Amazon launches electric delivery service in San Francisco

Amazon has expanded customer deliveries in its electric delivery vehicles to San Francisco – the second of 16 total cities this year which will receive them.

One year after announcing the purchase of 100,000 EVs as part of The Climate Pledge, Amazon has begun testing these new vans on delivery routes in San Francisco’s Bay Area.

The Bay Area launch follows the initial rollout of these vehicles in Los Angeles last month with Amazon planning to operate 10,000 of these EVs as early as next year.

Designed and built in partnership with Rivian, Amazon’s first custom electric delivery vehicle was unveiled in October last year.

The van is a first-of-its-kind all-electric delivery vehicle which can drive up to 241km on a single charge and is optimised for safety and an enhanced driver experience.

The vehicles are currently being driven by Amazon employees who are specially trained to operate the vehicle.

“From what we’ve seen, this is one of the fastest modern commercial electrification programs, and we’re incredibly proud of that,” Amazon global fleet and products director Ross Rachey says.

Deliveries will initially be done from Amazon’s delivery station in Richmond, CA.

Amazon plans to launch deliveries from other sites in the Bay Area soon.

It operates thousands of EVs worldwide and is re-designing its delivery stations to service them.

Last year, Amazon delivered more than 20 million packages to customers in electric delivery vehicles across North America and Europe.