Challenges and experiences with commercial test-users during the research project Distribute
As online retail continues to grow, cities are under pressure to find new logistic solutions for the last mile in order to offset the increase in urban traffic. Distribute is a research and practice project to design and test new uses for electric cargo bikes in the Berlin neighbourhoods Klausenerplatz-Kiez and Mierendorff-Insel. The ultimate goal of the project is to replace private and commercial car traffic and delivery vans by electrically powered cargo bikes and thereby relieve traffic load and pollution in the neighbourhoods. The project is carried out by a conglomerate of partners from academia & research, municipalities, industry and local partners and provides electric cargo bikes for local businesses and residents in a rental-system.
Distribute’s aim is to optimize commercial uses and the rental systems for cargo bikes by testing various use cases in the project neighbourhoods. The community partner Insel Projekt Berlin offers delivery services with a high-capacity cargo bike called Icai (www.icai.de). The ca. 15-min talk provides insights into the challenges and experiences with commercial business test-users.
