Amazon orders 200 Mercedes-Benz electric trucks

Online retailer Amazon has
purchased 202 electric Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 vehicles from Germany’s
Daimler Truck, the automaker said Tuesday, marking both firms’ largest-ever
order for battery-powered lorries.

Heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) are responsible for six percent of EU greenhouse
gas emissions, according to the European Commission, and account for over a
quarter of road transport emissions in the bloc.

EU regulations require truckmakers to collectively reduce the emissions
caused by the vehicles they sell by 45 percent by 2030 from 2019 levels. The
reductions are set to increase to 65 percent by 2035 and to 90 percent by
2040.

Daimler Truck, one of the world’s largest truck manufacturers by volume,
last year delivered 4,035 electric vehicles out of more than 460,000 worldwide.
About 2,000 orders have been taken in total for the eActros 600 since it
was unveiled at the end of 2023, a spokesman told AFP.

Former Daimler Truck CEO Martin Daum said last year that the eActros was
“the future of the company”, adding that he was encouraged by its performance
in real-world conditions.

The truck, which Amazon will use in Britain and Germany, can travel about
500 kilometres (310 miles) on a single charge.

The sale price of an eActros 600 is about twice the cost of an equivalent
diesel model, the spokesman said.

At competitor Traton, Volkswagen’s truck-making unit, electric vehicle
sales fell 18 percent last year, the firm said Tuesday, and account for about
0.5 percent of vehicles sold.(AFP)