Amazon orders 100,000 Rivian electric vans

Amazon has announced it will order 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from Rivian - which is believed to be the largest order ever of electric delivery vehicles.

Amazon 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 – saving 4 million metric tons of carbon per year by 2030.

The first vans will start delivering packages to customers in 2021.

Amazon has previously invested $440 million in Rivian to accelerate the production of electric vehicles critical to reducing transport emissions.

Amazon and Global Optimism have also announced The Climate Pledge, a commitment to meet the Paris Agreement of being net zero carbon 10 years early, at 2040.

“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.

“I’ve been talking with other CEOs of global companies, and I’m finding a lot of interest in joining the pledge. 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.”