Amazon wants to triple the number of electric vans in Europe to 10,000

Amazon wants to invest more than a billion euros in the next five years in further electrifying its European transport network. Thousands of electric vans and trucks are to be added, among other things. In addition, the company wants to invest more in electric bicycles.

Now Amazon has more than 3000 electric delivery vans that deliver packages to customers. By 2025, thanks to the investment, this should have grown to more than 10,000, writes the company. It is not clear how many vans Amazon has in total.

In the coming years, more than 1,500 electric trucks will also be on European roads, a lot less than the number of delivery vans. This is because long-distance transport is difficult due to ‘the shape and weight of trucks and their trailers, combined with the long distances’. There are ‘promising technologies’ for electric trucks, but the production of those trucks and the availability of infrastructure are limited.

At the moment Amazon has five electric trucks in the United Kingdom, later this year twenty should be on the road in Germany. With the announced investment, Amazon hopes that the scale will become large enough for truck manufacturers to invest in production and that prices may fall as a result. This would also benefit other companies that want to switch to electric trucks, the company says.

To solve the infrastructure problem, Amazon wants to “install hundreds of specialized fast chargers” at Amazon locations in Europe. This means that the trucks can be charged in about two hours. Amazon stores will also receive thousands of regular charging points.

Apart from the trucks and vans, the company wants to use the money to install more ‘micro-mobility hubs’. The company now has twenty such hubs, including in London, Munich and Paris. These are smaller delivery stations in densely populated cities, from which Amazon wants to deliver packages using, for example, electric cargo bikes and deliveries on foot instead of delivery vans. Amazon aims to double the number of hubs by 2025.

Amazon says it wants to be carbon neutral by 2040. By 2025, the company aims to make full use of renewable energy. Last year, the company achieved 85 percent renewable energy. The use of renewable energy applies to all Amazon components, including data centers and offices, for example.