PlanetWEST Introduces its “No Harm” Delivery Truck Concept
Amazon is committed to replacing its fleet (10,000) of delivery trucks into Rivian electric trucks. If the entire fleet of Amazon trucks (either diesel or electric) installed PlanetWEST's MIDAC (Mobile Intelligent Direct Air Capture) system they would process approximately a total of 420 cubic miles of atmosphere a year.
The comparison between an electric fleet and PlanetWEST's MIDAC (Pat.Pend.)system highlights an interesting intersection of two different environmental strategies: emissions prevention and active atmospheric cleanup. If Amazon were to integrate this system into its massive delivery footprint, the dynamics of processing 420 cubic miles of atmosphere per year reveal some distinct considerations:
1. How MIDAC Works on Vehicles
PlanetWEST’s MIDAC system is designed as a distributed, mobile direct air capture network. Instead of building massive, energy-intensive stationary carbon capture plants, it integrates directly into the cooling radiators of moving vehicles.
As a truck drives its daily routes, ambient air is naturally forced through the front grille. The MIDAC system leverages this existing airflow to filter out targeted pollutants—specifically Black Carbon (soot), PM 2.5, and microparticles—capturing solid carbon at the street level where emissions are most concentrated.
2. Diesel vs. Electric: The Cleanup Dynamic
The volume of air a truck processes is primarily dictated by the vehicle’s frontal surface area, speed, operating schedule and the aerodynamics of its cooling system. However, the impact changes completely depending on the powertrain:
On Diesel Trucks (Source Capture + Ambient Cleanup): If installed on existing diesel trucks, the MIDAC system acts as both a source-capture mechanism and a moving ambient filter. It actively traps the highly potent Black Carbon and particulate matter coming out of its own tailpipe (and those of surrounding traffic) before it can disperse into the urban canopy.
On Rivian Electric Trucks (Pure Ambient Cleanup): Electric vehicles (EVs) have zero tailpipe emissions, meaning they do not produce CO2, Black Carbon or PM 2.5. Equipping the Rivian fleet with MIDAC essentially turns Amazon's delivery vehicles into net-negative mobile cleaners. They would cruise through megacities generating zero emissions while actively scrubbing existing pollution out of the air left behind by legacy combustion vehicles and other sources.
3. Scaling the Impact
Processing 420 cubic miles of air annually within dense urban corridors and major logistics routes targets what climate scientists call "pollution hotspots."
Because Black Carbon has a localized warming footprint up to 1,500 times more potent than per unit of mass, scrubbing this volume of air at ground level doesn't just clean the breathing zone for public health; it actively breaks the "urban heat island" effect by removing the dark particles that trap solar radiation near the pavement.
The Takeaway: While switching to Rivian EVs with a radiator-based capture system (MIDAC) would pivot the fleet from "do no harm" to actively reversing localized climate and air quality damages.
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PlanetWEST is an advanced climate-technology company specializing in decentralized, intelligent air capture solutions. By targeting high-impact short-lived climate pollutants, PlanetWEST develops scalable, low-energy systems engineered to protect public health and deliver immediate atmospheric stabilization.