The American manufacturer pointed out that the Ingersoll plant is the first in Canada to mass-produce electric vehicles.
GM also announced today that courier and courier company DHL Express Canada will acquire vehicles from BrightDrop, a unit created by General Motors to produce electric commercial vans.
DHL Express Canada is expected to start using Zevo 600 vans in early 2023.
BrightDrop President and CEO Travis Katz said in a statement that the start of electric van production in Canada “is a big step in delivering electric vehicles at scale.”
In November, BrightDrop announced that it had signed a contract to supply 18,000 electric vans to US-based Merchants Fleet (MF). Of the total, 12,600 units will be of the Zevo 600 model while the remaining 5,400 will be the smaller Zevo 410.
Verizon and FedEx Express have also purchased BrightDrop vans.
GM has earmarked C$2 billion (US$1.473 billion) to convert its Ingersoll assembly plant to produce electric vehicles.
In addition, the Government of Canada and the government of the province of Ontario, where the plant is located, contributed C$259 million (US$191 million).
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