UPS Launches Electrically-Assisted eBikes for Fort Lauderdale, Florida Deliveries

UPS has announced the launch of an eBike that will deliver packages along Las Olas Boulevard and in surrounding neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The electrically-assisted tricycle supports Fort Lauderdale’s Green Your Routine program, geared toward achieving the city’s sustainability goals, and, Vision Zero Fort Lauderdale, a citywide initiative to create safer streets for everyone.

UPS’s Cycle Solutions will help reduce carbon emissions and noise, as well as improve traffic congestion and air quality in the city’s downtown corridor.

“This is another example of how private and public sectors can work together to find sustainable solutions to meet the needs of today’s cities,” said Scott Phillippi, UPS’s senior director of maintenance and engineering, international operations.

“We have many vehicle options when it comes to reducing our impact on the environment including our Cycle Solutions that provide greater mobility and zero emissions.”

The Fort Lauderdale bike was unveiled at a ribbon-cutting ceremony with UPS and Fort Lauderdale officials on Saturday, December 2, 2017, at 9 a.m. at Laura Ward Riverwalk Plaza, located at 420 S.E. 6th Avenue.

““Fort Lauderdale is proud to collaborate with UPS to launch the first eBike in Florida,” said Mayor John P. “Jack” Seiler.

“We are designing our infrastructure projects to focus on moving people instead of cars in the safest, most convenient way possible, and that requires balancing the needs of our residents, visitors, and businesses. The new bike is a great addition to the street safety enhancements we are making along Las Olas Boulevard to create a friendlier, safer, healthier, and more sustainable experience for everyone, regardless of travel mode.”

The success of the eBike was first demonstrated in 2012 in Hamburg, Germany, where UPS focused on developing a new and sustainable method of delivering goods to urban areas. UPS placed four containers at central locations in the city for interim storage of packages for UPS drivers.

From these points, deliveries were made on foot or with specialized electrically-assisted cargo tricycles that ease traffic congestion and reduce emissions each working day. Due to the success of this pilot, the Hamburg program was extended. That model serves as a prototype for the company’s new eBike in Florida as well as another eBike that deployed in Pittsburgh, Pa., last month. The first eBike began delivering packages in Portland, Ore., on November 21, 2016.

The eBike is equipped with battery-powered electric motors that make it possible to cover longer distances than traditional bikes, carry substantial loads and navigate hills and other terrains. Maximum energy efficiency is achieved when combining battery power and human power simultaneously.

The eBike can be operated solely on battery power or pedal power. UPS will evaluate the reliability, design, integration into Fort Lauderdale’s infrastructure and acceptance of the vehicle. The intent is to operate the eBike in Fort Lauderdale, as weather permits, on a regular route year-round.

UPS has numerous cycle solutions deployed around the world. The company currently operates inner-city delivery projects with delivery on foot and by bike in Frankfurt, Offenbach, Hamburg, Munich, Oldenburg and Herne, Germany, as well as in Leuven and Mechelen, Belgium; Rome and Verona, Italy; Toulouse, France; and Dublin, Ireland in addition to the two eBikes now in the United States.

Using its “Rolling Laboratory” approach, UPS deploys more than 8,500  low-emission vehicles to determine what works best in each situation. From old-fashioned pedal power and electrically-assisted bicycles in dense urban areas like London and Hamburg to electric and hybrid electric vehicles in the U.S., and natural gas, renewable natural gas and propane globally, UPS puts sustainability innovation into action, all over the world.