The electric-assisted delivery bike which DPD co-designed is being road-tested for the first time.
DPD is testing 10 of the P1 electric-assisted bikes in Europe. This includes five in the UK and five in Ireland, Spain, Germany, Portugal and France.
The vehicle combines the rider’s pedal power with a 250 watt electric motor, allowing it to travel at 15mph and cover a range of up to 60 miles per day on a single charge. It can carry a 120kg payload.
The carrier is working with Oxford-based manufacturer EAV to design the vehicle, with the aim of making urban deliveries more sustainable.
Dwain McDonald, CEO of DPD, said the P1 had performed well in early trials and had the potential to be more efficient than traditional vans in some locations.
“The P1 is an absolutely amazing vehicle and we are immensely proud to be technical partners alongside EAV on this unique project. This is an entirely new type of vehicle and is designed specifically to meet the current challenges for delivery firms in the urban environment.
“It is highly manoeuvrable, can carry a good day’s worth of parcels and can often get closer to delivery addresses than the vans.
“We’re on a journey with EVs and as usual, we are ahead of the pack. But it is uncharted territory, and the reality is that we are going to need to invest in new and different types of vehicles to solve new and different challenges. We know that the environment and climate change matter more than ever to our clients and the feedback we get when we share our EV vision with them is really positive.”
Adam Barmby, founder and technical director at EAV commented, “It has been fantastic to work alongside DPD and to see our vision for the P1 realised. It is classed as an e-cargo bike, but really, we started from scratch and reimagined an entirely new type of vehicle to operate within the parameters of today’s urban delivery market.
“It is a modular design, so we can extend or shorten the chassis and change the cargo configuration to fit the brief. In addition to the design flexibility, there is also a whole new set of efficiencies that we are tapping into here. Realistically, the P1 can move as fast or faster than a traditional van through many cities because of the different routing it can take.”
