Amazon wants to have 10,000 electric cars in Europe within 3 years

Tech giant Amazon is allocating at least 1 billion euros to power its European fleet of transportation equipment. For example, Amazon wants to have more than 10,000 electric vehicles in Europe by 2025. Amazon now has 3,000 electric vehicles in use. The online retailer also wants to buy more than 1,500 electric trucks for use in Europe in the coming years.

Amazon has already placed an order with electric car maker Rivian for 100,000 vans. In addition, Amazon will also invest in electric vehicle infrastructure, setting up thousands of charging stations in Europe.

Money will also be invested in so-called ‘mini mobility hubs’ in European cities. The intention is that these small distribution centers will be doubled. Now Amazon has such centers in more than twenty cities. From these locations, orders can be given by e-bikes or by foot delivery drivers.

Amazon wants to reduce production with these measures. The American company aims to be climate neutral by 2040. CEO Andy Jassy says that this ambition requires “significant and sustainable” investment.

Robots are removed

At the end of last week, Amazon also announced that it will be using the public Project ‘Scout’ testing has stopped. Small autonomous robots were used to deliver packages from local distribution centers to the door.

According to the online retailer, the test did not meet the customer’s expectations. Scout also doesn’t seem to be very economically useful, because robots often need someone to look after them. In addition, they can only transport a small amount of packages and they run very slowly.

The team of around 400 people will be significantly reduced and there will be a focus on building the robot itself rather than testing it in a public space. Amazon did not provide a timeline for the project’s future. There is a chance that it will be completely liquidated, because the company has recently been cut into several branches.

Rivian of course

Electric car maker Rivian has been supplying passenger cars to Amazon since late last year. And while it initially appeared that production targets for this year would not be met due to known chip and delivery issues, Rivian is still on track to deliver 25,000 vehicles this year. The company would not say how the division between R1T pickups and delivery vehicles is for Amazon.

Along with this good news, Rivian also delivered bad news. Company does not receive subsidies to build a new $5 billion facility in Georgia. The judge who was supposed to approve the grant did not do so. He felt that there was insufficient evidence that taxpayers’ money was being put to good use in the project. This does not mean that the factory will not come, but it makes it more difficult. What this will mean for Rivian’s production growth remains unclear.

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