Walmart is integrating Chevrolet BrightDrop electric vans into its InHome delivery fleet, the company has announced.
By the end of the year, BrightDrop 400 delivery vans will start to be rolled out in Austin, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Northwest Arkansas, Orlando, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Walmart had reserved 5,000 of these electric vans from BrightDrop in 2022, and the initial deployments are beginning soon. InHome associates, who are trained to deliver groceries directly to customers’ homes, participated in a pilot program with General Motors (GM) to assess the vans’ real-world performance.
“With a focus on being people-led and tech-powered, we’re always looking for ways to enhance the associate experience and provide the best possible service to our customers. That’s why we’re so excited about the addition of the BrightDrop 400 to our InHome delivery fleet,” said Warren Moore, Vice President of Dedicated Delivery at Walmart U.S.
The pilot program found that the vehicles easily navigated congested streets and residential areas, thanks to features such as automatically closing doors that enhanced efficiency and employee comfort. The ergonomic design, featuring low entry steps, also made it easy for employees to get in and out the vehicles.
Sandor Piszar, Vice President of GM Envolve, noted that the BrightDrop vans are “purpose-built to get the job done safely and efficiently while helping businesses like Walmart decarbonize their fleet.” Moore added, “During the pilot, we listened closely to our InHome associates’ feedback and were impressed by the vans’ performance in real-world scenarios.”
The BrightDrop electric vans are manufactured at GM’s CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada.
In early 2022, General Motors received the initial reservation for 5,000 BrightDrop vehicles from Walmart. BrightDrop, first presented to the public in 2021, was initially operated relatively independently of GM management. However, by late 2023, BrightDrop was integrated into GM’s structures as part of GM Envolve. A more recent strategic change in August 2024 saw BrightDrop subordinated to the Chevrolet brand, a move intended to enhance efficiency, improve growth prospects, and reduce costs by leveraging Chevrolet’s sales and service network. Although the BrightDrop website currently lists only seven dealers in the USA, the company’s sales have recently increased significantly, with 992 vehicles delivered in the first nine months of the current year—almost triple the 333 vehicles sold during the same period last year.
