(Pocket-lint) – Amazon has announced plans to begin delivering packages via e-bike and on foot in the UK, as the retailer aims to progress towards its climate goals.
The company has opened its first ‘micromobility hub’ in London’s Hackney, aiming to make more than five million deliveries a year in the city and replace thousands of van deliveries.
Instead, couriers will be seen driving around the borough in the chunky e-bikes pictured – with these replacement vehicles, notably, able to skip over the city’s Congestion Charge and Ultra Low Emission Zone fees.
As the company details in its own blog post, it also plans to open more of these hubs in the UK over the coming months, adding to the 1,000 electric delivery vans already in its fleet. At present, though, it’s not known where or when exactly these hubs will actually launch.
Interestingly, it’s also not the first example we’ve seen of Amazon implementing e-bikes to replace city deliveries. In various areas of France and Germany, the company uses similar e-bikes, while also employing e-scooters in Spain and Italy. It appears to be enjoying great success, too, with around 66 per cent of deliveries in Paris now made via e-bikes, electric vans or an on-foot courier.
With its Shipment Zero project, the company is hoping to deliver half of its total packages with net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, as well as aiming to run its operations entirely on renewable energy by 2025.
And though there’s plenty of work still to be done, Amazon is certainly one of the leading forces in the push to go green.
In the case of this new delivery setup, it arrives just in time, as well, with Amazon Prime Day just around the corner.
Writing by Conor Allison.
