Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' visit to India had many surprise announcements. From $1 billion investment to digitise small and medium enterprises to offering 10 lakh jobs in India and predicting exports of Made in India goods worth $10 billion by 2025, Bezos is highly optimistic about Amazon's future in the country. That's not it, Amazon announced a new mode of transportation to fulfil customer deliveries in India.
Ever since Amazon talked about Prime Air, which delivers packages to customers using drones, customers have been eager to see the tiny, autonomous flying machines in action. But we haven't heard anything on that front yet, but Amazon has something new for its Indian consumers.
Bezos took to Twitter to unveil Amazon's new fleet of fully electric rickshaws that will be used for customer deliveries across India. Amazon's chief has pledged to make the e-commerce giant net carbon neutral by 2040 and use 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. The fleet of e-rickshaws in India will tackle the sensitive climate change issue.
Your next Amazon delivery in e-rick!
The flamboyant CEO of the world's largest e-commerce platform shared a video where he is seen riding the company's new electric delivery rickshaw to make the announcement. "Hey, India. We're rolling out our new fleet of electric delivery rickshaws. Fully electric. Zero carbon," Bezos tweeted on Monday.
Hey, India. We’re rolling out our new fleet of electric delivery rickshaws. Fully electric. Zero carbon. #ClimatePledge pic.twitter.com/qFXdZOsY4y
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) January 20, 2020
Amazon's e-rickshaws look like traditional three-wheeled delivery rickshaws with a single seat for the driver and a closed storage compartment at the back. The grey rickshaws have Amazon's logo and mention "100% electric." Amazon has procured different sized e-rickshaws for suitable deliveries.
In the video, Bezos is seen driving one of the new electric rickshaws and leading a whole pack of other drivers to form the company's logo, captured in an aerial shot.
Amazon delivers about 10 billion items a year, which requires huge-scale transportations. It is not clear how soon the e-rickshaws will replace the current mode of transportation for Amazon deliveries in India. While it may be a while before we see drones delivering our packages, it will certainly be a change to see new e-ricks fulfil customer deliveries in India.
