Amazon is starting to roll out some of the electric delivery vans it developed with Rivian Automotive, the companies announced Thursday.
In September 2019, Amazon founder and then-CEO Jeff Bezos took the stage at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to announce that the company had purchased 100,000 electric vehicles from the startup as part of its ambitious drive to of net zero carbon emissions in its operations by 2040.
Amazon debuted a version of the van in October 2020 and then tested the vehicles in a number of cities in 2021. Amazon now says it will use the electric vehicles to make deliveries in several cities, including Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City , Nashville, Tennessee, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, and St. Louis, among others.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe and Udit Madan stand in front of the new Amazon EV van powered by Rivian. Amazon and Rivian unveil their final customized electric delivery vehicles (EDVs) to begin using them for customer deliveries, in Chicago, Illinois, on July 21, 2022.
Jim Vondruska | Reuters
Amazon said it expects to have “thousands” of Rivian vans in more than 100 cities by the end of this year, the first step toward its goal of having 100,000 electric delivery vehicles on US roads by 2030.
“Combating the effects of climate change requires constant innovation and action, and Amazon partners with companies that share our passion for inventing new ways to minimize our impact on the environment,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement. “Rivian has been an excellent partner in this mission and we are excited to see our first customized electric delivery vehicles on the road.”
Rivian chief executive RJ Scaringe said the rollout of the vehicle was a “milestone” in efforts to decarbonise last-mile delivery.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy tour one of the company’s electric delivery vans.
Amazon
Amazon controls a huge delivery and logistics network, and much of the delivery operations are internal. As part of this, it increasingly relies on a vast army of contracted delivery companies to transport packages to customers’ doorsteps, which mainly use dark blue Amazon-branded vans that burn fossil fuels.
The implementation of Rivian faces some challenges. Last November, Amazon drivers tasked with testing the vehicles claimed the vans’ batteries drained quickly when the heating or cooling was on, jeopardizing the vehicle’s range, and claimed the battery took an hour to recharge, according to The Information. An Amazon executive told the store that the vehicles will have a range of 150 miles, more than enough for many delivery routes.
In May, Rivian filed a lawsuit against a supplier of seats for delivery vans ordered by Amazon, raising concerns that it could slow down the vans, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Rivian faced a series of challenges in ramping up production of its own R1T and R1S electric vehicles. The company cut its 2022 production forecast in half in March to just 25,000 vehicles, including Amazon’s vans, amid supply chain constraints and early assembly line problems. He repeated that prediction earlier this month. Rivian will report its second quarter results on August 11.
Amazon, which has backed Rivian through its Climate Pledge Fund, says it remains committed to creating a more sustainable delivery fleet. To support electric vans, Amazon has added thousands of charging stations at its US delivery depots
Amazon is using other automakers besides Rivian to electrify its fleet. In January, Amazon said it would buy thousands of electric Ram vans from Stellantis and also ordered vans from Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz division for parcel deliveries.
— CNBC John Rosevear contributed to this story.
WATCHING: Rivian’s CEO is confident the company can produce 25,000 cars this year