Amazon’s founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, arrived in India a few days ago to meet with government officials and also attend a company event. Yesterday, Mr. Bezos took to Twitter to announce the roll-out of a new fleet of fully-electric delivery auto-rickshaws.
The move is part of the retail giant’s Climate Pledge to reduce its carbon emission and also switch to renewable energy.
Hey, India. We’re rolling out our new fleet of electric delivery rickshaws. Fully electric. Zero carbon. #ClimatePledge pic.twitter.com/qFXdZOsY4y
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) January 20, 2020
In a report today, The Economic Times reported that Amazon said its fleet of delivery vehicles in India will include 10,000 electric vehicles by 2025. These vehicles will include both three-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles. Amazon already began a pilot program in several cities and is now expanding it.
Some of the cities these electric vehicles will operate in include Delhi, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Ahmadabad, Pune, and Nagpur. So if you reside in any of these cities, you should keep your eyes peeled for these new vehicles.
India is not the only country where Amazon will be switching to electric vehicles. In the US, it has placed an order for 100,000 electric delivery trucks from automaker, Rivian. The vans are expected to be on roads by next year and should rise to 100,000 by 2030.
Amazon’s goal is to become carbon-neutral by 2040 which is a decade earlier than the target set by the United Nations Paris Agreement.
Flipkart, its rival in India, is also switching to electric vehicles. The retailer announced last June that it plans to replace 40% of its delivery vans with electric models by March 2020.
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