2025 chevrolet brightdrop vans

mikedo

does anyone own one of these and do you like it. it seems with the rebates is less expensive than a gas model. and i like the walk in body and you can get it 4x4.

londonrefrig

Don't own one, but they are made down the road from my office. We are switching our small fleet (+-20) from Nissan vans to Mercedes sprinters.

I know the one issue they were having was leaks. Not sure if engineering got that figured out. Other issue was batteries. Apparently they start to degrade (violently i am told) over 70f. We installed cooling for the offsite battery warehouse and they were very concerned when it got warm, supply issues slowed refrigeration equipment for install.

Some of the concerns for our company with switching from gas/diesel to electric.

Who pays for down time to charge? I can fuel the van in 10min and drive for 3-5 days worth of calls. Not the same vehicle, but i see guys with electric transits parked for 30+min every day at charging stations. Thats time not billable. Sucks when your paid by billable hours.

Whats the range, especially when its 0f and tech is working on a roof all day? Does it have enough charge to last the drive to site and home plus x2 15min warmup breaks and lunch? Not every site has electricity supply, and how many that do will let you charge your work van for free? Guess we could pull the gas generator out to charge the van. 🤣

Further to the range, chev blazEr is down to 33% battery after 2hr drive in 0f weather. Not sure on the britedrop. Definitely a question worth asking.

Longevity of the battery. Depending on the life of the battery, how many cycles before it needs changing and at what cost? Further, what will the resale be after 5 years?

In a company where most techs are on call 24/7, vans are kept at the residence. Who pays for the end of day charging? The charging port at my house isnt free to install or use. Further more, our grid was struggling without electric vehicles. Now with more electric usage with heat pumps, electric heat, and electric vehicles, we see higher demand with more dirty power. Great for vehicle and hvac repair techs. 😅 On a serious note, my extended family has lost one home and two vehicles due to plug in electric hybrid related fires.

I know there are other concerns as well, but for a one man show running residential customers, it might be great. For a commercial/industrial multi van operation, lots of issues to be sorted out.

Why we went with a Mercedes? Im told because it wasnt made in the USA. I think its stupid, but buying American here is scorned. Companies are scouring contacts and suppliers for non-USA made products. Tariffs are souring a lot of attitudes.

HVACNUT

MSRP for the Chevy is 30K more than a base Transit. So how many miles does it need to go to make it worth it? 800,000? Plus, they're quite fugly.

The Steam Whisperer

Yeah, if you buy a diesel, electrics really don't make sense. I have my second Chevy Express full size van with the baby duramax. 20 MPG in the city, low to mid thirty on the highway with 2500 lb in the back all the time. For city driving 500 to 600 miles between fill ups and on the highway about 900 to 1000 miles. Saves at lot of time fueling vehicles and the extra upfront cost of the diesel paid for itself in about 12 months. Despite my last one being totaled around110,000 miles, for the time it was in service it saved me around $24,000 compared to the v-8 gas models. That should let me retire a year or two earlier.

Oh and almost nobody bought them…. a big reflection on the poor management of American industry.

tim smith

It would pay to have techs house outfitted with level 2 charger, wireless usage meter in chargers. That way you could reimburse. Of course could be issue if there panel can't support it or they decide to move on. Probably need 40 amp circuit. That would be appx 7kw per hr charge. Of course matters how far commute is for tech and how much distance job to job avg. looks like bright drop 400 awd is rated at 300 mi in city or combined 272 which probably means 180 or so in winter sub 30 temps I would guess. Would need to verify cold weather range rating from mft. These ranges would have worked for my company if we didn't decide to shut down. But I am sure some it may not.