Amazon plans to spend €1 billion on electric trucks and vans in Europe

Amazon decided to commit €1 billion to speed up its transition to net-zero carbon footprint before the end of 2027. The investment will be dedicated to purchase of electric long-haul trucks and delivery vans as well as to updating all of its package hubs to become carbon neutral.

Buying electric vehicles is just the part of the push, the company will have to invest in corresponding charging infrastructure. It will be a huge undertaking, the company is planning to operate 10,000 electric vans by 2025. While Rivian is responsible for Amazon electric vans in the US, the European fleet will come from Mercedes and Stellantis with which the company has placed orders before.

The long-haul operations will be upgraded to 1,500 heavy-duty electric trucks mainly from Volvo and Daimler, with the first 20 Volvos already on its way. Amazon will be one of the first customers to begin real-world trials of the upcoming electric 44-ton truck from Daimler.

The large part of the investment will be spent in Germany, €400 million has been designated for the new fleet with €340 million to be spent in the UK where the company wants to purchase 700 electric heavy-duty trucks. Amazon plans to build large charging parks for its fleet, with chargers capable of recharging the electric trucks in under two hours.

Last-mile deliveries will be handled by Amazon’s micro-mobility hubs, at the moment the company operates 20 of those across main cities in Europe and it plans to double that number by 2025.

The next step in Amazon's net-zero plan is to ensure that all of its operations are powered by renewable sources by the end of 2025. This shouldn’t be a problem, the company has reached 85 percent level last year already but the final push means all the new EV chargers will have to be included.

Amazon is using its sheer size to force the automotive industry to speed up the development and manufacturing of electric vehicles. Road transport is one of the highest polluters and if the company manages to achieve its goals, it will be an amazing contribution. By forcing manufacturers to shift faster to electric vans and trucks, other logistics companies will benefit from better availability eventually, but will have to wait their turn.

€1 billion investment is a huge amount of many and one that automakers will scramble to fight for. In the process they will have to overcome all the current supply chain issues, manufacturing delays and logistical problems on top of the electric car development. Five years is not a lot of time and there’s just one question - what will happen with Amazon’s current, gas-guzzling fleet?

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