General Motors is discontinuing its Brightdrop electric delivery van just four years after it was introduced.
The company announced Tuesday in conjunction with its third-quarter financial results that it made the decision because “the commercial electric delivery van market was developing much more slowly than expected.” GM also blames “changes in the regulatory environment and the elimination of U.S. tax credits” as a result of the second Trump administration’s hostility toward EVs.
Brightdrop production has been halted at GM’s CAMI assembly facility in Ontario, Canada, since May, when the company also cut 500 jobs. GM said Tuesday it needed to have “meaningful discussions” with Canadian government leaders about the plant’s “opportunities.” In the meantime, GM told TechCrunch that BrightDrop dealers “will continue to sell and service vehicles while we process remaining inventory.”
The decision to discontinue BrightDrop comes at an odd time for electric vehicles in the United States. GM and other companies set new records for EV sales in the third quarter, fueled in part by the expiration of federal tax credits that Congressional Republicans voted to eliminate.
Meanwhile, major automakers like GM have spent much of the last year backtracking on once-lofty promises about how many EVs they plan to make and sell over the next few years. GM, which once pledged to make its fleet fully electric by 2035, boasted on Tuesday that it is “well positioned to meet strong and sustained demand” for internal combustion engine vehicles. (Investors have rewarded that decision: GM stock is up 14% as of this article’s publication.)
BrightDrop’s short existence was chaotic. GM unveiled the program as a pseudo-startup in 2021. The automaker created Brightdrop within its Global Innovation organization (where OnStar was founded) and spun it out as a private company.
BrightDrop was announced at that year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Automakers touted benefits such as lower total cost of ownership and less frequent maintenance compared to internal combustion engine vehicles. Brightdrop’s van seemed ready to take advantage of the fact that major companies like FedEx are pushing towards carbon neutrality and zero emissions. BrightDrop also comes at a time when the pandemic has caused a huge surge in e-commerce, increasing the need for delivery vans.
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Just two years later, GM absorbed BrightDrop into its entire fleet business, GM Envolve. The division’s CEO, Travis Katz, has resigned. Some vans caught fire, leading to a recall in early 2024. GM then relocated Brightdrop again, this time within Chevrolet’s commercial division. The company continued to struggle with sales of its Bright Drop van this year, with first-half sales barely exceeding 1,500 units.
Exactly why GM had so much trouble selling the BrightDrop van is unclear. Although there were numerous indicators that the sector was struggling, the decision appears to have been somewhat abrupt. Earlier this month, GM Envolve Vice President Ian Hacker promoted BrightDrop vans in a press release about the company’s partnership with delivery driver organization Frontdoor Collective and infrastructure company Circuit EV. The partnership will provide Target with 50 BrightDrop vans for use in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
GM is not alone. Ford’s E-Transit van sales are well below 2024 sales. But Rivian has teamed up with Amazon to put more than 25,000 electric vans on the road over the past few years. Additionally, Los Angeles-based startup Harbinger has sold more than 200 electric truck chassis since it began production in April. On Tuesday morning, Harbinger also announced it would expand sales into Canada.
