Bike Week 2022: ‘E-bikes are the next generation for businesses’

Nicolas de Juniac, UK general manager at delivery e-bike specialist Zoomo, discusses the benefits for businesses of switching to e-bikes. 

As we enter Bike Week, when communities across the UK celebrate the benefits of cycling, Zoomo believes that every week could be Bike Week for businesses that utilise LEVs (light electric vehicles), particularly e-bikes, which offer an opportunity to shift fleet logistics into the next gear. 

Cost 

Inflation, petrol prices, and supply-chain complications are driving up costs for businesses, with last-mile logistics components at all-time highs. The simplest solution for logistics fleets is to switch to a vehicle that is cheaper to both buy and maintain, even when adjusting for carrying capacity. Enter e-bikes. 

The financial savings businesses can make using e-bikes in their fleet are significant, research in Germany has found that ditching cars and vans and moving to a greater share of e-bike or bike trips can reduce monthly costs by up to 90%. A fleet of e-bikes eliminates the impact of rising petrol costs, it reduces the need for large storage spaces in urban areas, it is cheaper to buy and service, and businesses also save on ancillary costs such as insurance, parking permits, and fines. For growing businesses, where finding reliable workers is challenging, the reduced requirement to have a driving license or CBT makes workforce growth cheaper and more manageable. So whether it’s a multinational post  and parcel company or a convenience store with five delivery riders, a fleet of e-bikes provides a cost-efficient alternative for businesses conducting short-distance journeys, and is a necessary tool to remain profitable in a challenging economic context. 

Efficiency 

Consumer behaviours have changed considerably in recent years, with a third of rapid delivery app users now using them to replace weekly food shops. Additionally, more than half of rapid grocery delivery users state that the specific brand of products is not the most important factor, highlighting instead the speed, reliability, and quality of deliveries that are imperative for rapid delivery businesses wanting to keep their noses ahead of the chasing pack. Businesses need an optimal vehicle to enable this, and across the urban last-mile there is no better one than an e-bike. They are quick, agile, and unaffected by traffic jams or low/no-emission zones, with data from Zoomo partners showing that deliveries are 30% faster on e-bikes than any other form of transport in New York and California. E-bikes are ultimately the most flexible vehicle for urban access, particularly as cities increasingly enable transport by bikes through infrastructure. 

Sustainability

Research has shown that businesses have the potential to reduce CO₂ emissions by 75% by switching deliveries from vans to e-bikes, with customers and investors increasingly holding businesses to account for their environmental practices. If fleet managers are looking to update their logistics vehicles to meet their sustainability pledges, then there is no better option than a fleet of e-bikes. Replacing car trips with e-bikes for example could reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 24.4 metric tons/year, which is equivalent to one fifth of the country’s total CO₂ emissions from transport. Businesses are being pushed more than ever to make climate-friendly changes, an e-bike is an easy fix. 

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It’s no secret, urban areas are turning against petrol vehicles. Whether it’s by enlarging bike lanes or increasing low emission zones, cities are preparing for the next wave of urban mobility. E-bikes are not just cost-efficient, sustainable, and timely, they ultimately provide a vision of the future, and for any business that utilises vehicles, it’s time to consider the next generation of micromobility, which take it from us, is the e-bike.