Amazon unveils e-cargo bikes to make low-emission deliveries in London

American e-commerce giant, Amazon, is reportedly planning to launch a fleet of e-cargo bikes along with a crew of on-foot delivery staff in an effort to replace van deliveries in London.

Reportedly, the online retail firm will be opening its first-ever micromobility center in the district of Hackney, which in covalence with an existing fleet of EVs, will be responsible for 5 million deliveries across the city’s ultra-low emission zone postcode districts. However, the e-cargo bikes will not be operated directly by Amazon but by a variety of partner companies.

The company plans for more such delivery centers across the UK this year under its efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

John Boumphrey, Amazon’s country manager in the UK, stated that the firm is driving towards a net-zero carbon future globally and the transformation of its transportation networks is one of the ways of doing so.

Boumphrey added that company’s walkers and new e-cargo bikes, along with a growing fleet of electric delivery vehicles would assist the firm in making more zero-emission deliveries than ever across the city and the country in the months ahead.

The move supposedly comes as DJs, plumbers, window cleaners, as well as milk and beer deliverers in the city are getting on their bikes to benefit from UK government incentives, novel infrastructure and promises and to cut down the carbon footprint of numerous businesses in the area.

As per the Bicycle Association, around 2,000 cargo bikes were sold in 2020 for commercial use in the UK, and an equivalent number were sold to individuals and family members for personal use. It was estimated that this number would further go up last year.

Reports suggest that several specialist delivery services, like Velocious and Pedal Me, have grown rapidly during the course of the pandemic, with one firm, Zedify, having set up 10 mini-hubs across brownfield sites on the outskirts of cities to ensure thousands of daily zero-emission deliveries in the cities.

Boumphrey stated that Amazon will also install over 30,000 solar panels on its establishments in Manchester, Bristol, Wakefield, Milton Keynes, Haydock Green, and Coalville.

Amazon has also confirmed 18 solar projects this year at its existing sites in the country, with plans to increase that number by more than two folds by 2024.