Amazon orders over 1,800 electric vans from Mercedes
Amazon orders more than 1,800 electric transporters from Mercedes-Benz Vans. The order includes around 600 eVito and more than 1,200 eSprinter delivery vans, with Amazon expecting deliveries to begin this year. This is the largest order for electric vehicles from Mercedes transporter unit to date.
Not so for Amazon as the internet giant has been electrifying its fleet in more significant steps. The internet retailer is reportedly expecting 10,000 electric delivery vans to come through Rivian, a US start-up, by 2022. The total order is for no less than 100,000 electric delivery vehicles by 2030.
In Europe, Amazon has relied on established manufacturers such as Mercedes. In Munich, they use 40 StreetScooters and ten Mercedes eVito. Amazon recently added 340 charging stations and operates more than 150 electric delivery vehicles every day at its distribution centre in Essen together with a Mercedes partner.
For the order placed with Daimler’s commercial vehicle business now, the company tells reporters that it is part of Amazon’s CO2 strategy. Founded with Global Optimism as ‘The Climate Pledge’ in 2019, the initiative aims to help to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement ten years earlier, i.e. in 2040.
Mercedes-Benz has now joined the Climate Pledge. Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG said: “We stand with Amazon, Global Optimism and the other signatories of The Climate Pledge, in a commitment to being net-zero carbon by 2040.” He added he was hoping this would also give “momentum on our sustainability offensive.” The executive refers to Mercedes’ own Ambition2039 initiative, presented a year ago. This includes the goal that from 2022 all Daimler plants should produce vehicles in a climate-neutral manner. A vital element of this is battery production, which is also to be CO2-neutral worldwide from 2022.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, also welcomed the pledge. He stressed that “We need continued innovation and partnership from auto manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz to decarbonise the transportation sector and tackle the climate crisis.”
For the 1,800 electric delivery vans on order, innovation is relative. The eVito and the large-size van eSprinter are proven “standard” models in the logistics space.
The eSprinter for Amazon are panel vans with a permissible gross vehicle weight of 3,500 kilograms in high roof design. The electric motor drives the front wheels and, like the diesel starter unit, delivers 85 kW with a torque of up to 295 Nm. Amazon opted for the larger battery with a usable battery capacity of 47 kWh (installed: 55 kWh). The e-van thus has a range of 168 km and a maximum payload of 891 kilograms.
The smaller eVito has a battery capacity of 35 kWh (installed 41 kWh) for a range of 150 to 184 kilometers. The performance data are the same, only for Amazon, Mercedes capped speed at a maximum of 80 km/h to optimise the range.
The eVito is built at the Mercedes-Benz Vitoria plant, Spain. Mercedes recently released an upgrade, turning the van into a longer range passenger bus as eVito Tourer.
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