Amazon Adds Rivian All-Electric Delivery Vans To its Fleet

An Amazon Prime electric delivery van along a street. Image courtesy of Eleonor Segura, Motor Trend.

Hundreds of electric delivery vans are now hitting the road coming to a neighborhood near you. It’s all part of Amazon’s climate pledge to attain zero carbon emissions by the year 2040.The ecommerce giant is relying on Rivian automobiles to obtain that goal. Investing more than a billion dollars in the company to make a custom fleet of electric vans.

The vans will be constructed in Illinois at Rivian’s plant about two hours South of Chicago. Drivers will commence and end their days at fulfillment centers, charging overnight for the next day’s shift, no fuel stops needed. The electric vehicles will be rolled out in Chicago alongside a dozen cities throughout the United States. While this nation-wide rollout will consist of a few hundred electric vans, Amazon hopes to see a hundred thousand on the road by the end of the decade.

The new electric powered vans will totally transform how drivers do their jobs. It will incorporate all of the data of where the package is as well as the navigation details on the touchscreen in the vehicle. Amazon says, the vehicles are built with comfort in mind as they will come with heated and cooled seats, heated steering wheel to help drivers be as cozy as possible when they are making their deliveries. The cars have also been built with safety in mind giving the drivers greater visibility with exterior cameras and automated emergency breaking and collision warning technology.