Live Trial of Micro-Hub System for Cheaper and 100% Carbon-Free Last-Mile Deliveries

我们的目标是在伦敦（和世界其他城市）提供100%零排放的最后一英里包裹递送，同时以比目前基于货车的递送方式更低的成本运营。我们将通过在车库、停车场、铁路拱门和城市地区其他未充分利用的空间建立和运营占地10- 20平方米（1-2个停车位）的“微型枢纽”来实现这一目标。微型枢纽在从城市外的传统仓库到客户的途中临时保存包裹，这使得批量交付（使用电动卡车）能够在非高峰时间进行。任何微型枢纽距离包裹目的地的步行距离都不超过15-30分钟，因此通过步行和/或货运自行车进行最终交付不仅可行，而且非常经济。这种交付过程将为所有利益相关者带来一系列好处。（居民、零售商和最终客户）：增加（高峰）包裹容量，大大减少道路上的车辆数量（和减少货运行驶公里数）、将运输车辆排放量减少到零、减少噪音、提高道路安全和减少事故等等。我们于2020年夏季为我们的微型枢纽系统建立基础设施后，我们已于2020年10月开始代表零售客户进行现场交付。原计划于2020年11月结束，延长的现场试验阶段将为一些零售商提供零排放交付，直至2020年2月，这将为我们的微型枢纽系统在城市最后一英里包裹交付方面的可行性和优势提供详细的见解，特别是在圣诞节等高峰时段。

Our goal is to provide 100% emission-free last-mile parcel delivery in London (and other cities across the world) whilst operating at a lower cost than current van-based methods of delivery.We are going to achieve this by setting-up and operating "micro-hubs" with a footprint of 10-20sqm (1-2 car parking spaces) in garages, car-parks, railway arches and other underutilised spaces in urban areas. Micro-hubs temporarily hold parcels on their way from a traditional warehouse outside of the city to the customer which enables bulk deliveries (with electric trucks) to micro-hubs to be made at non-peak hours. Any micro-hub is no more than 15-30 mins walking distance from the parcel's destination, making the final delivery by foot and/or cargo-bike not only feasible but also highly economical.This delivery process will bring a host of benefits to all stakeholders (residents, retailers and end customers): increased (peak) parcel volume capacity, greatly reduced number of vehicles on the road (and reduction of freight km driven), reduction of delivery vehicle emissions to zero, noise reductions, increased road safety and less accidents, amongst many others. At the same time this approach is significantly more cost-efficient as the number of costly delivery vans can be greatly reduced and overall efficiency is drastically improved.After setting up the infrastructure for our micro-hub system over the 2020 Summer months, we have started to make live deliveries on behalf of retail clients in October 2020. Originally scheduled to end in November 2020, an extended live trial phase with zero-emission deliveries for a number of retailers running until February 2020 will provide detailed insights into the viability and advantages of our micro-hub system for urban last-mile parcel delivery, especially during a peak time such as Christmas.