Amazon's Custom Electric Vehicles Start Making Deliveries Across the US
The testing is complete and Amazon's custom electric delivery vehicles have started making deliveries in multiple cities across the US.
As part of its goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040, Amazon ordered 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from Rivian back in 2019. The final design was revealed in 2020, and Amazon started testing them in the Los Angeles area last year. With 430,000 packages delivered and 90,000 miles driven, they are now ready to start replacing gas-guzzlers as part of the main delivery fleet.
The new vehicles are already making deliveries in Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Nashville, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, and St. Louis, but the aim is to use them in more than 100 cities before the end of the year(Opens in a new window). And as for the 100,000 ordered from Rivian, Amazon intends to have them all being used by the time we get to 2030.
Rivian is manufacturing the vehicles for Amazon at its factory in Illinois. The "custom" aspect takes many forms, but includes 360-degree visibility, highway and traffic assist technology, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, collision warnings, and embedded tech for routing navigation, and driver support. The vehicle doors will automatically lock and unlock for the driver, the cabin and cargo area is ergonomically designed for easy movement inside the van, and Amazon says the batteries each van runs on will last for "the lifetime of the vehicle."
Of course, relying on electric vehicles means being able to quickly and easily recharge them. Amazon thought of that, of course, and has already installed thousands of charging stations across its US delivery network in preparation for the vehicles.
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