• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » GM and Ford Will Fight Startups in the Commercial Van Market

GM and Ford Will Fight Startups in the Commercial Van Market

Commercial Van Market
March 28, 2021
Bloomberg

Four wheels, a box and a stripped down cabin. The cargo van isn’t sexy, but thanks to Amazon and e-commerce, startups and established carmakers are falling over themselves to make these proletarian haulers, preparing for a battle royale.

Just in the past week, U.K. startup Arrival said it will open a second plant in the U.S. to make delivery vans for UPS. Electric Last Mile Solutions, a U.S. startup with Chinese roots, confirmed plans to start building plug-in vans in the former Hummer factory in Indiana come fall. And under-fire Lordstown Motors defied a short seller’s report that it had no revenue potential by announcing a battery-powered van for 2022. General Motors and Ford already said they have e-vans coming.

The Covid pandemic-inspired boom in e-commerce is driving demand for these e-vans, with the likes of Amazon, Fedex and UPS needing more vehicles to keep up with growing freight volume. Combine that with the Biden Administration’s stated desire for clean transport and what you get are big companies moving to reduce their carbon footprint. In the next couple of years, there may be unusually large demand as companies move to replace gasoline burners with plug-in trucks.

“Commercial vehicles aren’t sexy, but it’s a hell of a good business,” said Sam Abuelsamid, principal research analyst with Guidehouse Insights. “They are a crucial part of the economy.”

It’s a smart move for all involved. I see companies trying to sell skeptical consumers on the idea that they don’t need to fear running out of juice on the highway in an EV. Fleet owners know exactly how far their vehicles will ride before needing a recharge, and it’s usually not much more than 100 miles in a day. Electric vans are also cheaper and easier to build, typically use smaller, less expensive batteries and their customers aren’t nearly as finicky as the wealthy consumers that Porsche, Tesla and GM’s electric Hummer are chasing with their $100,000 electric rides.

That’s why Electric Last Mile, which went public in a SPAC deal in December, is selling a small electric van that goes 150 miles on a charge — it’ll cost $25,000 after the federal government’s $7,500 in tax incentives, said CEO Jim Taylor.

Ford, the largest commercial vehicle maker in the U.S., says it will start selling its E-Transit van later this year — it’ll go 126 miles on a charge. GM is launching a new unit called BrightDrop shortly after, with plans to sell the EV600 van that can go 250 miles on a charge and will save diesel truck owners $7,000 a year if they make the switch, said BrightDrop CEO Travis Katz. He told investors at a recent presentation that electric delivery vehicles will be a $30 billion market by 2025. BrightDrop already has Fedex signed on as a customer.

Arrival builds small vans and buses in tiny factories that cost about $40 million and can make 10,000 vehicles a year. By next year, the company will have two manufacturing operations in North and South Carolina and 31 globally by 2025.

“All of these large fleet operators have environmental goals,” says Mike Abelson, CEO of Arrival Automotive North America. “They all have the stated intent to go electric and their message to us is that there isn’t enough product to choose from.”

There will still be a shakeout. Guidehouse forecasts that electric delivery vans alone will sell at a rate of around 190,000 a year globally by 2030. Electric trucks of all kinds, including work vehicles, garbage trucks and other proletarian haulers, will be 600,000 a year, Abuelsamid says. Will there be enough customers for all the vans being built?

“Probably not,” Abuelsamid said. “Certainly not in North America.”

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Last Mile Delivery Logistics Express/Small Shipments LTL/Truckload Services Transportation & Distribution Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility Automotive E-Commerce/Omni-Channel North America
  • Related Articles

    GM, Ford and Most Airlines Are Lagging Behind Paris Climate Target

    Ford Will Not Build New Focus Cars in U.S., Despite Trump’s Tariffs Tweet

    The Future of Electric Vehicles in Commercial Transportation

Bloomberg

As Retail Sales Improved, Inventories Rose Less in February Than Expected

More from this author

Wake up to Coronavirus Updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Coronavirus-watch-Armada

    Virus Update: J&J Pause Could Last Several Weeks; Global Vaccine Production Nears 2 Billion

    Coronavirus
  • Shipping Costs

    Higher Shipping Costs Are Here to Stay, Sparking Price Increases

    Coronavirus
  • Ocado

    Kroger Is Amassing a Robot Army to Battle Amazon, Walmart

    Logistics
  • Shipping Logjam

    Reducing Supply-Chain Disruptions Through Integrated Logistics

    Coronavirus
  • Indoor Farm

    Vertical Farming: A Solution to Waste and Inefficiency in the Food Supply Chain?

    Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility

Digital Edition

Scb feb 2021 lg

2021 Supply Chain Management Resource Guide

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • Remote Implementation: A Dose of the Right Medicine for B2B Pharmacy

  • LSP Saves Customer $1.5 Million a Year With MPO Global Inbound Management

  • Auto Supplier Wows Key Client Using riskmethods Supply Chain Savvy

  • Integrating Shipping and Compliance Saves Conglomerate Millions

  • How a Consumer Goods Giant Upped Its On-Time Delivery Performance

Visit Our Sponsors

Yang Ming 6 River Systems ArcBest
Armada aThingz BluJay
Burris Logistics DSC Logistics DCSA (Digital Container Shipping Association)
DHL Resilience360 Flash Global Genpact
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Honeywell Corporate Honeywell Intelligrated Infor
Inmar Kibo Commerce Kinaxis
Logility Magnitude Software MPO
Old Dominion Oliver Wight OpenSky
Paccurate Ports America Purolator
QAD Precision Red Classic Riskmethods
S&H Systems Snapfulfil TGW Systems
Tradepoint Atlantic Transportation Insights Watson Land Company
Westfalia Technologies Workjam
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2021 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing