By Nick Carey
(Reuters) – Amazon (NASDAQ:) mentioned on Tuesday it has ordered 200 Mercedes-Benz (OTC:) fully-electric eActros 600 heavy items automobiles from Daimler to serve the German and UK markets in its largest electrical truck order up to now.
The e-commerce big mentioned the vans will begin becoming a member of its community later this yr and will probably be deployed on “high-mileage routes” throughout Amazon’s middle-mile community between fulfilment centres, type centres and supply stations.
“This is a a major milestone for us,” Andreas Marschner, Amazon’s Vice President of Amazon Worldwide Operations Sustainability, informed Reuters. “Decarbonizing the heavy goods sector is the most challenging part of the transportation space.”
This order is a part of Amazon’s dedication to hit net-zero carbon emissions throughout its operations by 2040. It’s also the most important electrical truck order but for the Mercedes-Benz Vehicles model, Daimler mentioned.
Except for a price ticket far above diesel truck equivalents, logistics firms have struggled to seek out electrical vans which have sufficient vary to deal with demanding supply routes and the charging infrastructure to maintain them on the highway.
The 40-ton eActros 600 has a spread of 500 km (311 miles) that Marschner mentioned makes it adaptable to Amazon’s supply community.
However he added that Amazon is supporting the vans’ roll-out by constructing a 360 kilowatt quick charger community by itself websites, which might cost a truck from 20% to 80% in lower than an hour, “which is compatible also with legal driver breaks.”
He mentioned that efforts to spice up charging infrastructure within the European Union and the United Kingdom (TADAWUL:) are nonetheless in early levels and Amazon is working with charging firms and regulators to hurry up investments.
“The major transportation corridors in the UK and Germany are still very limited with public charging and high-capacity charging we would need for trucks,” Marschner mentioned. “This is a challenge these days as it reduces the ability to use these assets.”
