China's Shenzhen city made the switch to an all-electric public city bus fleet some time ago, and now Amazon is looking to follow suit with their delivery vans.
Rather than relying on traditional gas-powered vehicles to get packages to their customers, the company plans to invest in 100 all-electric Mercedez-Benz eVito vehicles for their own delivery fleet. 100 delivery vans may not seem like much -- and it's not, compared to the sheer amount of vehicles Amazon uses at any given time -- but it's a good step in the right direction for a tech giant like Amazon.
Interestingly, the vans probably won't be used for long-distance travel, due to their relatively limited range. The eVito vehicles will only be able to travel roughly 100-150 kilometers on a single charge.
This limited range will likely make the cars ideal for Amazon's Prime Now same-day delivery service, which ships products to select city residents from the company's local warehouses.
While Amazon is only buying eVito vans, Mercedes-Benz has another vehicle type on offer as well. Whereas the eVito is a smaller vehicle intended for smaller deliveries, the eSprinter is more akin to a UPS or FedEx truck in size. Its range, on the other hand, is surprisingly limited at around 150 kilometers, putting it roughly on par with its smaller eVito cousin.
It's not clear where or when Amazon's new fleet of electric vans will be hitting the streets, but it's nice to see Amazon move towards a zero-emission future.
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