ST. LOUIS – Amazon is ready to hit the road with electric vehicles for deliveries in the St. Louis region.
Starting Thursday, the retail giant will start using electric delivery vans in more than a dozen cities, including St. Louis. The vans are custom-built on behalf of Rivian Automotive, a California-based automaker company.
Amazon expects to roll out electric vans in more than 100 cities by the end of the year and hopes to have 100,000 such vehicles ready for use across the United States by 2030.
The company says the vehicles were designed with sustainability, safety, and comfort in mind in an effort to create more sustainable delivery fleet and help Amazon reach net-zero carbon operations.
Trending: Online car dealer Carvana banned from selling cars in Illinois
“Fighting the effects of climate change requires constant innovation and action, and Amazon is partnering with companies who share our passion for inventing new ways to minimize our impact on the environment. Rivian has been an excellent partner in that mission, and we’re excited to see our first custom electric delivery vehicles on the road,” said Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, via a news release. “Today marks a significant milestone in our Climate Pledge commitment.”
“Today represents an important step, not just for Amazon and Rivian as partners, but also for transportation and the environment,” said RJ Scaringe, CEO of Rivian, via a news release. “To say this is an exciting moment is an understatement—we’re thrilled to see this partnership has kickstarted decarbonization projects across the logistics delivery industry.”
Amazon has been testing deliveries with Rivian preproduction vehicles since 2021, delivering more than 430,000 packages across the nation.