Already, FedEx Express is a major client of BrightDrop, the electric delivery and logistics business of General Motors (GM).
Now, another FedEx subsidiary is collaborating with a different automobile manufacturer. And it’s one that has massive plans for the Mid-South.
According to a press release, FedEx Office is working with Ford Pro — Ford Motor Co.’s commercial vehicle business — to pilot 10 Ford E-Transit vans across its FedEx SameDay City Network, which offers local, door-to-door delivery.
The vans have a targeted range of 126 miles on a single charge, and are being tested in nine markets, so their performance can be assessed in a variety of road and weather conditions. These markets are Chandler, Arizona; Newark, California; Boca Raton, Florida; Clearwater, Florida; Plantation, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; Madison Heights, Michigan; Allen, Texas; and Frisco, Texas.
FedEx Office has also installed charging stations for the vans at their home locations, and it’s set to supplement these with remote charging stations in each market, as needed.
A Ford spokesperson confirmed that FedEx Office has purchased the 10 vehicles, and provided the following statement from Tim Baughman, general manager of Ford Pro North America:
“Ford Pro is seeing huge demand for our electric solutions as companies look to accelerate a carbon emissions free future. E-Transit’s versatility is why it represents 95% of the electric van market today, and we are thrilled that FedEx Office selected it as their test vehicle for FedEx SameDay City.”
For FedEx, the collaboration is part of its quest to become carbon neutral by 2040, a $2 billion effort that will see funds divided among three areas: vehicle electrification, sustainable energy, and carbon sequestration.
By 2040, FedEx wants its parcel pickup and delivery (PUD) fleet to be entirely comprised of electric, zero-emission vehicles; and in June, FedEx Express announced it had received its first 150 electric delivery vehicles from BrightDrop. These were part of an order of 500 vehicles, and the company has signed an agreement with BrightDrop that reserved priority production for another 2,000. It could also add up to 20,000 more in the coming years.
For Ford, the collaboration comes amid its drastically increased emphasis on vehicle electrification — the company hopes to hit 600,000 EVs by late 2023 and 2 million by 2026 — and its plans for a huge project in FedEx’s backyard. Located on the 4,100-acre Megasite of West Tennessee, Blue Oval City is expected to be Ford’s largest, most technologically advanced, and most efficient production site. The $5.6 billion project is set to hold a battery manufacturing plant, supplier park, and Ford assembly plant that produces the company’s F-series all-electric trucks.
-with additional reporting from Stephen MacLeod.
