Dive Brief:
- Amazon plans to invest more than 1 billion euros to more than double the size of its electric van delivery fleet in Europe over the next five years, the company announced Wednesday.
- The online retail giant currently has more than 3,000 electric vans delivering packages to customers in Europe. It expects to grow its fleet to more than 10,000 vans by 2025.
- The investment, valued at approximately $981 million as of Friday, advances the company’s progress toward net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. “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,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Amazon's European operations have been at the forefront of the company's sustainable transportation push.
Last year, Amazon delivered more than 100 million packages to customer doorsteps in Europe using electric delivery vans and other zero-emission vehicles, per its sustainability report. In North America, it delivered over half a million packages with EVs, although that number should grow as the company ramps up its use of Rivian EVs in the U.S. over the next seven years.
The company's planned investment in Europe doesn't just call for more electric vans, however. Amazon also expects to purchase and roll out more than 1,500 electric heavy goods vehicles in the coming years, as it moves away from diesel trucks for long-haul transportation. The online retailer currently has five electric heavy goods vehicles on the road in the U.K., and it will have 20 on the road in Germany by the end of this year.
"To power its eHGVs, Amazon will build hundreds of specialized fast chargers across its European facilities, allowing the company to charge the vehicles in approximately two hours," according to the company's announcement.
As part of the investment, Amazon also expects to double its number of smaller, centrally located delivery stations it calls "micro-mobility hubs" by 2025.
These hubs allow Amazon to take delivery vans off the road in busy city centers, replacing them with other delivery methods such as e-cargo bikes and on-foot deliveries. Currently, the company has micro-mobility hubs in more than 20 European cities, including London, Munich and Paris.
“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," Jassy said.
Other carriers have leveraged e-cargo bikes to further their own sustainability initiatives in Europe. FedEx Express had added more than 70 e-cargo bikes to its operations in select European cities, according to FedEx. In April, Reuters reported that UPS was trialing electric bikes in seven European markets and would launch trials in the U.S. and markets in Asia.
