Amazon ordered hundreds of trucks running on natural gas for its freight distribution

Amazon.com Inc has ordered hundreds of trucks running on compressed natural gas (CNG) at a time when Try ways to remove the biggest polluting vehicles from your fleet in America, the company informed the news agency Reuters.

The coronavirus pandemic caused home delivery to increase in 2020, with an average higher freight volume than in 2019, while passenger car traffic declined.

This increase in road traffic means more pollution, as heavy trucks emit more greenhouse gases than passenger cars.

Transport companies buy fleets of electric vehicles to reduce CO2 emissions. Much of the country’s cargo is delivered via medium- and heavy-duty trucks, which, according to United States federal data, are responsible for more than 20% of industry’s greenhouse gas emissions, despite being less than 5% of the represent road fleet.

“Amazon is excited to introduce new sustainable freight forwarding solutions and is testing several types of new vehicles, including electric, CNG and others.” the company said in a statement Friday.

Amazon has ordered more than 700 Class 6 and Class 8 compressed natural gas trucks to date, the company said.

Sales of the online retailer, which plans to be carbon neutral by 2040, increased by 38% in 2020.

The engines, supplied by a joint venture between Cummins Inc and Westport Fuel Systems Inc, will be used for Amazon’s heavy-duty trucks that travel from warehouses to distribution centers.

According to a source known with the situation, the supplier has ordered more than 1,000 engines that can run on both renewable and non-renewable natural gas.

Natural gas emits about 27% less carbon dioxide when burned than diesel, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Electric motors are considered less viable for heavy goods vehicles than for the average passenger vehicle.

In 2019 Amazon ordered 100,000 electric vans from startup Rivian Automotive LLC. The company will receive the first of these vans this year, which will be used for delivery to customers. The company also ordered 1,800 electric vans from Mercedes-Benz for its European van fleet.

By Laura Sanicola (Reuters)

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