I heard it before I saw it: a big black van emblazoned with that all-too-familiar Amazon grin. It wasn’t the sizeable van’s engine. No, I heard some unidentifiable 80s hair band rock blaring from the van’s expansive cabin.
My wife and I, who were on one of our daily walks, paused to gawk at the van, one of a handful that had started showing up in my neighborhood over the last month or so. Though as big as a UPS truck, these Rivian-built vans cruise silently through our streets, delivering on a promise Amazon made in June to launch a fleet of 15,000 electric delivery vans across the US (it’s also rolling EV delivering trucks out in Europe), with the ultimate goal of seeding at least 100,000 such vans. The company currently has at least 90,000 gas-powered vehicles delivering your precious packages.
Amazon isn’t alone in its efforts to remove fossil fuel-guzzling delivery trucks from the road. The United States Postal Service unveiled its fleet of EVs in January and planned to start using them in Georgia. The rollout didn’t really get underway, though, until September.
UPS, which claims to have been driving EVs for almost a century, reports over 18,000 “alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles” on the road.
Amazon and UPS have reported building out charging networks to support these growing EV fleets, though.
These efforts matter because some estimates put the number of holiday package deliveries in the billions, and that’s just for the USPS.
A shift to electric is unlikely to impact the speed of your Black Friday and holiday gift deliveries, but the long-term impact on the environment might be measurable. A 2015 study reported that medium- and heavy-duty delivery trucks account for 30% of all pollution produced by vehicles.
A sound decision
I thought about some of this as I reflected on the still-shiny delivery van before us, admiring the tall, narrow build, low-slung chassis and surprisingly small wheels. We were about to move on when a voice from behind us called out, “Pretty cool, huh?”
We spun around to find a young, bearded Amazon delivery guy who seemed as excited about his truck as we were interested (and maybe a bit confused by his music choice).
He told us it was electric and like driving the future. “It has cameras all around.”
In addition to electric motors, these Rivian vans are packed with cutting-edge features like automatic braking, collision warnings, automatic doors that open as the driver approaches, and a nice large display next to the steering wheel as a viewport for all those cameras.
I smiled and wondered how soon he might hop back in and drive his music out of my neighborhood, but it turned out there was a method to his madness.
I remarked at how quiet these vehicles were, perhaps in part to obliquely tell him that his music was breaking that silence. The delivery guy smiled back at me and said, “Yeah, that’s why I blast my music.” No one hears me coming. I’ve been right behind people, and they have no idea.”
With that, the driver waved goodbye, hopped back into his future-leaning delivery truck, and silently sped away (with his music still playing, of course).