GROVELAND, Fla. — You may be one of the millions of people who are considering switching to an electric vehicle.
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It’s something the president and environmental leaders have been calling on for years.
Now, major delivery companies are accomplishing their goals of adding more EV’s to their fleet.
Only Channel 9 got a firsthand look at the first electric delivery vehicles rolling out for Amazon.
Amazons’ new electric delivery vehicles are built by Rivian.
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Dozens of the EVs were lined up at Amazon’s delivery station in Groveland, the first location in Florida to roll out the new EVs
“Groveland is a bit of a unique territory as it has rural and urban areas so this was also a good test for Amazon to see how the vehicles would perform in different environments,” said Amazon operations manager Bill Carter.
Carter said the Groveland delivery station has 80 EVs now.
“On a larger scale, we’ve got 3,000 of these vehicles on the road in the United States today. We just happen to be the first in Florida,” Carter said.
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Amazon pledged to achieve net-zero carbon by 2040, and commit to 100,000 electric delivery vehicles on the road by 2030.
And it’s not just about sustainability, it’s also about safety.
The vehicles have an array of cameras to give drivers a 360° view of the van.
Lionel Jones drives one of the new electric delivery vans.
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“Yesterday, I had a dog in the back of the van and with the cameras able to see it,” Jones said.
Jones gets to work in a fully charged van that gives him a 150-mile range.
Like Amazon; UPS, FedEx and the United States Postal Service have all set goals to get more electric vehicles.
The delivery drivers crisscrossing our communities are hoping to do the job with the environment in mind.
UPS says it is committed to purchasing thousands of EVs and hopes to achieve 40% alternative fuel in ground operations by 2025.
FedEx plans to transform its entire pickup and delivery fleet to all-electric by 2040.
And USPS will work to deploy more than 66,000 electric vehicles by 2028.
See more in the video above.
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