For greener deliveries, try cargo bikes

Carriers from coast to coast are touting their efforts to shrink their carbon footprint with electric vehicles (EVs) and self-driving trucks. But a report from the U.K. says there’s a simpler way to cut emissions: by using two wheels instead of four.

If delivery companies switched to using cargo bikes instead of diesel vans for the first and last mile of a package’s journey, it would save the British National Health Service (NHS) and other government services some $5 billion, according to the analysis from Pedal & Post, an Oxford, U.K., startup that uses cargo bikes to make urban deliveries.

Those estimates are derived from savings from reduced congestion, decreased air pollution, better health outcomes for riders, and fewer accidents and greenhouse gas emissions, Chris Benton, CEO of Pedal and Post, said in a release. The study cited research finding that the hidden social and environmental costs associated with diesel vans total $3.1 billion in London alone and that 33% of all urban deliveries could be done by cargo bikes or e-cargo bikes.

“The potential to clean up our air and grow the U.K. economy is huge,” Benton said in the statement. “Pollution from diesel van deliveries costs the NHS nearly $31,000 across the lifetime of the van, compared to around $186 for an electric cargo bike. We also know that cargo bikes can deliver more parcels per hour than the average van and produce 92% less greenhouse gas emissions per delivery, so it really is a no brainer to make the switch.”