Online retailer Amazon is set to make an investment of more than €1 billion to increase the zero-emission fleet of its electric delivery vehicles to at least 10,000 electric delivery vans and over 1,500 electric heavy goods vehicles.

The investment is expected to more than double the size of the European package delivery fleet of Amazon. It will add more electric delivery vans, e-cargo bikes and on-foot deliveries to cities across Europe.

In addition, it is aimed at boosting innovation across the industry and encouraging more public charging infrastructure.

The billion euro investment in electric delivery vehicles will also help the world’s biggest online retailer to reach net-zero carbon by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.

Andy Jassy — Amazon CEO, commenting on the investment in electric delivery vehicles, said: “Our transportation network is one of the most challenging areas of our business to decarbonize, and to achieve net-zero carbon will require a substantial and sustained investment.

“Deploying thousands of electric vans, long-haul trucks, and bikes will help us shift further away from traditional fossil fuels—and hopefully, further encourage transportation and automotive industries in Europe and around the world to continue scaling and innovating, as we will have to work together to reach our climate goals.”

Currently, Amazon has more than 3,000 electric vans in its electric delivery vehicle fleet which delivers packages to customers across Europe.

The e-commerce giant has also launched micro-mobility hubs in more than 20 cities across Europe, including London, Munich, and Paris.

With the micro-mobility hubs, Amazon is enabled to deploy new delivery methods, such as e-cargo bikes and on-foot deliveries, to bring packages to customers in Europe’s traditionally dense cities.

Moreover, the e-commerce retailer has more than 100 renewable energy projects to power its European operations with clean energy.

Amazon targets to power its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025. It already electrified 85% of its operations with green energy in 2021.

  Amazon, Andy Jassy, electric vehicles, Europe