It is dinner time and you’re just too tired to move, you just want to stay on the sofa, figuring out what to have for dinner. You open your favorite food delivery app on your phone and place your order. Now all you have to do is wait and then mosey up to the door to receive your dinner from the driver.
This is a common scene in our lives these days, but have you ever thought about how this delivery convenience contributes to global warming? Every meal you order, from the ingredients, cooking, packaging and deliveries, contribute to your carbon footprint. You may not be able to control how the food was grown, but you CAN choose or influence how the delivery should be done.
Are Gas Scooters Heating Up the Earth?
Among all the possible delivery vehicles, the most common are still gas scooters, especially for last mile deliveries. There are millions of couriers riding gas scooters/mopeds to deliver food and groceries every day. By now it is painfully clear that fossil fuels are harming our living environment. Gas scooters are fast and convenient, but are horrible for the environment. If climate change feels too far away from you, may we also remember that gas scooters create air and noise pollution.
Humans emit about 365 kg of CO2 in a year from just breathing, but add in the carbon footprint of our daily lives like food we eat, the buildings we live in and the transportation we use and the average person is responsible for the emission of about 7000 kg of CO2 each year!
Let’s focus on transportation. As deliveries become more and more popular, the carbon emission of delivery tools is also increasing dramatically. 1 liter of gas can propel a scooter about 46 km while emitting 2.3 kg of CO2. On average, a courier rides about 80-120 km per shift. This means that just one courier riding a gas scooter will produce about 4 kg of CO2 every workday. Take that times the millions of couriers on gas scooters, and this becomes a serious contributor to climate change and bad air quality in cities.
Big or Small, Both are Harmful.
You may know that there are so many categories of gas scooters, which one are we talking about? Do they all emit the same? According to a report made by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of the UK in 2019, you can see that the smaller the scooter is, the less amount of CO2 it emits. But even the small scooter creates more carbon emissions than ebikes, which emit only 2-5 g/km.
Choose the Right Size to Deliver.
We are not saying that we should change all delivery vehicles into ebikes, the point is to choose the right size for the task! You don’t want to deliver your client’s sofa on an ebike, but if you’re delivering a pizza, a delivery ebike is definitely the better choice, especially in an urban area. How about a regular bicycle? Interestingly, according to a study, riding a bicycle actually emits more CO2 than an ebike. As it’s harder and more tiring to ride one, you’ll emit about 25-35 g CO2e/km while riding an ebike emits 21-25 g CO2e/km. Compared to the scooter, which emits about 113 g CO2/km, both bicycles and ebikes produce only half of the carbon emission.
A Choice of Win-Win For You And The Earth.
Most parcels delivered by the last mile delivery couriers are small and light, and the delivery distances are short. In this situation, rather than using vans or scooters, and being stuck in traffic, ebikes are a more proper tool for last mile delivery. Also, if you are a courier delivering with an ebike, you can help by pedaling which could both lower the carbon footprint and burn off that awesome cheeseburger. Doesn’t it sound great?
Keego makes professional ebike for delivery to change the eco-impact of last mile delivery. If you also want to change the world, why not join our journey?
