The Co-op has introduced a new electric bike home delivery service to bring zero-emission running and fast delivery times in London.
Initially available for customers near the Kings Road Chelsea store ahead of a wider roll-out, the new service enables shoppers to order products via www.shop.coop.co.uk, which will then be delivered to their homes or offices within two hours, thanks to the e-cargo bikes being able to avoid driving and parking difficulties faced by diesel and electric vans.
The bikes, run by e-cargobikes.com and already trialled by Sainsbury’s, also bring sustainability benefits; according to the firm, one single e-cargo bike can deliver the same amount as a conventional 3.5-tonne diesel van over an eight-hour shift while requiring less than 0.5% of the energy.
Chris Conway, head of food digital at the Co-op, said: “This is an exciting time for the Co-op. As the leaders in convenience shopping, we want to look at different ways of bringing our award-winning products closer to shoppers, and this new service with e-cargobikes.com does exactly that.”
The announcement comes six months after the Government pledged £2m in funding for e-cargo bikes grants to help provide a zero-emission alternative to traditional last-mile delivery vehicles while earlier this week the Department for Transport published its Future of mobility: urban strategy, which will explore whether new types of vehicles including e-scooters and e-cargo bike trailers could and should be made legal on UK roads.
