E-commerce giant Amazon has announced that it will invest more than one billion euros to further electrify its transportation fleet across Europe over the next five years.
The company said it is using thousands of zero-emission vehicles 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 decarbonise, and to achieve net-zero carbon will require a substantial and sustained investment,” said Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO.
Amazon has more than 3,000 electric vans delivering packages to customers across Europe and expects to grow its fleet to more than 10,000 by 2025.
“Deploying thousands of electric vans, long-haul trucks, and bikes will help us shift further away from the traditional fossil fuels,” he said in a statement late on Monday.
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.
Amazon has launched micro-mobility hubs in more than 20 cities across Europe, including London, Munich and Paris, and expects to double that figure by the end of 2025.
Micro-mobility hubs are smaller, centrally-located delivery stations.
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.
To power its eHGVs, the company said it will build hundreds of specialised fast chargers across its European facilities, allowing the company to charge the vehicles in approximately two hours.