Merchants Fleet has ordered 12,500 Ram ProMaster electric commercial vans, to be delivered over several years, according to Ram. To be launched later this year, the van will be Ram’s first fully electric vehicle to hit the market; the Fiat version is already sold in Europe. The next electric Ram is the 1500 REV.
Merchants Fleet is the fastest-growing fleet management company in North America; it provides short- and long-term leasing options. Brad Burgess, senior VP of fleet sales and strategic solutions at Merchants Fleet, said, “This collaboration allows us to provide our clients with exclusive access to EVs and a level of flexibility they simply can’t get anywhere else.”
Merchants Fleet is the second major customer, after Amazon, which is already a major buyer for gasoline ProMasters. Amazon has committed to buying thousands of ProMaster EVs every year, but those won’t be Amazon’s first electric vans. The massive online retailer, which started just selling books, has been buying large numbers of custom-made electric vans from Rivian which are already in daily use; but they have massive needs for “last-mile” delivery vehicles.
