According to Amazon news updates and eyewitnesses, Amazon is starting to roll out some of the electric delivery vehicles that it created by Rivian Automotive.
Amazon founder and then-CEO Jeff Bezos stood on stage at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in September 2019 to announce that the company had purchased 100,000 electric vehicles from the startup as part of its ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions across its operations by 2040.
Amazon showed a prototype of the van in October 2020, and the cars were tested in many locations in 2021. Amazon has announced that it will employ electric cars to make deliveries in a few locations, including Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Nashville, Tennessee, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, and St. Louis as a starting point.
Amazon intends to have “thousands” of Rivian vans in over 100 locations by the end of this year, the first step toward its goal of having 100,000 electric delivery cars on the road in the United States by 2030.
“Fighting the effects of climate change requires constant innovation and action,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement. “Rivian has been an excellent partner in that mission, and we’re excited to see our first custom electric delivery vehicles on the road.”
According to Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe, the vehicle deployment marks a “milestone” in the company’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions at last-mile distribution.
Rivian encountered a number of challenges in ramping up production of its own R1T and R1S electric vehicles. Due to supply chain limitations and early challenges with its assembly line, the business lowered its 2022 production target by about half in March, to just 25,000 cars, including Amazon’s vans. This projection was reaffirmed earlier this month. Rivian will release its second-quarter financial results on August 11.
Amazon, which has supported Rivian through its Climate Pledge Fund, has stated that it is dedicated to developing a more sustainable delivery service. Amazon has installed hundreds of charging stations at its US delivery facilities to accommodate these electric vehicles in these areas.
