Amazon.com, which has installed more than 17,000 electric vehicle chargers at about 120 warehouses around the U.S., appears to be adding its East Arlington last-mile delivery station under construction to that roster.
The city is reviewing a building-permit application for Amazon to install EV charging stations at an estimated project cost of $3.65 million at the 180,866-square-foot delivery center, known as DJX4, at 450 General Doolittle Drive.
The Conlan Co. is the contractor. Pond & Co. is the architect.
The Jacksonville Aviation Authority is leasing the industrial land to the Amazon center, which is expected to open about October. The city issued a permit Dec. 13, 2023, for the $40 million construction project. Seefried Industrial Properties of Atlanta is the developer.
The 80-acre property is at Jacksonville Executive at Craig Airport at northeast Atlantic Boulevard and St. Johns Bluff Road.
Amazon public relations specialist Greg Rios did not have specifics to share June 14 and linked to an April 17 company news post.
“We are working to decarbonize our transportation network and our electric fleet will continue to grow as we work to bring 100,000 to the road by 2030,” Rios said.
Plans show 479 stalls of Level 2 chargers and four Level 3 chargers at the Craig Airport center.
Autoweek.com explains that Level 2 chargers are generally found in public and workplace charging stations. A vehicle using a Level 2 charger should be able to recover dozens of miles of range per hour, depending on the battery size and vehicle type.
The site says Level 3 charging is currently the fastest speed that charging infrastructure can support. Level 3 charging uses direct current power and is capable of adding up to 20 miles of range per minute.
Seattle-based Amazon said in the April 17 post that it co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019 to achieve net-zero carbon by 2040. To do so, it announced a partnership with Rivian to design and put 100,000 electric delivery vehicles on the road by 2030.
Amazon said it started using the electric delivery vans in the summer of 2022 and now has more than 13,500 across the U.S.
It says it is using the vans to make deliveries in thousands of cities across the country and in Miami, Orlando and Tampa in Florida.
It says the Rivian vans have delivered more than 580 million packages in the U.S.
Amazon said it designed the vans with safety, navigation and design features that include sensor detection, a large windshield for enhanced driver visibility, automatic emergency braking, collision warnings, navigation tools for deliveries, ventilated seats and a strengthened door on the driver’s side.
How it works
On April 15, Bloomberg.com reported that Amazon has become the largest private EV charging operator in the U.S.
The Bloomberg news site described the process at Amazon’s Maple Valley, Washington, delivery station.
“At night, big rigs pull up to one end to unload boxes and padded mailers – some after a short drive from a bigger warehouse down the road, others following a flight in the hold of a cargo plane. Waiting employees scan, sort and load them into rolling racks,” it said.
“Before 7 a.m. each day, many of those racks are wheeled out to dozens of vans lined up in four painted lanes. It’s the starting line at a Formula One race, but for $22-an-hour delivery drivers who ferry bottles of shampoo and packs of batteries to suburban Seattle doorsteps.
“Their routes, the last step in a journey that can take products thousands of miles, are the source of a large chunk of the carbon emissions Amazon has pledged to eliminate in the coming decades.”
Bloomberg said that in a parking lot across the street are 309 Siemens electric vehicle chargers, which power delivery vans built by Rivian Automotive Inc.
It said 77 electric vans have their pick from among a fleet of 307 Level 2 chargers.
According to the news site, government electricity use estimates show a 100,000-square-foot warehouse in an industrial area might be powered by about 50 kilowatts, mainly for lighting and air circulation. Setting up 100 chargers in the parking lot could require 10 to 20 times as much power.
In addition to the expense of the chargers, Amazon says it pays upgrade costs as determined by utilities.
City utility JEA Director of Content & Media Relations Karen McAllister said June 13 that it is setting a new transformer for the load as “part of responding to customer needs to help support economic development in Jacksonville.
Road intersection improvements
The Amazon delivery center is under construction along the General Doolittle Drive perimeter of Craig Airport.
For a new access route from Atlantic Boulevard to the site, the Jacksonville City Council voted April 9 to rezone a strip of land to build Blue Angel Road.
Blue Angel Road, between the Duval Acura and Land Rover Jacksonville dealerships, will be the main access point to and from the warehouse. The address for the roadway improvements is 11221 Atlantic Blvd.
The St. Johns River Water Management District is reviewing plans for intersection improvements at Atlantic Boulevard and Sutton Lakes Boulevard, which is south and east of the Blue Angel Road connection.
The Florida Department of Transportation is the applicant. Atlantic Boulevard is a state road.
Civil engineer Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. said in a letter with the application to the Water Management District that it seeks an exemption for the proposed improvements at Sutton Lakes Boulevard.
The project includes modifications to the existing intersection at the direction of the Florida Department of Transportation that are limited to turn lanes less than 0.25 mile in length and limited road widening and shoulder paving necessary to meet current generally accepted roadway design and safety standards.
For Blue Angel Road, City Council voted 18-1 to enact Ordinance 2024-0153, with District 2 Council member Mike Gay voting no on the legislation. Some civic groups and neighbors oppose the construction because of traffic and other concerns.
Kimley-Horn said there will be two east-bound left-turn lanes from Atlantic Boulevard onto Blue Angel Road.
To leave Blue Angel Road to drive east, drivers would head west on Atlantic Boulevard and then make a U-turn.
At the April 2 Council Land Use and Zoning Committee meeting, Gay, who is not on LUZ but joined the meeting, said he has received complaints about the rezoning from constituents who are confused about its purpose.