GoBolt, a fulfillment and last-mile delivery service focused on carbon neutrality using electric vehicles and carbon offsets through a partnership with EcoCart, has launched parcel delivery in several U.S. and Canadian, with plans to expand as demand and adoption dictate.
The company is starting out with a fleet of 70 electric vans, with plans to grow that to more than 185 in the next 12 months; it also has 110 box trucks that are a combination of diesel and EV. GoBolt has operations in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottowa, Atlanta, New York, Miami, Houston and Los Angeles.
In June, GoBolt acquired Montreal-based startup BoxKnight, a same- and next-day delivery provider that operates in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. It used crowdsourced drivers, which have been offered positions at GoBolt. BoxKnight’s software, which integrates with ecommerce platforms to handle last-mile deliveries, has been folded into GoBolt’s parcel delivery offering. The company said the acquisition helped pull its small parcel go-to-market strategy forward by 1-2 quarters.
GoBolt offers same-day and next-day services, with an option for contactless delivery. It has developed its own WMS, routing algorithm, a merchant-facing portal and real-time tracking via an app.
Mark Ang, co-founder and CEO of GoBolt, said the company started out life in 2017 as a consumer storage and delivery service, providing “second closet” space in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver. “Eventually that bled over to managing big and bulky items, going after delivery opportunities for that, and the warehouse and truck infrastructure to support it,” Ang said.
GoBolt technology partner EcoCart calculates and validates the carbon footprint of each delivery and purchases offset credits in the exact dollar amount required to counteract unavoidable emissions. In instances when it can’t make deliveries using EVs, GoBolt can offer customers carbon offsets to get to neutrality through EcoCart.
“We draw a hardline distinction between carbon neutrality and true net zero delivery by using EVs, not diesel or gas trucks and then offsetting later,” Ang said. “Our focus is on net zero. The clientele that came from BoxKnight is very aligned with that approach, and we’ll do more exploration as far as what markets have the most requests (for carbon neutral deliveries).”
GoBolt now has 15 leased warehouses, ranging from 100,000 to 300,000 square feet. Ang said the company uses data visualization and queries to help customers optimize inventory placement in order to cut down on delivery times and avoid split shipments. “We help them make smart decisions around inventory distribution, so as to not deteriorate ROI, helping them advantage of forward placement,” he said.