It seems the world of vans is heading into an all-electric future. This week, delivery giant Amazon unveiled their new custom electric delivery vans which they are rolling out on a large scale through the next few years, with plans to have 100,000 on the road by 2030.
The van was designed in part with input from Amazon delivery drivers, and features in built Alexa, state of the art traffic sensors, hands-free, real-time navigation, an ergonomically designed driver’s seat, improved access to packages, thanks to a new interior layout, and 360-degree cameras around the vehicle. The company developed the vans as part of a wider green initiative to be carbon neutral by 2040.
Meanwhile, Kier group, who are responsible for many of the motorway and major road repairs in the UK have also just added electric vehicles to their fleet, in the form of electric taxi vans that are capable of carrying two Euro sized pallets with a payload of up to 830kg.
These taxi vans will deliver supplies to roadwork sites up and down the country and are currently being tested around the UK. Again, these form part of a bigger goal towards carbon neutrality for the Kier Group.
The good news is that the drive for electric vehicles by these companies is seeing electric technology being integrated into many commercial vehicles rather quickly. This means that prices are starting to become realistic, the technology more reliable and the savings from owning an electric van are becoming something worth considering for many van drivers. Maybe next time you are due a van upgrade, it will be worth taking a look.