Amazon.com talked about on Friday it had ordered 1,800 electric vans from Mercedes-Benz for its European provide fleet, as part of the web retailer’s plans to run a carbon neutral enterprise by 2040.
A majority of the electric vehicles from Daimler AG’s vehicle and vans division will go into service this 12 months, the company talked about, together with that it had ordered 1,200 of Mercedes-Benz’s greater eSprinter fashions and 600 of the midsize eVitos.
The order is the largest for Mercedes-Benz’s electric vehicles to date and incorporates 800 vans for Germany and 500 for the United Kingdom.
It is dwarfed, nonetheless, by Amazon’s order for 100,000 electric provide vans from Rivian Automotive LLC, a startup it has invested in.
Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos talked about in an announcement the Daimler settlement was part of the retailer’s ‘journey to assemble basically probably the most sustainable transportation fleet on the earth.’
Mercedes-Benz on Friday joined The Climate Pledge, started by Amazon remaining 12 months, which calls on signatories to be net zero carbon all through their corporations by 2040. The automaker has beforehand talked about it was aiming to have a carbon neutral fleet by 2039.
In 2018, Amazon grew to develop into the biggest purchaser of Mercedes’ non-electric Sprinter vans, securing 20,000 vehicles for provide contractors.
‘Moving forward, we’re prioritizing the addition of electric vehicles,’ Ross Rachey, Amazon’s director of worldwide fleet and merchandise for last-mile provide suggested Reuters.
Other provide companies are pushing for additional electric fleets. In January United Parcel Service talked about it was ordering 10,000 provide vans from UK-based Arrival Ltd.
Daimler’s rivals are moreover engaged on bringing electric vans to market. Ford Motor Co plans an all-electric mannequin of its Transit van in North America in 2022, and General Motors objectives to begin out manufacturing of an electric van in late 2021. Bollinger yesterday joined the fray, saying its private electric provide van.
