By Michael Elkins
Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) fleet of electric vans has been growing since their announced partnership with Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN). With a fleet that now exceeds 1,000 Rivian electric vans, the retail giant's new zero-tailpipe emission vehicles have made more than 5 million deliveries in the US.
The vans have been making their way into Amazon's service, as Rivian's manufacturing pace slowly accelerates. The EV company said it made 7,363 R1T pickup trucks, R1S SUVs, and EDVs during the three-month period that ended on September 30. Rivian also said it delivered 6,584 vehicles during the same span.
Customers will begin spotting the vans delivering holiday gifts and packages to doorsteps in new cities, including Austin, Boston, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Madison, Newark, New York, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Portland, Provo, and Salt Lake City. This expansion comes as Amazon and Rivian continue their progress toward having thousands of vehicles on the road by the end of the year and 100,000 vehicles by 2030.
"We're always excited for the holiday season, but making deliveries to customers across the country with our new zero-emission vehicles for the first time makes this year unique," said Udit Madan, vice president of Amazon Transportation. "We've already delivered over 5 million packages with our vehicles produced by Rivian, and this is still just the beginning—that figure will grow exponentially as we continue to make progress toward our 100,000-vehicle goal."
"Fleet electrification is essential to reaching the world's zero-emissions goal," said Jiten Behl, chief growth officer at Rivian. "So, to see our ramp up in production supporting Amazon's rollout in cities across the country is amazing. Not just for the environment, but also for our teams working hard to get tens of thousands of electric delivery vehicles on the road. They continue to be motivated by our combined mission and the great feedback about the vehicle's performance and quality."
Amazon is committed to reaching net-zero carbon by 2040 as a part of its commitment to The Climate Pledge, and electric delivery vehicles are an important part of Amazon's work to decarbonize its transportation fleet.
Beyond the RIVN partnership, Amazon also recently announced plans to invest more than €1B over the next five years to further electrify and decarbonize its transportation network across Europe.
Shares of AMZN and RIVN are down 0.85% and 0.30% respectively in mid-day trading on Monday.