Amazon announced on Tuesday September 12 the launch of CHALET, an open source technology which should revolutionize the development of charging infrastructures for heavy goods vehicles in Europe in order to accelerate the decarbonization of the transport sector.
No, Amazon is not ahead of the winter season, but the American giant wants to boost the development of charging infrastructures in Europe. The e-retailer presented CHALET (Charging Location for Electric Trucks), an open source tool aimed at identifying the best locations for heavy goods vehicle charging stations in Europe. The technology must feed itself with data to evaluate criteria like battery, range and travel time to create a list of priority locations. XXL mapping, currently reserved for larger trucks.
Perhaps the key to the transition to cleaner transport in Europe
With CHALET, which is reminiscent of the project that the European Union wants to implement by 2025, the online sales giant offers an open source tool which aims to solve one of the biggest challenges of the decarbonization of the transport sector, that of the development of charging infrastructure for heavy goods vehicles circulating in Europe. The tool was designed to use scientific data to help it identify optimal locations using multiple factors that will allow it to determine priority locations, all intended for the private sector, public authorities and electricity network operators .
The development of terminals is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector, which represents 22% of total European Union emissions. It took Amazon 18 months of work to develop CHALET. From now on, the source code of the tool is available to all players in the sector. Good point for the giant, organizations favorable to “zero emissions” such as the Sustainable Freight Buyers Alliance (SFBA) and Eurelectric approve the technology.
The SFBA has already planned to use CHALET to create a map of priority charging infrastructure locations using data provided by transport professionals. Logistics players are encouraged to take charge of CHALET according to their needs. The map should help develop strategic recommendations for public policies in order to better address future investments in charging stations.
Amazon wants to have a major role in the electrification of European transport
For its part, Eurelectric encourages its members to contribute to the tool, to raise the real needs of the sector from the field. Technology should help optimize the installation of charging stations on the busiest intercontinental logistics routes. And Amazon assures you: all information provided by companies will remain anonymous and confidential.
The behemoth has never hidden its ambitions in terms of electrification and decarbonization. Last year, Amazon committed to doubling its fleet of electric vehicles in Europe for its deliveries. To achieve this, the company plans to invest more than 1 billion euros over the next 5 years.
It is already deploying 100% electric heavy goods vehicles. The CHALET tool therefore fits well into the approach of achieving carbon neutrality by 2040, at least at company level. That is 10 years before the objective set by the Paris agreements.
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