Amazon to invest more than €1 billion to electrify its European transportation network

Amazon’s investment is intended to help spark innovation in zero-emission vehicles and encourage the deployment of public charging infrastructure, helping enable the entire industry to reduce emissions.

Amazon has announced plans to invest more than €1 billion over the next five years to further electrify and decarbonise its transportation network across Europe, delivering packages to customers more sustainably, including more than £300 million in the UK.

The investment is also intended to drive innovation across the industry and encourage more public charging infrastructure, which will help enable the broader transportation industry to more quickly reduce emissions.

Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO said, “The company is already using thousands of zero-emission vehicles across its European operations, and this investment will add thousands more, accelerating Amazon’s progress toward becoming net-zero carbon by 2040—10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.”

Amazon has more than 3,000 electric vans delivering packages to customers across Europe and, with the investment announced today, expects to grow its fleet to more than 10,000 by 2025.

Amazon has launched micromobility hubs in more than 20 cities across Europe, including London, and expects to double that figure by the end of 2025. In Europe’s traditionally dense cities, the hubs enable Amazon to operate new delivery methods, such as e-cargo bikes and on-foot deliveries, to bring packages to customers more sustainably. Micromobility hubs take traditional delivery vans off the road, which alleviates traffic congestion in city centres and improves air quality.

In addition to these new vans and micro-mobility hubs and vehicles, Amazon will also invest in thousands of chargers across its European facilities. The investment will allow the company and its partners to improve fleet charging hardware.

Long haul transportation is a hard-to-decarbonise sector due to the size and weight of the trucks and trailers, and the long distances they need to travel. Electric heavy goods vehicles (eHGVs) are a promising technology, but eHGV production and charging infrastructure availability are limited. Amazon today has five eHGVs on the road in the UK, and will have 20 on the road in Germany by the end of this year.

Amazon is using its size and scale to help spark the scaling of eHGV production so Amazon and others can more quickly transition away from diesel trucks.

To power its eHGVs, Amazon will build hundreds of specialised fast chargers across its European facilities, allowing the company to charge the vehicles in approximately two hours.

Amazon is on a path to powering its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, and, in 2021, the company reached 85%. Amazon now has more than 100 renewable energy projects across Europe, including 30 on-site solar and off-site utility-scale solar or wind farm projects in the UK.

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