General Motors is abandoning BrightDrop electric trucks

General Motors is ditching its BrightDrop electric delivery trucks, just four years after introducing the vehicles.

The company announced Tuesday alongside third-quarter earnings that it made the decision because “the market for commercial electric delivery trucks has developed much more slowly than expected.” GM also blames “the changing regulatory environment and the elimination of tax credits in the United States” — a result of the second Trump administration’s hostility toward electric vehicles.

BrightDrop production at GM’s CAMI Assembly facility in Ontario, Canada, has been suspended since May, when the company also cut 500 jobs. GM said Tuesday it needs to have “meaningful discussions” with government leaders in Canada about “opportunities” for the plant. Meanwhile, GM told TechCrunch that BrightDrop dealers “will continue to sell and service vehicles as we work to replenish remaining inventory.”

The decision to shut down BrightDrop comes at a strange moment for electric vehicles in the United States. Companies like General Motors set new records for electric vehicle sales in the third quarter, though that enthusiasm was driven in part by the expiration of the federal tax credit, which Republicans in Congress decided to end.

Meanwhile, major automakers like General Motors have spent much of the past year walking back on lofty promises about how many electric cars they plan to make and sell in the coming years. General Motors, which once pledged to have an all-electric fleet by 2035, boasted Tuesday that it was “well positioned to meet strong and sustained demand” for internal combustion vehicles. (Investors rewarded this decision. GM’s stock price was up 14% at press time.)

BrightDrop’s short existence has been chaotic. GM exposed the program as a bogus startup in 2021. The automaker created BrightDrop at its “global innovation” organization (where OnStar was built) and incorporated it as a privately owned company.

BrightDrop was launched at the Consumer Electronics Show that year. The automaker touted the lower total cost of ownership and less frequent maintenance as advantages over their internal combustion counterparts. BrightDrop Trucks appears poised to quickly capitalize on the fact that big companies like FedEx have been pushing to become carbon neutral and emissions-free. BrightDrop also came into existence at a time when the pandemic was fueling a massive e-commerce boom, increasing the need for delivery trucks.

Just two years later, GM absorbed BrightDrop into its overall fleet business, GM Envolve. The unit’s CEO, Travis Katz, resigned. Some of the trucks began catching fire, prompting a recall in early 2024. GM then moved BrightDrop again, this time to Chevrolet’s commercial division. The automaker has continued to struggle to sell BrightDrop trucks this year, barely surpassing 1,500 vehicles sold in the first half.

It’s not clear why, specifically, GM has struggled so hard to sell its BrightDrop trucks. Although there were many indications that the unit was suffering, it seems that the decision came somewhat suddenly. Earlier this month, GM Envolve vice president Ian Hooker was touting BrightDrop trucks in a press release about a partnership with delivery driver organization Frontdoor Collective and infrastructure company Circuit EV. This partnership is supposed to provide 50 BrightDrop pickup trucks to Target for use in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

GM is not alone. Ford E-Transit truck sales are much lower than they were in 2024. But Rivian has put more than 25,000 electric trucks on the road with Amazon over the past few years. Los Angeles-based startup Harbinger has sold more than 200 of its electric truck bodies since production began in April. On Tuesday morning, Harbinger also announced that it is expanding its sales into Canada.