Last week, during the 2021 Governor’s Conference on Economic and Community Development, FedEx’s Richard Smith detailed the pivotal role electric vehicles will play in the company’s quest to be carbon neutral by 2040, as well as its partnership with General Motors subsidiary BrightDrop.
Now, another deal tied to the FedEx name will help edge the FedEx network toward widespread EV adoption.
Xos Inc., a Los Angeles-based electric commercial vehicle manufacturer, is set to distribute 120 electric trucks to FedEx Ground operators across California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Texas.
Those operators are independent service providers who contract with FedEx Ground and deliver products under its name.
“We are pleased to support the electrification of FedEx’s medium-duty pickup-and-delivery fleet across several U.S. states as FedEx continues to advance sustainability efforts and work toward achieving carbon emissions goals across its global business,” said Dakota Semler, Xos’ co-founder and CEO, in a press release. “We are thrilled with our current FedEx Ground relationships and look forward to expanding them further among the 4,000 FedEx Ground operators who support the FedEx network.”
The delivery of the vehicles is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2021 and in 2022. There are also ongoing discussions about providing more vehicles to not just those FedEx Ground operators, but other ones, in additional states, in 2022 and 2023.
The move comes as Xos prepares to merge with NextGen Acquisition Corp. — a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) — which will make it publicly traded.
For FedEx, Xos’ vehicles will push it closer toward its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2040, an effort that involves a $2 billion investment divided among three areas: vehicle electrification, sustainable energy, and carbon sequestration. This includes a $100 million commitment to Yale University (Smith's alma mater), so the institution can establish the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture.
