As U.S. cities make themselves more bike friendly, food delivery will increasingly happen via e-bike.
Dominos Pizza
Electric-assist bikes are gaining traction on American streets with everyone from serious bikers to baby boomers looking to stay on two-wheels, but with a bit of a boost to their aging legs. But they are also gaining traction with food delivery.
Domino’s Pizza this week announced it is expanding the use of custom-made delivery e-bikes in select cities. After testing electric-assist bikes in Houston, Miami, and New York this year, the pizza chain is rolling out e-bike pie deliveries in Miami, Salt Lake City, Baltimore and Houston. The Michigan-based chain is using a customized Rad Power Bike modified to carry up to 12 pizzas.
E-bikes vary brand to brand and model to model. In general, they can be propelled down the street solely on battery power for a few miles, but the more common use of the bikes is for the biker to pedal, with the battery providing a boost. The Rad Power Bike, as with models from companies like A2B and GenZe, The e-bikes use small electric motors that can power the two-wheelers up to 20 mph and can run for 25-40 miles on a single charge. The bikes are designed with front and rear insulated soft-sided cargo areas, reflective materials for visibility, and have lights on the front and rear.
Hauling cargo around China by pedal power is old hat.
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Domino’s points to many advantages to using the e-bikes. Not only does it make it simpler to carry bigger loads on bikes, it makes deliveries in hilly cities significantly easier and more time-efficient. This also allows Domino’s to hire a wider range of prospective workers who might not have licenses to operate cars.
They also cut down on use of private vehicles, parking and moving violation expenses, and maintenance expenses for vehicles.
The RadWagon e-bike has 350 lbs of cargo capacity, a 750W motor, an integrated rear rack, and extra long wheelbase, making the model arguably the most powerful, durable in the market today. Universal front and rear racks on the bike make customization a snap.
Using bikes for commercial cargo in cities is hardly a brand new idea. Spnd some time in Beijing or Shanghai, for example, and you see that the Chinese have long had a variety of bicycle-based pedal vehicles to move goods around cities and towns.
While reverting to bike power may seem like a throwback, perhaps it should be thought of more as “Back To The Future.”
