Amazon has placed an order for 1,800 electric Mercedes-Benz vans as it continues its drive to become net carbon zero across its business.
The vans will be used to make deliveries in markets across Europe, with 500 – a mixture of both eSprinters and eVitos – being deployed in the UK. The order is part of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s ambition for the company to have the world’s most sustainable vehicle fleet.
Mercedes-Benz has also signed up to The Climate Pledge, an initiative co-founded by Amazon that calls on signatories to be net zero carbon across their businesses by 2040—a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement goal of 2050.
This will see Mercedes-Benz build on its own Ambition2039 roadmap to carbon neutral mobility. As part of this, the brand’s vehicle portfolio will include five fully electric models and more than 20 plug-in hybrids by the end of this year.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, said, “We welcome the bold leadership demonstrated by Mercedes-Benz by signing up to The Climate Pledge and committing to ambitious action to address climate change.
“We need continued innovation and partnership from auto manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz to decarbonise the transportation sector and tackle the climate crisis.”
The Amazon order is the biggest so far for Mercedes-Benz electric vans and vehicles will be made available to Amazon’s Delivery Service Partners this year.
Marcus Breitschwerdt, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, said, “I am delighted that we are further intensifying our long-standing partnership with Amazon and working together on the battery-electric future of transportation.
“With the eVito and the eSprinter, we have electric vehicles in our portfolio, which are ideally suited for the requirements of the courier-, express- and parcel-service industry for goods delivery on the so-called ‘last mile’ in terms of their equipment and range.”
