Everything You Need to Know About E-Bikes for Delivery

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With the world becoming a global village, it’s become a matter of a few clicks to order anything directly to your home.

It is also true when it comes to electric bikes. They’ve taken the world by storm. Due to a variety of reasons, such as being more convenient to use, being environment-friendly, and saving fuel costs, e-bikes are exponentially increasing in popularity.

Despite their surprisingly fast growth, they’re still not being utilized for all the purposes they can be used for. One such use is using e-bikes for delivery.

Only a handful of businesses practice using e-bikes for delivery; however, when you know the details, it’s a bargain. They bring so much to the table with so little to use.

This article goes in-depth regarding using e-bikes for delivery and addresses any questions regarding this.

Why do people need e-bikes for delivery?

Firstly, let’s address the elephant in the room. Why do we even need e-bikes for delivery? Why can’t we keep relying on the old-school methods used until now?

The answer is pretty simple. It’s a win-win. Not only does utilizing this method make it easier for you as a business but also beneficial for consumers and the planet as a whole too.

More specifically, here are the reasons why:

1.They are fast

What’s the limit to the speed a bike rider can ride? The physical limit is the rate at which they can pedal the bike.

However, with e-bikes, this speed can be increased even further. Since a motor helps proper an e-bike rider to a certain limit, it becomes easier for the rider to achieve and maintain that speed over long distances.

It means that e-bikes can help make a delivery that would reach a customer in several hours, reach there in a fraction of that time instead.

2.You can load more

Since a motor helps you drive the electric bike, it enables you to ride the bike with heavier weights attached to the e-bike. As we’ll discuss later, features such as a rear rack bag or cargo bike can help even more.

Loading more means that more than one passenger can be served in a single trip, and larger deliveries can be made on themselves instead of relying on other means.

3.Money-saving tool

This is the MOST important factor when it comes to businesses, and e-bikes can help you save loads of money. This amount exponentially increases as you rely on e-bike deliveries more and more.

You save a lot on your delivery costs without any disadvantage to your customers. The amount saved could be provided to your customers as a discount, giving you an edge over your customers.

You could use the amount to re-invest in the business, give bonuses to the staff, or use it for other creative uses.

4.Last-mile deliveries

Last-mile deliveries are one of the biggest conundra faced by businesses and enterprises. It refers to the difficult last part of transporting products from hubs to the customers.

However, electric bikes provide a convenient solution to this. Using e-bikes for delivery can provide a minimal cost, environment-friendly and efficient solution towards finally solving the last-mile problem.

In which sectors can e-bike delivery be used?

While it’s available to all businesses, some niches can benefit from using an e-bike for delivery far more than the rest. Here are a few of those.

1.Food Delivery

The food sector is one of the largest and most thriving sectors of the world’s businesses. After all, it’s a basic human necessity; even though most businesses run out of need eventually, we’ll still need food.

Using e-bikes for food delivery is a no-brainer. Since food delivery is normally done over short distances and the parcels aren’t that heavy, it’s natural to use e-bikes as the ideal way to deliver food.

While you could also install an insulated delivery bag, depending on the type of food, most parcels could even be sent without it.

2.Supermarket delivery services

No matter how small or big your supermarket business is, e-bikes can be a nice solution to your delivery worries. During and after the pandemic, most supermarkets have started providing delivery services to their customers.

If you haven’t, you’re already late. However, relying on old means of transport, especially in fast-changing businesses such as supermarkets, is deadly.

Using e-bikes to deliver products can help retain your old customers by ensuring excellent delivery timings and costs.

3.Courier business

Since the courier business also deals with (mostly) lightweight products, e-bikes are a great way to perform courier deliveries.

One huge advantage that an e-bike for delivery brings in this regard is just breezing through traffic in urban areas. While cars and other heavy traffic means would indubitably be stuck in traffic jams, e-bikes can usually still perform deliveries fast.

This implies that e-bikes can help you generate an edge over your competitors if you’re in a busy urban area.

4.Family Farms

Family farms usually don’t run on high-profit margins and can also benefit from the facility that using an e-bike for delivery can provide.

They enable you to make as many deliveries as you want without heavily investing in a vehicle that sits there idly in the season when there aren’t man deliveries.

What kinds of e-bikes can be used for delivery?

1.Electric bike with a rear rack

This is the go-to type of bike that most people will use to make deliveries on electric bikes. Some types of e-bikes may even come with them pre-installed.

However, suppose you’re like many who may want to install the rear rack AFTER buying the e-bike. In that case, we’d recommend the Netuno rear bike rack. Eskute provides this durable and reliable rack to ensure your deliveries reach their destination smoothly.

If you’re in the food business, you could also arrange for a food delivery back to be attached to such a rack to deliver warm (or cold) food to the customers.

2.Electric cargo bike

This electric bike would be more expensive than the first. However, it’s ideal if the deliveries you need to make are slightly larger or heavier.

Since there will be a separate cargo compartment attached to the bike, it’s also safer since it won’t interrupt the balance or driving of the electric bike in any way.

You can also utilize straps and belts to tie the delivery package to the cargo portion, which would fix it completely. And also can help with transporting fragile and sensitive items as well.

Features of e-bikes cargo bikes for a delivery service

To review, let’s also talk about what makes e-bikes cargo bikes perfect for being used as a delivery service.

1.Low maintenance

Since e-bikes don’t come with the dozens of century-old chains and components that a regular bike provides, they’re relatively low maintenance.

Of course, if things break, the parts aren’t that expensive, and the maintenance costs are much lower than using any other vehicle for delivery purposes.

2.Easy to use

Unlike heavy vehicles, e-bikes can be used by anyone who knows how to ride a bike. You don’t need to undergo proper training or get a driving license to make deliveries on an e-bike.

It saves precious hours that otherwise go into verifying a person’s driving/riding credentials and training them when it comes to other transportation means.

3.Safety

Since e-bikes don’t travel at high speeds compared to other means, they provide a much safer means of transportation.

As long as no one is breaching the local speed limits and following basic safety tips and techniques, Eskute has explained in several blog posts that one should be completely safe when using an e-bike.

4.Weather protection

E-bike cargo bikes also allow for additional weather protection. While the rider themselves can protect themselves using the proper clothes and equipment, the items can be equally protected as well.

A rigid plastic sheet can be used to cover the cargo component of the e-bike and properly tied down to ensure it’s sealed. Such a system would ensure that the items stay safe no matter how bad the weather gets.

However, of course, deliveries should be avoided in extremely bad weather in the first place for the rider’s safety and the transported items.

Conclusion

Finally, when you’ve finally decided upon an e-bike for delivery and are about to hit the purchase button, you must also consider their shipping and returns policy.

Any company that believes in its e-bikes and intends to help its customers provides a lenient warranty and a comfortable return policy.

For example, let’s take a look at Eskute. It provides FREE shipping within 2 business days, a 2 years warranty, and a 15-day return policy.

All these features make selecting and buying an e-bike an absolute no-brainer since a person has nothing to lose if they aren’t satisfied with their purchase.