Canadian electric-vehicle maker ElectraMeccanica is one of several automakers building three-wheeled and micro vehicles designed to find a space in the delivery market.
The Deliverator is a modified version of the Arcimoto’s flagship product, the FUV, or Fun Utility Vehicle — although the fun factor is not the point of the Deliverator. Of the 117 million three-wheelers on the road globally last year, according to BloombergNEF’s Electric Vehicle Outlook , more than 90 per cent were in China and India. China alone has a fleet of roughly 100 million, primarily used for hauling passengers and cargo on short trips. Nearly 70 per cent of the global fleet is electric, mostly using lead-acid batteries, though a swift transition to lithium-ion is underway.
For the moment, that base is small. The company built about 300 vehicles last year, including the two-seater retail FUV, the Deliverator, and other variations built for first responders, landscapers and movie sets. It’s targeting 1,000 this year. For fleet customers, three-wheelers can be a happy medium. They are smaller, nimbler, and cheaper to operate than vans and trucks, while moving faster than most cargo bikes and without pedaling by the driver. As cities increasingly restrict access for cars and trucks in central districts, said Brennan, three-wheelers provide future-proofing: “In certain corridors around the world, small, lightweight electric vehicles will likely be the only way you can do delivery without paying a penalty.
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