From take-aways to legal reports, prescription drugs to architectural models, couriers and messengers carry it all. It’s a cut-throat world of deadlines and price wars, and one in which comfort, sustainability and safety are often not a priority. However one company is looking to change all that with a new e-vehicle designed specifically for couriers.
When it needs to be there yesterday
Studies show that couriers and courier companies typically make their deliveries with a 5-mile radius. This makes bike and motorbike couriers an efficient option for single package deliveries across cities and towns. However, a licence, expertise and physical fitness are all required to carry out this job.
What’s more, to use bikes and motorbikes the load couriered has to remain relatively small and this is not always the case. So it’s no surprise that in recent years, more and more couriers in Bracknell and elsewhere have turned to small vehicles to get their deliveries there on time.
Adding more small vehicles to the already congested city streets is not ideal. Even a small two-seater, city-car is taking up more space than the courier needs and every extra vehicle pumps waste and fumes into the air, so the news that a new electric delivery vehicle prototype has been unveiled has made couriers like those at www.uk-tdl.com very excited.
Still in development
The Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), based at the University of Warwick, has worked together with Astheimer to develop an e-vehicle design specially for couriers. Currently known as the Deliver-E, this new vehicle is not so dissimilar from the Renault Twizy, the electric one (possibly two) seater quadricycle from the French car manufacturer. In fact, it’s essentially the same car but with much more space and power for couriered items.
The Deliver-E runs on a 48V 6.5kWh electric battery system that ramps up the peak power of the Twizy from around 12 to 36 kW. This extra oomph allows the e-vehicle to cope with heavier loads without a loss of performance. Removing the second seat option and expanding the rear of the car also enlarges the boot area.
The concept e-vehicle was met with approval by many in the industry, but for the meantime will remain a concept. Currently, the WMG and their collaborative partners intend to use the car for further research purposes.
