World news – Amazon begins testing Rivian delivery trucks in San Francisco

This is the latest addition to Amazon’s custom electric vehicles in California, developed in collaboration with start-up Rivian Automotive and has raised around $ 8 billion from investors since 2019. Amazon announced last month that it had started testing electric delivery trucks in Los Angeles. The company plans to expand the program to 14 more cities this year.

Amazon said it selected San Francisco as one of the first cities to test Rivian electric vans because of its « great customers, its unique terrain. » and its climate « . Deliveries will initially be made from the Amazon delivery station in the Richmond suburb of San Francisco. However, Amazon expects shipments to begin from other locations in the Bay Area soon.

« From what we’ve seen, this is one of the fastest modern commercial electrification programs and we’re incredibly proud of it » said Ross Rachey, Amazon’s global fleet and product director, in a statement. « As we continue to grow and invest in California, we want to do so responsibly. So we’re excited to have customers in the Bay Area see these vehicles drive through their neighborhood. »

Amazon, which Rivian through its Climate Pledge Fund in US $ 2 billion, agreed in September 2019 to buy 100,000 electric vehicles from the start-up to run Amazon’s fleet entirely on renewable energies. Each van has a range of 150 miles per charge.

Since then, Amazon said it has operated thousands of electric vehicles around the world. In 2020, more than 20 million EV packages were shipped in North America and Europe.

To move to EV, Amazon has redesigned its delivery stations and added thousands of EV chargers. Currently, according to Amazon, the vehicles are driven by Amazon employees who have been specially trained to operate them.

Last fall, Amazon presented a version of the electric delivery van. They have a boxer design, the well-known Prime branding and improved safety functions such as an advanced driver assistance system and external cameras that give the driver a 360-degree view outside the vehicle.

Amazon is still refining the design of its electric delivery vehicles Rivian plans to start production in the fourth quarter of this year.

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