Amazon announced that it has rolled out a new fleet of heavy duty all electric trucks in Southern California, forming part of the company’s efforts to decarbonize its delivery operations and achieve its net zero climate goals.

Amazon has announced a series of initiatives aimed at decarbonizing transportation across its business, targeting areas including increasing fleet efficiency, expanding the use of low-carbon fuels, and scaling electric and alternative-fuel vehicles.

The new trucks will add zero tailpipe emissions vehicles for Amazon’s first-mile deliveries, or global logistics in which goods are moved from manufacturing and across oceans into ports and into the fulfillment network, and middle-mile, or transport between fulfilment centers, sort centers, air facilities and delivery stations, to the company’s fleet of last-mile electric delivery vans.

The new vehicles include 12 drayage trucks, the first-ever electric trucks in Amazon’s ocean freight operations, and 35 heavy duty trucks for middle mile operations. The company has also installed over 45 direct current (DC) fast chargers across 11 sites to power the trucks.

Udit Madan, VP of Worldwide Amazon Operations, said:

“Heavy-duty trucking is a particularly difficult area to decarbonize, which makes us all the more excited to have these vehicles on the road today. We’ll use what we learn from deploying these vehicles as we continue to identify and invest in solutions to reduce emissions in our transportation network, and to impact sustainability in the trucking industry more broadly.”

The new vehicles entering the Amazon fleet are battery-electric Class 8 Volvo VNR Electric trucks. Volvo launched initial class 8 VNR model in North America in late 2020, and in 2022 update the VNR lineup with significantly expanded range and energy storage capacity. According to Amazon, the trucks have a range of up to 275 miles and a gross combination weight of 82,000 pounds.

Keith Brandis, Vice President, Partnerships and System Solutions at Volvo Group North America, said:

“Within Amazon’s operations the Volvo VNR Electric will provide zero-tailpipe-emissions transportation across a variety of different applications efficiently and sustainably. The Volvo VNR Electric was built on the already proven regional haul VNR platform which makes it well suited for drayage and middle-mile operations, particularly in areas of dense population and moderate to heavy traffic volumes. We are thrilled to work with Amazon’s expansive fleet on their electromobility transition and help to pave the way for a more efficient and sustainable future.”