E-trikes deliver for Australia post
More room for parcels, protection from magpies and low emissions sees Australia Post stamping out the iconic Honda step-through in favour of electric trikesOur obsession with online shopping has led Australia Post to steer towards electric trikes rather than the traditional Honda postie scooter.
The ABC website reports the Honda C110x 'Super Cub' scooters are being phased out in favour of environmentally friendly e-trikes and e-bikes.
Australia Post estimates parcel numbers have grown by 10 per cent a year for the past three years and predicts that 10 per cent of all personal shopping will be performed online by 2020.
The delivery service's general manager of network optimisation, Mitch Buxton, says the postie bikes are limited in the volume of parcels they can transport.
"We're not really carrying as many letters as we used to and we're starting to see more parcels," Mr Buxton told the ABC.
"These [trikes] are designed so that we park on the footpath and then service our parcels to the door."
The trikes are built by Swiss company Kyburz and have been adapted to Australia Post specifications with the fitment of a suspended seat for improved comfort, reversing camera and auto-locking storage bins to help avoid mail theft. The capacity of up to 100 small parcels is three times as much as a postie scooter.
The trikes have a top speed of 45km/h and a range of 50-100km, depending on the terrain. The charging time is 10 hours using a regular 240-volt socket.
More than 150 of the new 'electric delivery vehicles' are already on the roads and more will follow as Australia Post identifies routes that suite the three-wheeled machines.
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