Amazon, Ikea, and More Form Corporate EV Alliance

A new private-sector taskforce launched last week. The Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance is exactly what it sounds like.

• Who's in? Amazon, AT&T, Ikea, DHL, Siemens, Lime, and others. It’s being organized by sustainability nonprofit Ceres.
• What's the goal? To build green, corporate fleets with light-, medium-, and heavy-duty EV models.

The demand-side logic: Companies "own, operate, or manage the majority of vehicles on the road," says Ceres. They have the purchasing power to drive broader EV adoption in the global auto market.

On the supply side, a commitment from corporate fleets to buy electric could help auto manufacturers attain price parity between EVs and fossil fuel horseless carriages.

• One example: Rivian is an EV startup that recently sold 100,000 delivery vans to Amazon. Over the weekend, Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe told Reuters that forthcoming consumer models will be cheaper than previously announced.

Bottom line: Corporate procurement is a lever to 1) boost EV adoption while 2) driving down prices. Let's be sure to check the follow-through to make sure this isn't just greenwashing.