Amazon’s historic purchase, the largest ever for electric delivery vans, follows the company’s $700 million investment in Rivian in February. Amazon’s latest investment of $440 million for Rivian’s electric vans is expected to accelerate production with the first vans rolling out in 2021.
The online retail giant plans to have 10,000 of the new electric vehicles on the road as early as 2022 and all 100,000 vehicles on the road by 2030, which it says will save 4.4 million tons of carbon emissions per year by 2030.
Amazon and Global Optimism crafted The Climate Pledge as a commitment to meet the emissions goals outlined by 2016 the Paris Accord 10 years early. Amazon is the first signatory of this pledge. The global climate pact calls on signatories to be net zero carbon across their businesses by 2040—a decade ahead of the Paris Accord’s goal of 2050.
“We’re done being in the middle of the herd on this issue—we’ve decided to use our size and scale to make a difference,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “If a company with as much physical infrastructure as Amazon—which delivers more than 10 billion items a year—can meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early, then any company can. Large companies signing the climate pledge will send an important signal to the market that it’s time to invest in the products and services the signatories will need to meet their commitments.”
Rivian would not comment on the van’s size and capabilities. During last year’s reveal, the company reported that the R1T and R1S offer up to 400+ miles of range. Vehicles will be produced at Rivian’s manufacturing plant in Normal, Ill.
Amazon is no stranger to commercial electric vehicles. Last summer, Mercedes-Benz announced that the web retail giant would be acquiring 100 all-electric eVitos delivery vans for use in Germany.
