on Tuesday morning, 10.30 am: in the Middle of the Oranienstraße in Kreuzberg, parked a delivery van. Cyclists try between the waiting cars, past like. The BVG Bus must wait a long time until he comes over. It is not a great deal to the viscous traffic to a Standstill.
But it takes buses to bring people to work. And it is also the Transporter needs to supply to the growing city. So what to do in order to use the limited road space better? Two Berlin-based Start-ups have asked this question also. And also the first answers to the question found, such as deliveries, less noise, and stench to your destination could get.
Both companies have set up their workshop in the maker space MotionLab, a 2500 square foot Co-Working Space at the Görlitzer Park. The Start-up Citkar screwed on a vehicle that you could keep at first glance for an oversized Kettcar. “Loadster” baptized founder of the company, Jonas Kremer vehicle: A Bicycle with four wheels, electric support, a semi-open cab with roof and windshield, and the ability to put on the back of a kennel.
A Kettcar with the roof and the loading surface
the idea for The Loadster came Kremer, as he wanted to bring his weekly shopping in the rain in a dry home. In that Moment, he remembered days in a Kettcar children, and thought: actually, just a roof and loading area to transport the shopping is just as convenient as a car. So a whole new category of vehicle for cargo bikes, whose riders come dry through the rain.
Five years Kremers rich first Attempts, such a vehicle together. In 2017, the first employees were hired and a prototype developed. First, Kremer had private clients as a target group in view. “In the market, however, has shown that they are very reluctant to take on another vehicle purchase.” There is in the area of logistics, however, a great need has developed Start-up product for the professional field.
A good decision, because in the courier-, parcel and Express industry, the shipment volume has been growing for years. A delivery vehicle, the reached via a bike path to the houses faster, corresponds to the changes in the environment better. The Loadster of a go-cart with the trunk for the private shopping was transformed to a Pedelec cargo bike with 200 kilograms and 663 litres of load capacity. The target group are now eating and courier delivery services, which deliver on the day of ordering the goods directly. In the next few years, models for package delivery services, and later also for private customers to be developed.
More than a conventional cargo bike
Until the first Pizza with a Loadster comes, it will take but still: “The trade fair for commercial vehicles IAA in September 2018, we have presented the first pre-production model, starting in June of 2019, we want to deliver the first finished vehicles,” says Kremer. Can be ordered already now. The price is already set: the Loadster fails in its basic version, with approximately 6000 euros. That would be more than a conventional cargo bike, but significantly less than a classic Car or Truck.
A step further, the logistics company DHL, whose self-designed load wheels are already on the streets of Berlin, in use since. “The reliability of the destination on time and independent of congestion is reached, in addition to the Emissions, the main reason for the use of,” says DHL spokesman Mattias Persson. “The development of new vehicles, on a cargo bike as a basis, we closely monitor. You are gaining in importance, but in the Mix of the used means of transportation, our electric powered street scooters will continue to play an important role.”
On electric assist when you pedal, use the Start-up Onomotion with his cargo bike “Ono”. And even if the load volume with 2000 litres several times higher than the Loadster, it is legally still a Bicycle. Because even with electric assistance, the vehicle only achieved a maximum speed of 25 kilometres per hour. And yet, the designs with a closed driver’s cabin show that the appearance of a classic delivery vans closer than a wire donkey.
The cargo bike “Ono” of Onomotion to bring the change in Mobility.Photo: promo
From the tricycle to the integrated logistics concept
However, managing Director, Beres Seelbach, it’s more than just the construction of a new delivery vehicle for the logistics industry. “We want to think not only the vehicles, but also the process chain,” he says.
For his company, many questions arise therefore: How about the hubs should look like so that the Ono can play to their advantage of high flexibility? What processes need to be changed, so that the consignments reach as directly as possible and reliable is your goal, and not, as previously, after an unsuccessful delivery attempt to the doorstep, but take have to be?
answers to Seely and his Team have already found some: In combination with transhipment Hubs in the city of commercial vehicles with a size up to a Mercedes to be Sprinter will be replaced in the cities by an integrated logistics concept with envelope surfaces in Parking garages and supermarket Parking lots, in hopes of Seelbach. The Box on the back of the Ono is designed as a removable container. The exchange is within seconds possible. Thus, the service life is reduced when Loading significantly, since the packages do not need to be individually Packed in the vehicle.
But it should not remain: “We want cities of Europe can indeed change the world, your traffic on light electric vehicles,” hopes the Onomotion-in-chief. But the Onos are still not grow anymore. By the end of 2019, the first to be on the roads. Offered exclusively as a leasing model, monthly, with a mid three-figure amount, calculated – including the Service.
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transport in Berlin cars to come out of Kreuzberg’s Oranienstraße
Thomas Loy
Back on the orange road is, as yet, only imagine what it would mean for the traffic here, when the large delivery vehicles would be replaced by smaller ones: a much more relaxed Ahead for all. Whether this is reality or a Vision, is also due to the success of the logistics-Start-ups in Berlin.
