OUR long existing technology, the bicycle, is now electric and capable of delivering 350kg (across level ground) through congested city streets as e-cargobikes. Known in the logistics industry as LEFV – or light electric freight vehicles – e-cargobikes have electric pedal assistance. Human and electric powered transport, e-cargobikes, can reduce some trips made by vans and trucks easing the traffic, and at the same time minimizing our environmental impact.
Automobile companies are also investing in as an alternative to delivery vans. VW will start making a tilting e-cargotrike at its Hannover plant in Germany and is billing it at the “smallest Volkswagen commercial vehicle ever.” It will hit the street in 2019. Delivery firms DHL, UPS, TNT, and others are also investing in e-cargobike fleets.
The UK government created a fund to subsidize the purchase of new e-cargo bikes – a logistics company will now be able save 20% off the purchase price of an e-cargobike. Electric delivery bikes will cut traffic and improve air quality. In Germany, there are rebates of up to one-third of the retail price of e-cargobikes for commercial use.
A report by experts from Amsterdam and Rotterdam University, City Logistic: Light and Electric, argues that cities are being strangled by trucks and vans: a great deal of freight traffic in urban area is now comprised of delivery vans. Cities would be better served by lighter, smaller vehicles. Truck technology needs to become smarter, cleaner, quieter, smaller and safer.
However, there are questions about the safety of LEFV when they use the road together with regular car and bicycle traffic. There are also “resistance to their use on already crowded cycling infrastructure, especially when the LEFVs involved are large. And pedestrians may not be so keen on the proliferation of the larger e-cargobikes. There are fears that the safety of other road users may be endangered and that the sidewalk will be blocked by LEFVs.
