To reduce traffic, company sending cargo with e-bikes
On city streets, on most days, Amazon delivery vans , UPS trucks, Ubers and vehicles for instant delivery services all vie for space. A Los Angelesbased company is aiming to solve the problem of urban congestion and the emissions that come with it by swapping out the delivery trucks with cargo ebikes.
URB-E is carving out a high-density niche in the market for electric commercial vehicles, which market intelligence advisory Guidehouse Insights says is expected to hit $370 billion by 2030. They want to build an ecosystem around cargo e-bikes, aiming to expand from 50 to 500 of them by next year.
“Cargo e-bikes let delivery workers avoid car traffic congestion, reduce pollution and are safer vehicles on our streets than trucks,” says Sarah Kaufman, associate director of Rudin Center for Transportation at New York University. “Cities all over the world are starting to reshape themselves for smaller-form vehicles and more humanpowered transportation; cargo e-bikes fit perfectly into this vision.”
URB-E, which started out as a company that made mini e-scooters, is pivoting to monetize the demand from companies that need their own lowemissions delivery systems. URB-E makes its own workhorse e-bikes in China, which are geared to haul large loads (800 pounds) at low speeds and fit into a parking space with 20 folded containers. The bikes feature a double-wheel and brake system like those used in aircraft. A hitch and suspension allow for more stability on fraying road infrastructure in their first locations of New York and Los Angeles.
URB-E provides the vehicles, but not the drivers. The startup trains clients on how to put their own drivers on the e-bikes and offers an e-bike valet service to help manage charging. It's an experiment, but one thing is for certain: this isn't another home delivery company bringing you lunch. They want the bigger market of high-volume cargo for companies. Containerized boxes make it easier to move cargo off of trucks coming into the cities and onto trailers for e-bike delivery, said chief executive officer Charles Jolley.
“We're really specifically not focused on `get me a burrito, a coffee, a toothbrush in 15 minutes,' ” said Jolley. “We're trying to replace trucks and vans with something that's 90% less energy.”
The company's clients have ranged from UPS to Square Roots, which had been delivering its produce grown in the company's vertical farm in Brooklyn by rigging a trailer to consumer e-bikes and loading it up with veggies. One URB-E co-founder described that as “like trying to use a Prius to do the work of a tractor.”
UPS used URB-E bikes in a trial as part of its expanding “last-mile” logistics solutions that involve more than 30 projects, and the company continues to look for urban logistic solutions as part of its bid for carbon neutrality by 2050, says Luke Wake, UPS vice president of fleet maintenance and engineering.
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