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EU powers the Cargo Bike revolution

After OECD & World Bank, Cargo Bikes make a presence at TRA, the European conference on transportation policies and solutions.
New EU financed projects continue to power the business potential of cycle logistics

Paris/Brussels, May 6, 2014 –-The cargo bike story made its debut at the Transport Research Arena (TRA) in Paris. Based on ECF’s continuous work across the highest political levels, the success of cargo bikes in saving money while increasing efficiency was shared for the first time with members from the automotive, rail, and shipping transportation industries….140506 ECF Press Release – EU powers the Cargo Bike Revolution.pdf

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In War for Same-Day Delivery, Racing Madly to Go Last Mile

 

Great article on fast cycle delivery in New York from the New York Times:

For all the sophisticated algorithms involved in same-day delivery, many of the services ultimately come down to the delivery guy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/technology/in-war-for-same-day-delivery-racing-madly-to-go-last-mile.html?smid=pl-share

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How Tesla Batteries Are Powering an Energy Revolution

Those Tesla Motors lithium-ion battery packs aren’t just powering electric luxury sports sedans for the 1% any more.

They’ve started appearing in a small number of California homes to store electricity generated by rooftop solar panels, and beginning today SolarCity, the Silicon Valley solar installer, will start providing Tesla batteries for businesses that want to cut their utility bills. A big box retailer like Walmart could charge up a Tesla battery pack with cheap energy produced by its SolarCity rooftop photovoltaic array and then tap that power when demand — and electricity rates — spike.

That would let them minimize paying their local utility high “demand charges” for electricity when they need it most. And the cost of the SolarCity’s system, called DemandLogic, effectively zero, according to SolarCity, since the monthly payments for energy storage would be less than the money saved by not forking over cash to the utility.

And if that sounds like a threat to century-old monopoly utilities, it is. “Our business model is to become the energy company of the 21st century,” SolarCity chief executive Lyndon Rive told The Atlantic. “You’re still connected to the grid but the grid would be your secondary provider and the primarily provider would be your solar system and your storage device.”

http://mashable.com/2013/12/26/energy-revolution/

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Electric cars may hold solution for power storage

NEWARK, Del. — The thick blue cables and white boxes alongside an industrial garage here look like those in any electric-car charging station. But they work in a way that could upend the relationship Americans have with energy.

The retrofitted Mini Coopers and other vehicles plugged into sockets where a Chrysler plant once stood do more than suck energy out of the multi-state electricity grid. They also send power back into it.

With every zap of juice into or out of the region’s fragile power network, the car owner gets paid.

The pilot project here at the University of Delaware has had enough success to set off a frenzy of activity in the auto and electricity industries, particularly in California, where Gov. Jerry Brown’s transportation plan this year promoted “vehicle-to-grid” technology.

Entrepreneurs and government agencies see the technology as a possible solution to a vexing dilemma: how to affordably store renewable energy so it can be available when it is needed, not only when the wind blows or the sun shines.

“This is a fascinating option,” said Robert Weisenmiller, chair of the California Energy Commission. “The technology works. You can do this. The question is … what do we need to do to make it happen?”

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-electric-cars-20131229,0,5640652.story

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In War for Same-Day Delivery, Racing Madly to Go Last Mile

 

Great article on fast cycle delivery in New York from the New York Times:

For all the sophisticated algorithms involved in same-day delivery, many of the services ultimately come down to the delivery guy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/technology/in-war-for-same-day-delivery-racing-madly-to-go-last-mile.html?smid=pl-share

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Cyclelogistics workshop in Vienna

ImagineCargo attended the Forschungsforum Mobilität and the cyclelogistics workshop in Vienna in December 2013.

This was a really great opportunity to share ideas on current themes in urban mobility and the fast-evolving business case for cycle-based freight transportation in urban areas.

The host courier heavy pedals posted their impressions on the events and some photos of a test of cargo bikes at the cycle logistics workshop.

http://heavypedals.at/blog/allgemein/eindruecke-vom-cyclelogistics-workshop-in-wien/

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