Infinium Logistics Solutions (ILS) has been working with leading final mile delivery provider, OTL Solutions to launch a micro mobility project in London that will reduce CO2 emissions and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx).
Within the next three months, up to 30 e-cargo bikes will have been introduced into the City of London to deliver final mile packages, previously delivered by vans.
According to Transport for Quality of Life, vans emit over 30% of all NOx and particulates from road vehicle exhausts, and so replacing vans with e-cargo bikes disproportionately improves air quality. In addition, replacing vans with e-cargo bikes will also reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The study reported that every van making deliveries may each emit more than 10 tonnes of CO2 per year.
ILS has supported OTL Solutions within different areas of the project including the planning and creation of the micro mobility hub in the City of London, where a dedicated area of a multi-storey car park has been transformed into a final mile operations centre. The hub is used for receiving and sorting parcels, dispatching riders, battery charging and bike storage. From this one location, OTL Solutions will operate 30 e-cargo bikes, delivering up to 4,000 packages per day within a 1.5km radius. The proportional CO2 reduction is estimated to be 240 tonnes per year.
“Everyone needs to play a big part in air quality and zero emissions,” said Ercilio de Oliveira, Head of Operations at OTL Solutions. “We are very proud to be leading the way reducing vans off the streets of London and replacing them with e-cargo bikes. There has been varying speculation suggesting e-cargo bikes are not the most user friendly of solutions when it comes to making final miles deliveries. We disagree and have been operating this mode of transport for some time with high performance metrics being achieved. However, we do understand that there can be issues, especially if you just place a van driver onto a cargo bike, that will not work! For a successful e-cargo bike operation you need a good hub (thank you Infinium), excellent maintained bikes and highly trained riders. At OTL Solutions we are committed to significantly increasing our fleet size, not just in London, but other cities especially with Ultra Low Emission Zones.”
It is hoped that further micro mobility hubs will be opened in London and other urban areas throughout the UK to make a big impact into lowering toxic gases. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, last week published new evidence which shows since he took office in 2016 the scale of reduction in toxic NO2 has been five times greater in central London than the national average. He called on Ministers to follow London’s lead and immediately amend the Environment Bill to give UK cities more powers and funding. The world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) was introduced in London in 2019, resulting in 13,500 fewer polluting vehicles driving in the zone every day and toxic NO2 levels falling by 44 percent in the zone.
OTL Solutions has been operating for 7 years with a combined management experience over 30 years. They deliver more than 40,000 orders per day from multiple operations in the UK, Ireland, Spain and Italy. Their electric vehicle fleet is now more than 500 vehicles and increases monthly.
Infinium Logistics Solutions has a vast amount of experience in final mile deliveries and has created a collaboration of car parking operators throughout Europe, with over 12,500 sites to support solutions including micro mobility hubs with EV solutions, peak parking, pop up distribution centres, PUDO’s, storage and delivery lockers.
