Amazon orders 200 battery electric heavy trucks

Amazon has placed an order of more than 200 Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 units.

It also makes it the largest order of electric trucks in the history of the truck manufacturer.

The electric trucks will be deployed across high-mileage routes that make up Amazon’s middle-mile network, transporting cargo containers to and from Amazon’s fulfilment centres, sort centres, and delivery stations.

Just over 140 trucks in the order have been earmarked for deployment in the UK with more than 50 to go to Germany.

In total they will be responsible for transporting more than 350 million packages.

“The order of more than 200 eActros 600 underlines our commitment to being a leader in electrifying our transportation network in Europe,” said Andreas Marschner, Vice President of Worldwide Operations Sustainability at Amazon.

“It is the biggest electric heavy truck order by Amazon to date anywhere in the world and is an important step as we work to achieve our Climate Pledge commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions across our operations by 2040.”

The order is preceded by the practical testing of a near-series prototype of the eActros 600 in one of Amazon’s logistics centres in Germany.

“We are very pleased that Amazon, a pioneer in the transformation towards alternative drives, has chosen the eActros 600, a gamechanger for sustainable transportation,” Karin Rådström, Chief Executive Officer of Daimler Truck AG.