Small electric vehicles are transforming urban delivery

A US Electric bike startup, which rents e-bikes to food delivery workers and other couriers in New York City and Chicago, is partnering with an electric vehicle company headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, to test a new electric three-wheeled vehicle. The pilot is part of a program giving demos to ghost kitchens, grocery chains and other potential customers in need of delivery fleets.

The vehicle, named the Deliverator, has a “reverse-tricycle” configuration—two wheels in the front and one in the back, with an enclosed storage compartment behind the driver. The Deliverator is a modified version of the EV company's electric three wheeler (FUV), targeted at fleet customers looking to lower operating costs and maximise deliveries per hour.

The program is seeking to establish a foothold for electric three-wheelers in the US as urban delivery vehicles, a role they already play in cities across China, India, and Southeast Asia. Indeed, according to BloombergNEF’s Electric Vehicle Outlook, 90% of the 117 million three-wheelers on the road globally last year were in China and India. This trend looks set to continue with global sales of the product forecast to exceed 12 million units this year, yet fewer than 10,000 outside of the two nations.

At present, it remains a niche product, although they are attempting to establish it as an alternative to short, solo car trips.

There are others on the market and at the same time, cities in Europe are trialing similar products. For example, as part of the Surflogh project, PostNL and the City of Groningen carried out trials of different LEFV (Light Electric Freight Vehicles), in an effort to reduce emissions whilst also significantly reducing traffic congestion.