Amazon wants to spend €1 billion in Europe over the next five years to electrify its delivery and cargo transport, with €400 million of that going to the German market, German media reported.
According to Amazon, 3,000 electric delivery vans are currently being used across Europe to deliver packages. By 2025, there will be more than 10,000. In addition to delivery vehicles, the company intends to use 1,500 electric trucks to deliver goods from its dispatch centers, a third of them in Germany. Charging stations and a green power system are also planned.
Amazon aims to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2040. According to the announcement, chief executive Andrew Jacy said decarbonisation of the transport network was one of the most challenging areas. “Achieving net zero emissions here will require substantial and sustained investment.”
In big cities, Amazon wants to deliver packages by foot or freight bikes more frequently to reduce the use of delivery vehicles. There are currently such “microhubs” in 20 European cities for non-van deliveries, and that should double by 2025, according to the company. In addition, Amazon has built green power plants. A wind farm in the North Sea with a capacity of 350 megawatts is scheduled to come online in 2025.
The company also announced it would stop testing small delivery robots that drive on sidewalks. Amazon is said to have started the experiment three years ago, in a residential area near Seattle. An Amazon spokesman told Bloomberg that the development team had been disbanded and that employees should be offered jobs in other areas of the group. About 400 people worked on the project, according to people familiar with the matter.