Amazon will add at least 10,000 electric delivery vans and more than 1500 electric heavy goods vehicles to its European zero-emission fleet by 2025.
The company says it will invest more than one billion euros (NZ$1.7b) over the next five years to further electrify and decarbonise its transportation network across Europe.
The investment is also intended to drive innovation across the industry and encourage more public charging infrastructure, which will help enable the broader transportation industry to more quickly reduce emissions, says Amazon.
The company is already using thousands of zero-emission vehicles (including more than 300 electric delivery vans) across its European operations, and this investment will add thousands more, accelerating Amazon’s progress toward becoming net-zero carbon by 2040—10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.
“Our transportation network is one of the most challenging areas of our business to decarbonize, and to achieve net-zero carbon will require a substantial and sustained investment,” says Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy.
“Deploying thousands of electric vans, long-haul trucks, and bikes will help us shift further away from traditional fossil fuels – and hopefully further encourage transportation and automotive industries in Europe and around the world to continue scaling and innovating, as we will have to work together to reach our climate goals.”
Amazon’s investment is intended to bring more electric delivery vans, e-cargo bikes and on-foot deliveries to cities across Europe.
It has launched micro-mobility (smaller, centrally located) delivery hubs in more than 20 cities across Europe, including London, Munich and Paris, and expects to double that figure by the end of 2025.
In Europe’s traditionally dense cities, the hubs enable Amazon to operate new delivery methods, such as e-cargo bikes and on-foot deliveries, to bring packages to customers more sustainably. Micro-mobility hubs take traditional delivery vans off the road, which alleviates traffic congestion in city centres and improves air quality, Amazon says.
It will also invest in thousands of chargers across its European facilities, allowing the company and its partners to improve fleet charging hardware.
Long haul transportation is a hard-to-decarbonise sector due to the size and weight of the trucks and trailers, and the long distances they need to travel, Amazon explains.
“Electric heavy goods vehicles (eHGVs) are a promising technology, but eHGV production and charging infrastructure availability are limited. Amazon today has five eHGVs on the road in the UK, and will have 20 on the road in Germany by the end of this year.”
Amazon is using its size and scale to help spark the scaling of eHGV production so Amazon and others can more quickly transition away from diesel trucks.
The latest investment sees Amazon expect to purchase and roll out more than 1500 eHGVs in its European fleet in coming years.
To power its eHGVs, Amazon will build hundreds of specialised fast chargers across its European facilities, allowing the company to charge the vehicles in about two hours.
Amazon has also surpassed 100 renewable energy projects in Europe on the way to powering its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, reaching 85% in 2021.
This applies to all Amazon operations such as data centres, logistics facilities, physical stores, and corporate offices, including on-site charging points.
