FILE PHOTO: Models of the Rivian-built Amazon electric delivery vans are seen in this handout photo in Plymouth, Michigan, U.S., November 13, 2019. Jordan Stead/Amazon/Handout via REUTERS
Suppliers familiar with such plans at GM and Ford told Reuters the Detroit automakers, which count trucks and commercial vehicles among their most profitable businesses, “don’t want to leave the door open for Tesla” as they did in consumer passenger cars. The GM van – code-named BV1 – is due to start production in late 2021, the sources said. It is believed the BV1 van will share some components with GM’s future electric pickups and SUVs, including the automaker’s new Ultium advanced battery system. It is expected to be assembled alongside the electric trucks at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant.
The GM electric van project is aimed at an important segment of the emerging EV market – commercial delivery vehicles. For established players, this is a hugely profitable business segment driven by cost of ownership, not fancy tech or star power. It is also a segment in which Tesla and its high-profile CEO, Elon Musk, lack an entry to compete for sales and CO2 credits, which allow automakers to offset the sale of non-electric vehicles including high-margin pickups and SUVs.
Ford also is an investor in Michigan-based startup Rivian, which is scheduled to begin building the first of 100,000 mid-size electric vans for Amazon next year.
Do it, please. It’s the right business plan. Then build them in the US. Everyone wins...