You’re probably aware of each and every carmaker’s efforts of lowering emissions within their car lineups but also when it comes to the carbon footprint of their plants. BMW, in particular, have been taking such steps, but the trend isn’t alive solely among car manufacturers.

Giants such as Amazon are also looking to cut down on their carbon emissions, and what better way to start such a campaign - or better said, reinforce it - than by buying a huge fleet of all-electric delivery trucks.

Just how many electric vans does Amazon want from Rivian?

Today, Amazon and @GlobalOptimism announced The #ClimatePledge which calls on signatories to be net zero carbon across their businesses by 2040 - a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement’s goal of 2050. Find out more: https://t.co/hgfe9D4NkR pic.twitter.com/vNXU1JJpNX

— Amazon News (@amazonnews) September 19, 2019

As it tries to up the ante on toning down its climate impact, Amazon announced that it will place an order of 100,000 electric delivery trucks, which will be delivered by the up-and-coming EV startup Rivian. Amazon is fixated on reaching the goals it set in regard to becoming carbon-neutral by 2040, a full decade earlier than specified by the Paris Agreement.

The announcement came from Jeff Bezos during a National Press Club event held in Washington, on the topic of The Climate Pledge. For those unfamiliar with the initiative, that’s what Amazon is calling the promise to be net-zero carbon across its business by 2040.

What interests us regarding the order placed with Rivian, however, is Amazon’s Shipment Zero vision, which sets out to make all Amazon shipments net-zero carbon. According to the plan’s outline, 50% net zero carbon on all shipments should be attained by 2030.

OK, but why Rivian?

Well, Rivian and Amazon are not exactly strangers. What's more, two months later, the company announced that Ford will also be investing $500 million in a partnership that would stem an all-new battery pack which in turn would power Ford’s future electric car or cars, for that matter.

Amazon also hopes that by placing such a hefty order, it will stimulate other fellow companies as well as similarly-minded startups such as Rivian to contribute to the carbon emission cutting endeavour. At this point, though, little is known about Rivian’s all-electric delivery trucks. What we do know, however, is that for its utilitarian R1T pickup truck, Rivian offers three battery packs: 105 kWh, 135 kWh, and 180 kWh. We reckon the 135 kWh one as well as the largest, 180-kWh battery are more suited to the needs of an all-electric delivery truck.

At the same time, the maximum range on a single full charge ranges from 230 miles to 300 miles and to 400 miles. Although that’s less relevant for a delivery truck, Rivian’s R1T can reach a top speed of 125 mph and can hit 60 mph from a standstill in anything between three seconds and 4.9 seconds - again, that depends on the specified battery pack.

Final Thoughts

Regardless of how you look at it, 100,000 cars is a lot to take in, even for a big-name carmaker like, let’s say, Volkswagen. So we can’t even begin to imagine how much of a challenge it poses to Rivian, especially since Amazon plans to have 10,000 electric vehicles on the road as early as 2022. The full fleet would then have to roam the streets (silently and emission-free) come 2030. But if the company manages to pull it off, then it could make a statement that Rivian is aiming big and perhaps this ambition will rub off onto other small startups.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2020 Rivian R1T Pickup.

How Does the Rivian R1S Compete with the Tesla Model X?