Last week Amazon co-launched The Climate Pledge, which aims to help the world meet the targets set out in the Paris climate accord 10 years ahead of schedule.
For its part, the e-commerce giant announced an order for 100,000 electric delivery vans from startup American car maker Rivian.
It hopes to have to 10,000 of these vans on the road by the end of 2022, with all 100,000 online by 2030. Once the entire fleet is up and running, the company estimates it will save around 4 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year.
No details have been revealed about the van, but it’s likely it will be based on the same skateboard chassis as the R1T pickup truck and R1S crossover.
Drivetrains for the R1S and R1T are said to range from 300kW/560Nm to 562kW/1120Nm, with range pegged at between 385 and 660 kilometres depending on the size of the battery pack.
Production of the ute and crossover are slated to begin late 2020 or early 2021, and will take place in what used to be Mitsubishi’s factory in Normal, Illinois.
In addition to purchasing Rivian’s van, Amazon has also pledged to use 80 per cent renewable energy by 2024, hit 100 per cent by 2030, and to be net carbon neutral by 2040.
Earlier this year Amazon invested US$700 million ($1 billion) in Rivian, while Ford ploughed in US$500 million ($728 million). Both firms received minority shareholdings in return for their investments.