share more details about these products as we move forward.”
[…]
The medium-duty truck will be offered as a battery-electric vehicle with GM’s Ultium Cells as well as its Hydrotec fuel cells, Barra said. The van will “exceed the expectations” of its customers who have purchased small GM vans in recent years, she said.
Electric vans make a lot of sense in that many commercial users simply don’t need a ton of range, as secure dry storage, cargo capacity, and even (in some cases) towing capacity are bigger priorities, all things an electric van will be pretty good at. This is a product that GM won’t even have to stretch much to make an argument for, as opposed to how it markets, say, the Bolt, which is to say barely at all.
Of course, on paper, an electric Chevy Express would go head-to-head with the Ford E-Transit and, whenever Stellantis gets around to doing it, an electric Ram ProMaster. That, for my money, is a lot more interesting battle than what the passenger car space has become, which is everyone trying to beat the Tesla Model Y, as some say Ford has already done that with the Mustang Mach-E. Give me more electric vans, please.
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