An XXL bike that can replace entire trucks? Sounds impossible, but it is already available in Hamburg. DB Schenker recently presented its latest invention.
Kassel – In Hamburg, DB Schenker, the logistics service provider of Deutsche Bahn, is now using XXL cargo bikes in addition to an e-transporter. They are to replace 7.5-ton diesel trucks. However, this only works together: the electric delivery van “eCanter” loads the goods, hands them over, and the XXL cargo bike then delivers them.
The cargo bike can transport 500 kilograms of cargo and can go up to 25 kilometers per hour. Unfortunately, the battery is only sufficient for a distance of about 70 kilometers, then the bike has to go back to the station in Altona.
The traffic of the future is already in Hamburg: XXL cargo bikes drive from Altona to the city center
“DB Schenker is currently working on completely CO2-neutral supply chains,” explained Gerd Ludt, DB Schenker’s branch manager, at the presentation to the media in Hamburg on Wednesday. These supply chains start in the warehouse in Wilhelmsburg, where the freight is first loaded into the “eCanter”. It is supposed to drive up to 4.8 tons of freight from A to B every day.
At the transshipment point in Hamburg Altona, two cargo bikes are ready. “They then leave Wilhelmsburg with the eCanter parcels in the morning, deliver them to the city and come back to the station in the evening to recharge the battery,” explains Ludt.
Traffic of the future in Hamburg: XXL cargo bikes can even use bike paths
The huge cargo bikes are still only going back and forth in the inner city, mainly between St. Pauli and HafenCity. The wheels are designed to just fit between the bollards. The advantage: You can use all the cycle paths in the city center and you don’t have to drive through the mostly congested streets. “That saves a lot of time, of course,” says Ludt.
At the moment, retailers, offices and craft businesses in particular purchase goods by cargo bike – but private individuals can also have their goods delivered by bike. For the time being, the XXL bikes will remain the only ones of their kind in Hamburg. In the long run, however, they could one day overtake diesel trucks, according to DB Schenker.
The Pro-City dealer association and entrepreneur Felix Dossmann have already started a sustainable delivery service with e-bikes and e-vans in Göttingen, and there is a similar project with cargo bikes in Hofgeismar. (Luisa Weckesser)
