Years after its inception Amazon continues to venture into new territories and introduce new services. As a part of The Climate Pledge to be a carbon-neutral company by 2040 Amazon had previously announced the purchase of 100,000 custom made electric delivery vehicles. Amazon has commenced testing these vehicles along different delivery routes in parts of Los Angeles. It has been speculated that more and more customers will see these vehicles in the near future.
Amazon has partnered with Rivian, an EV startup that manufactures vehicles equipped with state of the art technology. Amazon expects to roll out 10,000 such vans making deliveries by as soon as 2022 and almost 100,000 vans by 2030.
Ross Rachey, Director of Amazon’s Global Fleet and Products said, “When we set out to create our first customized electric delivery vehicle with Rivian, we knew that it needed to far surpass any other delivery vehicle. We wanted drivers to love using it and customers to feel excited when they saw it driving through their neighbourhood and pulling up to their home. We combined Rivian’s technology with our delivery logistics knowledge, and the result is what you see here-the future of last-mile delivery.”
The vehicles are equipped with exterior cameras giving the driver a full 360-degree view outside the vehicle. It also has an inbuilt Amazon voice assistant, Alexa to provide hands-free navigation and the latest weather updates.
Amazon plans on achieving net-zero carbon by 2040 across its various facilities, which is ten years ahead of The Paris Agreement. In order to achieve this goal, Amazon is rethinking its transportation options. The company is constantly striving to achieve more and more sustainable means to deliver goods to its customers by exploring different possible ways of delivery, better alternative fuels and developing newer and more advanced technology.
In 2020, Amazon was responsible for delivering over 20 million packages to its customers across North America and Europe through electric delivery vehicles and plans on building that momentum in 2021. RJ Scaringe, founder and CEO of Rivian said, “Rivian’s purpose is to deliver products that the world didn’t already have, to redefine expectations through the application of technology and innovation. This milestone is one example of how Rivian and Amazon are working toward the world of 2040, and we hope it inspires other companies to fundamentally change the way that they operate.”
These high tech vans are more advanced than they look inclusive of one of the best safety, design and navigation features. The driver’s side door is strengthened to provide additional security and the van also comes with a “dancefloor” feature providing enough space inside the driver’s cabin for easy movement. A large windshield is placed in order to improve the driver’s visibility.
When it comes to the electric vehicle industry Rivian is relatively a new name. So far Rivian has been able to debut two vehicles – the R1T pickup truck and the R1S SUV. Rivian vehicles’ cost starts at around $70,000 and being electric vehicles the company claims that the vehicles are capable of travelling up to 400 miles on a single charge and can hit 600 miles per hour in just under three seconds. This could be the next big thing in the e-commerce delivery industry as more and more companies are getting aware of the impact on the environment and the importance of sustainability.
