GM’s BrightDrop announces new e-pallets that work with electric delivery vans
Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian reports on General Motors' new e-pallets from its commercial vehicle arm, BrightDrop.
Video Transcript
AKIKO FUJITA: Let's move on here to an EV startup backed by General Motors. It is revving up its delivery products and fleet business, our very own Pras Subramanian joining us on that story. Pras, I know you checked out the warehouse yourself. What's the verdict? PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah, Akiko, so GM's BrightDrop invited a bunch of reporters down to the warehouse to show kind of like a demo of their BrightDrop EV delivery service. Basically it's a last mile local servicing option for businesses. As a background, this system utilizes a electronically-assisted pallet that works hand in hand with an ED van, and that's how you get things done, kind of decarbonizing that last mile. So they're working with clients like FedEx, Walmart, and Verizon, among others. FedEx was their first client, which they announced back in January, 2021, when they announced the BrightDrop service. So here I am in the demo, right. So the first part of the demo was actually using the EP1 pallet. These are pallets that contain electric motors that can power it around, power it around three miles per hour, which is kind of walking speed. I think there's some video here of me using that pallet. And it can kind of work in both ways, right, forward, and reverse, depending on how you're maneuvering it. And then also, these pallets can be used in the warehouse when loading, but also more importantly on the street when delivering. In a pilot program, FedEx found here in New York City, that BrightDrop found that using the EP1 pallet increased package deliveries by 15% per hour. They're able to actually remove one vehicle per delivery route per day due to efficiency gains. And also they cut the delivery dwell time by half, which also kind of reduces strain on the couriers who have to use these things a lot. So a lot of good things here with the EP1 pallets, which work kind of in an integrated fashion with the vans. They talk to one another. They can eventually be able to autonomously load themselves in advance, pretty cool stuff. So you know, that's the EP1 there, I'm kind of using the controls there to move it around. The next part is the van, that's the EV600. And you'll see, this is not a small van. Even though it's considered light duty in the industry, hopping the driver's seat, you can kind of see that there's a lot of, it's a high up seating situation, lots of visibility. I felt like I could see everything out the actual window. You know, this thing is 24 feet long, right. This is not a short, this is not a short truck, but driving around the city, very smooth operation. You got one pedal driving where you can actually use the gas to go. And then when you let off the gas, it stops. The van kind of quickly-- it was surprisingly easy to navigate this thing, even in the streets of New York City, where you have delivery guys darting around. You have to swerve around double parked cars, things like that. So you know, and with all wheel drive, it's kind of a bit more, I would say, nimble than you'd expect for some big vehicle. So you know, I had a lot of fun with the EV600. If I was a delivery guy for FedEx, maybe I would enjoy this new job. BRIAN CHEUNG: Pras, what do we say about using your phone while operating a vehicle? Isn't that a federal crime? We got video of you using. Hey, I want to ask you though-- PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Well, right here I actually haven't starting moving yet. Oh, there we go. There we go. See now I'm actually moving, now. I put the phone away, Brian. And actually here in the streets of Greenpoint, it was actually a lot of fun driving this thing, Brian. This is my new career maybe, delivery. BRIAN CHEUNG: I was hoping that you were gonna hit a button and it was gonna eject you out of the seat. Yeah, well I mean, look, we'll have to see what happens on that front. Obviously we know that also Amazon has the Rivian project that they're working on for their last mile business, but we'll have to see how all of that unfolds. But at least for now we will revel in this wonderful VO that we have. Yahoo Finance's, Pras Subramanian, thanks so much.
