The commercial trucking landscape is expanding further, with New York City planning to open large quad bikes for delivery

The New York City Department of Transportation announced on August 14 that it will propose changes to the law to open larger pedal-assisted four-wheeled freight bikes on the road. The proposed rule would allow pedal-assisted bikes up to 48 inches wide and with four wheels, while previous New York rules did not allow quad bikes and limited the width of bikes and their cargo using bike lanes.

For safety and road use reasons, the government has imposed restrictions on the width of cargo bicycles, and the delivery vehicle types are limited to three-wheeled box, two-wheeled front box, compact cargo bicycles, and the standard pallet size 48-inch wide cargo bicycle models are commonly used by international carriers such as DHL and UPS. It also restricts the transportation of ordinary freight vehicles for more types of freight products, and if the restrictions on freight bicycles can be lifted to allow more manufacturers and carriers to enter the market, New York as a large freight electric bicycle market, the lower entry threshold will also provide a huge opportunity for more freight bicycle startups.

In densely populated New York City, before the COVID-19 pandemic, 40 percent of deliveries were door-to-door, but now 80 percent are delivered, but about 90 percent of goods are transported by truck, which squeezes urban space and increases pollution, so there are growing calls to change the regulations on freight bicycles. New York has chosen to use freight bikes instead of big trucks.

In April, New York City announced the use of "microhubs," New York City's micro-distribution hubs plan to be located in designated roadside or off-street locations to make it easy for trucks to unload items onto low-emission vehicles, such as electric vehicles or delivery bikes, for "last mile" delivery.
New York launched a pilot program for commercial cargo bikes aimed at package carriers at the end of 2019, and this amendment to the cargo bike rules will further expand the development of commercial freight, and New York City's dense population also provides a large potential market for electric cargo bikes.

The growth of the US freight market has been helped by the development of online shopping, with freight bike deliveries in New York City increasing significantly since NYC DOT launched its commercial cargo bike pilot program in 2019. In 2022, freight bicycles made more than 130,000 trips, delivered more than 5 million packages, and reduced more than 650,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, proving that electric freight products have become an efficient delivery mode in the last-mile logistics relay race, and have unparalleled advantages in reducing carbon emissions. The U.S. e-bike delivery market has grown accordingly.

In the United States, freight bicycles are widely used in food delivery services and small parcel delivery, with improved service quality and efficiency. The application of freight bicycles perfectly solves the problem of the last kilometer of commercial freight, and its usage rate is also increasing.

The Department of Transportation in May launched its own electric pedal-assisted four-wheel freight bike called the "Cargi B," which looks like a minivan with pedals and can replace a traditional delivery truck with just two freight e-bikes, which is equivalent to 30,872 fewer passenger car miles driven.
"Freight bikes have been an important tool for our government to move goods around the city while prioritizing street safety and our environment, and these pedal assisted freight bikes will help New Yorkers get the items they need while reducing carbon emissions and traffic congestion and getting dangerous trucks off our streets," the mayor said.

Electric freight bicycles in Europe is already a mature market, but the development of the US market is also starting to catch up with Europe, with the growth of demand for freight bicycles, the improvement of relevant legislation, the potential of the US freight bicycle market will also be stimulated.

Sources: THEPAPER, HEADTOPICS