https://seekingalpha.com/news/3659253-westport-soars-as-amazon-orders-nat-gas-engines-for-us-truck-fleet-reuters Hmmm, why not electric or hydrogen?
NG for the big ones, and electric for the vans (announced last fall). https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/02/06/amazon-clicks-buy-orders-1000-natural-gas-engines/
Makes sense. Long distance freight is complicated. I still think that hydrogen would be a good fit for this use. Long distances + intensive schedules do not favor batteries. We’ll see though. The competition has honestly just started, so who knows.
Yes, 1000 trucks is not that much for Amazon. Sounds like maybe an interim or stop gap measure until hydrogen or better electric solution becomes available. NG is probably a very cost effective solution. Converting diesel engines to run on NG is cheap (relatively) and it is certainly cleaner and cheaper as a fuel. After all Amazon is a business, too, and not just about saving the planet.