Amazon is adding 1800 new electric vehicles to its European delivery fleet as it seeks to meet its climate goals.
The vehicles come from carmaker Mercedes-Benz, which has just joined Amazon in pledging to reach net zero carbon by 2040. The ecommerce giant will use the vehicles to make deliveries by the end of the year.
Six hundred of the vehicles will be mid-size eVitos while the remaining two thirds of the vans will be the larger eSprinter model, which includes more advanced safety features.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, said: “We welcome the bold leadership demonstrated by Mercedes-Benz by signing up to The Climate Pledge and committing to ambitious action to address climate change.
“We need continued innovation and partnership from auto manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz to decarbonize the transportation sector and tackle the climate crisis.
“Amazon is adding 1,800 electric delivery vehicles from Mercedes-Benz as part of our journey to build the most sustainable transportation fleet in the world, and we will be moving fast to get these vans on the road this year.”
Ola Källenius, chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, said: “At Mercedes-Benz, we have set ourselves the ambitious target to make the transformation of mobility a success story. By joining ‘The Climate Pledge’ we are building on our goal to consistently pursue emission-free mobility and sustainable vehicle production.
“We stand with Amazon, Global Optimism and the other signatories of The Climate Pledge, in a commitment to being net zero carbon by 2040 – ten years ahead of The Paris Agreement. I am pleased that we will be able to gain even more momentum on our sustainability offensive with this step.”
Marcus Breitschwerdt, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, said: “With the eVito and the eSprinter, we have electric vehicles in our portfolio, which are ideally suited for the requirements of the courier-, express- and parcel-service industry for goods delivery on the so-called ‘last mile’ in terms of their equipment and range. They show that local emission-free driving, convincing performance, comfort and low operating costs can be combined perfectly.”
Mercedes-Benz vehicles are already used by the likes of Hermes, Yodel and Royal Mail.
Electric vehicles are considered an ideal fit for the last mile delivery between the warehouse and the customer’s home, where a smaller payload is carried around a shorter route. However, while manufacturers are working on boosting their range, they lack the engine power and battery capacity to serve longer routes between distribution centres.
