Amazon has announced the expansion of its UK e-cargo fleet with the launch of three further micro mobility delivery hubs in Manchester and London.
The company have said that this will be part of a five-year £300 million investment in the electrification and decarbonisation of the company’s UK transportation network, e-cargo bikes and walkers are now expected to make more than two million deliveries a year.
This aims to alleviate congestion on the road and improve air quality within cities and also take traditional delivery vans off the road.
Amazon has already made more than five million deliveries so far in 2022 using its e-cargo bikes and electric van fleet within London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone, said the company’s release.
“With more than €1 billion committed to electrifying and decarbonising our European transportation network over the next five years, including more than £300 million in the UK alone, we remain laser focused on reaching net carbon zero by 2040,” said John Boumphrey, UK Country Manager, Amazon. “These new hubs will not only bring our customers more electric-powered deliveries, but also support local authorities looking for ways to reduce congestion and find alternative transportation methods. We look forward to expanding our e-cargo bike fleet further in the coming months.”
Amazon’s electric delivery fleet will operate across the City of Manchester and will include the launch of e-cargo bike deliveries to the city’s customers for the first time.
New delivery hubs based in London’s Wembley and Southwark is said to more than triple the e-cargo bike fleet making deliveries to Amazon’s customers across the capital.
“E-cargo bikes can play a vital role in reducing emissions, and that’s why we’ve already helped hundreds of firms to use them for deliveries,” said Decarbonisation and Technology Minister, Jesse Norman. “With ever more people buying goods online, it’s more important than ever that we move to greener alternatives, and today’s announcement is one step closer to achieving that goal.”
Already, more than 1,000 electric delivery vans are in operation on the UK roads and also an additional five fully electric Heavy Goods Vehicles, which are among the first in the UK.
Amazon is the co-founder and first signatory to The Climate Pledge and has a commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040.
Source and picture: Amazon
