Amazon is launching a fleet of e-cargo bikes and a team of foot delivery people to replace thousands of van deliveries on London’s roads.
The e-tailer is opening its first ‘micromobility’ hub in Hackney, east London, which – with an existing fleet of electric vehicles – will contribute to 5 million deliveries per year in approximately one tenth of the postal districts of the very low emission zone of the capital. The bikes will be operated by various partner companies, not directly by Amazon, it is understood.
Amazon is planning more such delivery centers in the UK this year as part of its efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The company has been named as a partner for a cargo bike and walk-in delivery center in the City of London’s London Wall car park in 2020, but that project has yet to come to fruition.
John Boumphrey, Amazon UK country manager, said: “Amazon is moving towards a global carbon-free future. We are doing this in part by transforming our transport networks. Our new e-cargo bikes, rollators and growing electric vehicle delivery fleet will help us make more zero-emission customer deliveries than ever before in London and the UK in the coming months.
Cllr Mete Coban, cabinet member of Hackney Council for Environment and Transport, welcomed the plan. “Addressing transport-related emissions is essential if we are to achieve net zero. We’re really excited to have worked with Amazon to help them take traditional pickup trucks off the streets and replace them with e-cargo bikes. This will help reduce emissions and improve air quality for people in Hackney and beyond,” said Coban.
Amazon’s move comes as window cleaners, milk and beer delivery people, plumbers and DJs are all riding their bikes thanks to UK government incentives, new infrastructure and promises to reduce corporate carbon footprints.
Around 2,000 cargo bikes were sold in the UK for commercial use in 2020, according to the Bicycle Association, and a similar number were sold for use by families and individuals. This number is expected to have climbed over the past year.
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Specialist delivery services, such as Pedal Me and Velocious, have grown rapidly during the pandemic with one service, Zedify, setting up 10 mini-hubs on brownfields outside cities to make thousands of zero deliveries every day. broadcast in each city.
Boumphrey said Amazon would also install more than 30,000 solar panels at its facilities in Manchester, Coalville, Haydock Green, Wakefield, Bristol and Milton Keynes by the end of this year.
The company has confirmed 18 solar projects at its existing sites in the UK this year and plans to more than double the number of projects by 2024.
These projects come on top of a wind farm on Scotland’s Kintyre peninsula and four more planned, including at Kennoxhead in South Lanarkshire.
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