Organisations such as limited companies, sole traders, partnerships, charities and not-for-profit can now apply for up to £200,000 worth of funding for ecargo bikes from the Department for Transport’s (DfT) eCargo Bike Grant Fund, increased from an initial cap of £50,000.
Funded by the Department for Transport and delivered by the Energy Saving Trust (EST), the grant fund opened to applications on 01 April 2019 to support the adoption of sustainable transport by businesses operating in England. To date, more than 50 SMEs have applied for and successfully been awarded funding.
Tim Anderson, senior programme manager at the EST commented: “It is heartening to see the significant interest and response to this grant fund which enables applicants to request grant funding for up to 20% of the cost of a new ecargo bike up to the value of £1,000 per bike. This increase means that a possible 200 ecargo bikes per organisation can now be secured, to support larger organisations implementing sustainable last mile delivery and goods transport solutions.
“Benefits to the adoption of ecargo bikes include the reduction of congestion, improvement of air quality in our towns and cities, with the addition of savings to operating costs.”
Simon Backler, electrician at Mid Sussex Electrical Ltd added: “We received our grant from the EST for our first ecargo bike last month and haven’t looked back. We are attracting attention for our business, our customers are impressed, we are saving money and improving our health. I’ve personally covered over 500 emission free miles in the first month.”
The deadline for applications to the grant fund is 31 March 2020, and applications for funding will be assessed on a first come, first served basis.
Grant funding is conditional on recipients signing up to a robust code of practice developed in association with the UK Cycle Logistics Federation and the Bicycle Association and includes cycle safety best practice.
The eCargo Bike Grant Fund eligibility criteria, code of practice and application form are available at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/transport/ecargo-bike-grant-fund
