General Motors Co is reportedly developing an electric van intended for business use. If this is accurate, the company would be one of the expanding list of car manufacturers preparing to introduce electric vehicles in the same market segment, including United Parcel Service Inc and Amazon.com Inc. GM has not released a statement related to the report.
The latest information about General Motors Co's alleged plan to join in the electric vehicle bandwagon for delivery vans came from a report published by Reuters. According to the publication, the multi-billion strategy could allow GM and other companies to develop and deliver more EVs at a particular time when the demand for battery-powered vehicles is still low compared to the overall industry sales. The strategic move also addresses a possibly lucrative market segment that Us electric vehicle maker Tesla has not yet explored, the report added.
Several sources close to general Motors Co reportedly provided Reuters with information about its plan of developing electric vans for businesses. The report claimed that the upcoming electric van might be internally called BV1. It would be developed alongside the electric truck at the company's Detroit plant beginning 2021. However, it is not yet clear if the carmaker would sell the upcoming electric van under its existing van or truck brands or whether it would come up with a new name for it.
This is the first time that the industry learns about General Motors Co's plan to produce an electric van. It has not yet confirmed the existence or the plan for the said van, but it said that it aims to launch at least 20 electric vehicles by 2023. This could include a wide range of all-electric sedans, vans, trucks, and crossovers.
The arrival of the electric van from General Motors would impact the emerging commercial delivery vehicle market. Currently, Rivian is working hard to develop an electric van for its partner Amazon. Ford has earlier committed to electrifying the Transit van and was planning to launch it in 2022. UPS ordered 10,000 electric delivery vans from Arrival, which was backed by Kia and Hyundai.
Tesla has not yet revealed if it is working on developing a vehicle for this particular market segment. In other words, the electric commercial van industry is vast and open to all players who could offer a viable product. It is too early to tell who would it be, but with the current global health crisis caused by the coronavirus and the new normal we are living in, demand for delivery services skyrocketed.
