One of the biggest challenges that the logistics industry faces is ensuring its environmental sustainability. The fact of the matter is that shipping worldwide across many regions and marketplaces has tended to take its toll on the environment and worldwide carbon emissions. In fact, in a survey conducted by renowned economist and trade expert, Dr. Rebecca Harding, and sponsored by Amazon Freight, freight decision-makers from various business sizes agreed that sustainability was a top concern, which would significantly affect their organisations over the coming years.
Under The Climate Pledge, Amazon Freight has pledged a commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions across their operations by 2040, and - as part of this commitment - announced their largest-ever order of electric heavy goods vehicles (eHGVs) this year.
Amazon is set to roll out these electric trucks on its high-mileage routes that form part of its middle-mile network in the UK and in Germany. These trucks will play a vital role in transporting trailers back and forth between Amazon’s fulfilment centres, sort centres, and delivery stations. When these eco-friendly, zero-emission vehicles are fully up and running, they are anticipated to handle the transportation of more than 350 million packages every year.
Amazon’s new eHGVs are the flagship long-haul e-truck from Mercedes-Benz Trucks, the eActros 600, which have an installed battery capacity of more than 600 kilowatt hours and a range of 500 kilometres without recharge, allowing them to take the long haulage trips necessary for transporting goods across borders that previous eHGVs struggled with.
The Vice President of Amazon’s Worldwide Operations of Sustainability, Andreas Marshner, had the following to say about Amazon’s order of these new eHGVs:
"This order of more than 200 electric trucks underlines our commitment to being a leader in electrifying heavy goods transportation in Europe. It is the biggest electric heavy truck order by Amazon to date anywhere in the world, and is an important step as we work to achieve our Climate Pledge commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions across our operations by 2040. We look forward to sharing our learnings, and will continue to collaborate with stakeholders to support the transition to more electric heavy goods vehicles on European roads, and so more efficient and lower-emission deliveries for Amazon’s customers." The challenges of eHGVs
Heavy vehicle charging infrastructure is critical to bringing electric heavy goods vehicles to European roads. They are challenging to scale due to the distance electric vehicles need to travel, how often and how fast they can charge, and the availability of power in suitable locations, but Amazon is combatting this by installing 360kW electric charging points at key sites that are capable of charging the battery of the 40-tonne trucks from 20 to 80 percent in just over an hour. By working with stakeholders to support the installation of external charging points, Amazon will be able to enable longer journeys.
The road ahead for Amazon and freight
Amazon is also investing more than €1 billion in the coming years to further electrify and decarbonise their transportation network across Europe and have announced that the UK will be switching to the electric rail network to transport packages at scale for the first time and are launching new on-foot customer deliveries across London, with carts that can be restocked on-the-go from vans dotted around the capital being used.
Amazon Freight is at the forefront of innovative freight technology for more efficient and sustainable logistics, and, in addition to eHGVs, Amazon and Amazon’s delivery partners have more than 3,000 electric vans delivering packages to customers across Europe. This number is expected to grow even further to more than 10,000 vehicles by the end of 2025.
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