Amazon is investing £300 million to electrify and decarbonise its UK transportation network over the coming years.
The investment aims to promote innovation in the logistics industry and will encourage the development of public charging infrastructure and innovations like micromobility hubs.
Micromobility hubs are physical centres within urban areas where packages are sorted before the final leg of their journey. The hubs facilitate electric cargo bike and on-foot deliveries, taking delivery vans off city centre roads, helping to improve air quality and alleviate congestion.
John Boumphrey, Amazon UK Country Manager, told Zag Daily: “We’re making major investments to transform our transportation network right across the UK. By working with our delivery partners we’re now deploying electric delivery vehicles, electric HGVs, and electric-cargo bikes, taking significant strides toward minimising our environmental impact and helping to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040.”
According to Amazon’s latest 2023 sustainability report, the retail giant and its delivery partners delivered more than 50 million packages in the UK and Ireland using electric and manual vehicles, such as e-vans, e-cargo bikes and pushcarts.
Where are Amazon’s UK micromobility hubs?
The expansion of Amazon’s UK electric cargo bike fleet began with the launch of micromobility hubs in Manchester and London in 2022. Four more London hubs then spring up in Wembley, Southwark, Croydon and Shoreditch.
In 2023, the fleet expanded to Glasgow and this year Amazon launched its first Northern Irish micromobility hub in Belfast in the city’s Titanic Quarter. Today Amazon’s eighth micromobility hub opened in Norwich, which will deliver thousands of packages per week to Amazon customers.
This £300m investment is part of Amazon’s commitment to reach net zero carbon emission across its operations by 2040, ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement.
