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You are here: Home / Archives for Johan Erlandsson

Johan Erlandsson

Velove granted € 30 000 by Swedish state funding scheme “Innovative start-ups”

6 March, 2017 by Johan Erlandsson

DHL Express couriers transferring City Containers from a container trailer to Armadillo cargo cycles

Coinciding with the launch of DHL Express tests and a lot of media attention, Velove was granted € 30 000 by Swedish state funding scheme “Innovative start-ups“. The competition was tough, with only 10-15 % of applicants being granted funding.

The funding will be used for standardising the Velove City Container. Application summary:

“City logistics is an increasing challenge for logistics operators in bigger cities, where increased congestion and motor vehicle regulations result in decreased productivity. Simultaneously, delivery demand is skyrocketing due to e-commerce and ultra fast deliveries. One partial solution is to use smaller vehicle for last mile delivery and first mile pickup for small goods. Transferring goods from a large vehicle to a smaller, or via a terminal, is however costly. Manual handling of parcels is time consuming and introduces an increased risk of damaged/lost goods. By using the same principle as both sea and air freight introduced decades ago to increase efficiency, containerisation, efficiency can be improved in city logistics. A container that is loaded with parcels in an external terminal can quickly and safely be transferred from a big vehicle to a smaller in a city centre, or via a terminal. Velove has developed a city container solution for its own cargo cycle, the Armadillo, with DHL as first customer. With this project, Velove aims to take a step towards making the container solution an industry standard. “

“We see great potential in the City Container for city logistics, says Velove CEO Johan Erlandsson. We know small vehicles are better suited to do small deliveries in congested city centers. But big vehicles are needed to get the goods into the city center in an efficient way. So the goods need to be moved from big vehicle to small, efficiently and safely. You can perhaps compare with sea containers. Who would today say it is a good idea to handle goods manually when loading or unloading a vessle? We are happy Vinnova (Swedish innovation institution) also see the potential of the City Container!”

 

The Armadillo in 40 German newspapers and on Dutch television

6 March, 2017 by Johan Erlandsson

On March 1:st, two pilot projects were launched by DHL Express in Frankfurt, Germany and Utrecht, Holland. In each city, two Armadillos (called Cubicycles within DHL), four City Containers and a custom City Container trailer (called City Hub within DHL) were taken into operation. The press was invited and the interest has been huge!

After the press release, video footage has now also been added:

Longer version, without text:

More than 40 German newspapers covered the story, for example calling the Armadillo/Cubicycle a Superbike and a Mix of bike, go-kart and van. Also in social media the interest has been big. German cargobike blogger Cargobike.jetzt (Arne Behrensen) made a Facebook post that has at this point been shared 133 times. A common comment is “When do we get this in our city center?”.

Also in Holland, where the Armadillo/Cubicycle has been piloted for two years, the news impact has been big. In this piece (starting at 14:20) on national television channel RTL, it is explained why it is now time for the Armadillo/Cubicycle and other cargo cycles to be introduced in European cities (the ever increasing e-commerce and motor vehicle congestion).

Dutch cargo cycle blogger Fietsdiensten (Jos Sluijsmans) has been covering the Armadillo/Cubicycle since the pilot, and wrote a nice summary.

 

 

More City Containers in new pilot with DHL Express in Frankfurt and Utrecht

2 March, 2017 by Johan Erlandsson

DHL couriers in Utrecht moving City Containers from a trailer to Armadillo/Cubicycle cargo cycles

Wednesday 1 March, two pilot projects were launched by DHL Express in Frankfurt, Germany and Utrecht, Holland. In each city, two Armadillos (called Cubicycles within DHL), four City Containers and a custom City Container trailer (called City Hub within DHL) were taken into operation.

A DHL van delivers the trailer into the city center, where the containers can be quickly loaded on to two Cubicyles for last-mile inner-city delivery. It can then be reloaded for outbound shipments.

Bad weather? No problem -the City Container is weather proof

“DHL Express has already replaced up to 60% of inner-city vehicle routes in some European countries with cargo bicycles, and we expect that the City Hub and Cubicycle will both help us to accelerate this approach in other markets over the next 3-5 years,” said John Pearson, CEO, DHL Express Europe. “Bicycles offer a number of advantages in express delivery operations: they can bypass traffic congestion and make up to two times as many stops per hour than a delivery vehicle. The total cost of ownership over their lifetime is less than half of a van. And crucially, they generate zero emissions, which reinforces our own ongoing program to minimize our environmental footprint and supports city governments’ efforts to promote sustainable city living.”

Frankfurt skyline

“The Cubicycle runs smoothly, is surprisingly agile and has a small turning circle”, says Kees de Lange, Vice President of Operations at DHL Express Netherlands. “Despite the large container the bike is still narrow enough for bike paths. For example, it takes into account the standard dimensions of bollards. The height of the bike is chosen so that other cyclists can see over it. ”

The current Velove team in Gothenburg: Sebbe, Linus and Olof

“This is an interesting step, especially when it comes to how the City Containers are used, says Johan Erlandsson, the CEO of Velove. It shows the flexibility and efficiency of containerizing city logistics. There are almost endless possibilities that this opens up for, and I think we will see some more applications in the near future.”

Velove, the producer of the Armadillo/Cubicycle, is based in Gothenburg, Sweden. This is also where the the Armadillos and City Containers are assembled. The first prototypes were developed and built by Velove CEO Johan Erlandssons father, Börje Erlandsson, in 2011-2013. Pling Transport, Sweden, is testing partner since 2012. Dutch bicycle engineer Flevobike is development partner since 2014. DHL have been involved in the development of the City Container in 2015-2016, where Erik Svetsare made the prototype for the first DHL pilot.  Katanga, Czech Republic, is production partner since 2016.

Sources:
http://www.dpdhl.com/en/media_relations/press_releases/2017/dhl_expands_green_urban_delivery_city_hub_cargo_bicycles.html
https://www.dhlexpress.nl/nl/nieuws/dhl-lanceert-slimme-trailer-voor-stadsdistributie

Contact:
Johan Erlandsson, johan.erlandsson@velove.se

Production and development update, January 2017

17 January, 2017 by Johan Erlandsson

We have been sending e-mail updates for some time now. From now on, these updates will be published on the Velove website. All newsletter recipients will still be notified when there is a new update. If you’re not on the list, e-mail info@velove.se with “subscribe” in the title and we will put you on it!

Pre-series delivered

Finally, all pre-series Armadillos to a mobility project in Gothenburg have been delivered! This fleet is a mix of ten Armadillos with City Container and driver cabin, and Armadillo Two-seaters.

Delivery of pre-series Armadillo Two-seater, by Armadillo with semi-trailer

 

Armadillo with pre-series rider cabin and City container

The pre-series Armadillos will get some post delivery upgrades, the most important being hard windscreen and wipers, which have just been developed with satisfactory result.

We have already got some first valuable feedback, and we expect to get tonnes more from continued testing by pre-series riders! All of this feeds into the development of a production ready fairing, first for the cargo versions, and later for passenger versions.

Fairing development not prioritised at the moment…

We will do continuous development of the fairings. However, we will not put full focus on fairing development right now, especially not the passenger version. We are prioritising getting production of the Armadillo platform and cargo modules started.

If you are especially interested in the Two-seater and is now disappointed this development will go a bit slower for a while, I recommend also following the development of similar (but smaller) faired fourwheelers PodRide (SE) and Podbike (NO), both with announced release dates in the end of 2017. The Quattrovelo (NL) four-wheel velomobile is already in production. Unfortunately, the makers of the three-wheeled Cabriovelo (IT) just announced that they will put their project on hold. A pity, as this model has some unique solutions, for example a cabriolet style fairing.

…as we are going all in on production!

The Armadillo in cargo versions, without fairing, is as you already know production ready. Orders are coming in, quickly filling our limited production volume for 2017. We have been ordering parts and components for the first batch for a while, but now it’s time to start assembling!

We are still adding the final details to the production version, for example the bumper:

And, especially for you big rig lovers, we are happy to announce we have decided to put the semi-trailer into production, and the first production semi is already ordered!

Semi-trailer

Meet the team

As we are now finally entering production, I think it it is time for you to meet the team, from different corners of Europe!

The assembly team in Gothenburg, Sweden: Sebbe, Linus and Olof. The City Container is small but cosy!

 

The Vrielink brothers, our development partners: André and Arjan at Flevobike in Dronten, Holland. Third brother Erwin missing in the photo, as well as their colleagues Robbert and Ronald.

 

Local development resource Håkan, at Erik Svetsare, Lödöse, Sweden

 

Stephane at Katanga in Brno, Czech Republic, our frame production partner

 

Linda, Dennis and Johan, founders of Velove in Gothenburg, Sweden

If you want to meet us and/or testride, there are opportunities at the ECLF conference in Vienna in March, the cargo bike festival in Nijmegen in June and of course to book an appointment with us.

Keep riding!

Johan, CEO of Velove

Next step in city logistics: Open terminals

4 December, 2016 by Johan Erlandsson

Open terminal for waterways. Illustration: Haropa ports

Open terminals are city owned infrastructure where goods can be shifted from big vehicles to small, and vice versa. They are open for any actor to use, after negotiations with the city. The purpose is to facilitate methods for last mile delivery and first mile pickup that is both more efficient for business and that creates more liveable spaces for people. For example, they could support the containerization of city logistics.

Vans are clogging up city centres

Delivery vans on Vallgatan, Gothenburg
Delivery vans on Vallgatan, Gothenburg

Larger cities have the last decades seen growing traffic problems, with congestion, noise and air quality problems. One part of the problem are delivery and service vehicles. There is an increased use of heavy trucks, but above all an exceptional increase of vans for both delivery and service. Logistics operators have vans as their standard vehicle, and small businesses have their own delivery and service vans.

Exponential increase in light van mileage (UK numbers, similar situation in other European countries). Source: The rise of the white van man
Exponential increase in light van mileage (UK numbers, similar situation in other European countries). Source: The rise of the white van man
namnls
+10% annual increase in van sales

A fully loaded van, used for distribution with many delivery points is not in itself an inefficient or otherwise problematic logistics solution. But problems begin when the van enters the city centre. Because of congestion, having to drive along pedestrians and having difficulties finding somewhere to park, productivity takes a severe hit. The van also adds to the congestion itself, creating a catch 22 for city logistics when delivery demand increases, with e-commerce and very fast deliveries.

When used for courier purposes, cargo capacity utilisation is also poor. The capacity is way too big for most deliveries, not seldom with ridiculous loads compared to the capacity, like a document or two servings of food. When owned by small businesses they also often have way too big load capacity, and are also often standing still, further contributing to the low utilisation of vans.

Cargocycles is a realistic alternative to many deliveries…

In many cases, vans can be replaced by cargocycles.

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The advantages are multiple, even compared to electric vans:

  • higher productivity, as cargo cycles do not get stuck in traffic, can take shorter routes and can park closer to the destination
  • lower total cost of ownership
  • less space is used, which reduces traffic congestion
  • less particle matters are released to air. Half of pm emissions comes from road, tyre and brake wear, so electric vans are not the final solution for air quality
  • less energy use. An electric assist cargo cycle use 10 % of the energy to do the same transport work as an electric van. Energy efficiency helps us to move faster to 100 % renewable electricity production (currently around 30 % in Europe)
  • less resource use. The weight of an electric assist cargo cycle is 5 % of an electric van, and the reduction in resource use (iron, aluminum, lithium etc.) is similar.

For courier purposes, this shift is in full swing. Bike messenger businesses with regular bikes and light cargo bikes enjoy a strong growth.

…but a handover point is needed to fully utilise its potential

In many cases however, vans are used to get goods from more than five kilometers away into the city centre, and vice versa. These are distances where cargo cycles are often too slow to be cost effective, and this is one of the reasons why you still see a steady increase of vans in the city centre, even with a strong growth in cycle based courier businesses.

A handover point is the solution to this, and we can also see that this starting to happen. Belgian startup Bubble Post sets up terminals a few kilometers from city centres, where truck and vans can leave their goods for a more efficient, consolidated, last mile delivery by cargo cycle or small delivery vehicle.

bp

UPS are trying out a mobile depot approach, bringing in big containers filled with parcels into city centres, where cargocycle couriers meet up to manually collect parcels from the container.

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These are both important steps forward, but could a city take on a more systematic approach to support the handover of goods from big vehicles to small? Is it an efficient use of valuable city space that every logistics operator set up their own city terminal or put their parcel containers on the street? Will it encourage consolidation efforts of any meaningful scale?

The city needs to provide infrastructure for city logistics

I am arguing that cities, just like they invest in infrastructure for roads and in public transport, should also invest in infrastructure for city logistics. How would roads and public transport work if it wasn’t planned by the city? It would be highly uncoordinated and inefficient -exactly how you could describe todays’ city logistics.

Many cities have indeed made attempts to take an initiative in city logistics, often with consolidation seen as the big enabler for more efficient city logistics. The argument is that it would be more efficient and space saving if there was only one vehicle instead of several doing the deliveries in the inner city. Many of these efforts have failed when project funding have ended and there is no working business model. Consolidation in the city is a costly extra step, and to offset that extra step you need to have some clever business model. A few projects make it after funding is over, for example by finding other revenue streams, like allowing commercial ads on the delivery vehicles (not really contributing to a more liveable city space). But also in these successful cases, they only handle a small portion of all goods flowing through the city. And what the cities often fail to see is that most of the problems caused by motor vehicles could be solved without expensive consolidation, if carriers would just switch to a better suited vehicle to do deliveries in the inner city.

The problem with these city-driven consolidation efforts is often that cities and logistics researchers think they are experts in efficient and cost effective logistics. They however often lack the commercial experience. The logistics operators on the other hand do have the experience, what they work with all the time is how to get stuff moved at lowest possible cost, under given circumstances. But logistics operators also compete with each other, and hence only optimise their own operations, leaving the city with the inefficiency of multiple parallel logistics operations. On top of that a lot of the goods flowing in the city is today not handled by logistics operators at all, but by businesses themselves, which is even less efficient.

This is why I suggest to introduce the concept of open terminals, which limits the citys’ responsibility to providing infrastructure for city logistics, not designing business models for it. The open terminal enables logistics operators to overcome the gridlock of competition and be part of a better organised city logistics solution.

Open terminals -how it works

An open terminal is a physical place with one main purpose: to receive goods from big vehicles coming from outside the city centre, and handing them over to smaller vehicles, better suited to do last mile delivery. They are also useful the other way around, to receive goods from small vehicles that have done first mile pickup (typically outbound parcels and material recycling) and hand them over to bigger vehicles.

An important aspect of the open terminal is that it is open for all actors and all types of goods. The city do the initial investment and should start with providing just some basic functionality, like being physically able to receive and dispatch goods and to provide enough security for the goods. Each logistics operator and business that want to use the terminals makes an agreement with the city, and pays for the services they use in the open terminal. The city is open to provide any extra logistics service, like refrigeration, short term storage, cardboard compacting, space for consolidation by third parties etc.

With goods from different operators going in to the same terminal, opportunities to consolidate goods will be made more visible. An important aspect here is that the city does not require consolidation. No more failed consolidation projects because of lack of a healthy business model. One probable outcome of introducing open terminals will be a growth of businesses specialised in last mile delivery, and they will for sure consolidate if they find it worth the extra cost.

Some inspiration can be found in this video from Haropa ports. Everything in the video might not be a feasible solution, but you can get the sense of what a city managed open terminal could look like at 3:09 (the concept of course works for land transport too):

The advantages with open terminals compared to consolidation centres are:

  • The city does not have to try to figure out business model for city logistics -they just provide infrastructure, introduce the regulations they want and leave the appropriate business response to private actors
  • The terminal is open for use for everyone who could benefit from logistics services -including business owners who today do their own transports. Not only a few types of goods, selected by the city.

The advantages with open terminals compared to privately owned terminals are:

  • will focus on the best city logistics solution for the city -not on its own business and profitability
  • will treat all customers who wants to use the terminal services equally -not favouring the most profitable
  • will let competing last mile operators use the terminal
  • can be used just as a simple hand-over point, with the same carrier doing the long haul freight as well as the last mile delivery -all carriers do not necessarily want to trust third party actors with their goods

Open terminals can support containerization in city logistics

When the sea/shipping container was introduced many decades ago, it did away with the manual sorting of most shipments and the need for warehousing. It displaced many thousands of dock workers who formerly handled goods manually. Containerization also reduced congestion in ports, significantly shortened shipping time and reduced losses from damage and theft.

Containerization in city logistics could offer similar advantages as it has for long distance shipments.  To handle the container and not the goods when shifting goods between vehicles is more cost efficient and reduces risks of losing and damaging goods.

Open terminals can support containerization, as it provides the needed handover point. In terminals external to the city, goods are sorted for the exact streets where the goods is going and loaded in containers in sizes suitable for cargo cycles (appr. 1 m3) and small electric delivery vehicles (appr. 5 m3). As the containers are locked during transportation and handover, the risk of loss of parcels is significantly reduced. The handovers, both in and out, is fast in the open terminal and can even be automated if containers are standardised. It also facilitates even more automation in the future, when containers can go on autonomous vehicles for last mile delivery.

containerization, city container
Concept illustration of small container handover, from big vehicle to small

Containers can also be used for a new type of “semi-consolidation”. Several small containers can go onto a small electric delivery vehicle, so goods from several logistics operators go on the same vehicle, without the extra cost of sorting/consolidating the goods.

truck-with-city-containers
Several small containers, from different logistics operators, can go onto the same vehicle, for consolidation without the expensive and risky extra sorting

Open for everyone that needs to handle goods

As this is an open terminal, any business of any size can now use terminal services, not only the big logistics operators. For example, the small café owner that earlier used her own car or van to go shopping for soda in a warehouse in the outskirts of the city, will now see that this warehouse is making cost effective shipments to the open terminal by buying services from a truck based logistics operator, doing consolidating pickups with delivery to the open terminal. This makes it possible to have a cycle logistics operator to pick the soda up and deliver it to her. Or maybe the external warehouse, truck and cycle logistics co-operate, so she can just order directly from the warehouse, knowing that it will be delivered in an efficient and city friendly way.

Open terminal digitalization opportunities

Something that would make it even easier to hand over goods to specialists in last mile delivery is an open goods management system, so every item gets tracked in one open system so there is no need for the last mile specialist to use each logistics operators’ proprietary ITS system (ending up carrying multiple different hand terminals). This development could however take some time, and to get started with open terminals fast, this can wait. There will be enough in this to motivate getting started asap anyway. I have no doubt there will soon be a logistics startup that will provide a solution!

Open terminals could also support service cargocycles

An open terminal can also facilitate a shift from service vans to service cargocycles. For example, a painter who would use her van to pick wallpaper up at a warehouse in the outskirts of the city would now have the wallpaper delivered to the open terminal, making it possible to swap the van for a more productive and city friendly cargocycle.

heisenberg-sortimo-procargo
The HNF-Heisenberg Sortimo Procargo service cargocycle

Open terminals enable stricter regulation

As always, there is not one golden solution to all city logistics, and this also goes for the concept of the open terminal. Some types of goods is better handled without handing it over to smaller vehicles, even in city centres. But with open terminals up and running, it will be a lot easier for the city to introduce regulations for the inefficient vehicles they see clogging up its streets, as they now provide an alternative.

Johan Erlandsson will be speaking about Open terminals at the European Cycle Logistics Conference in Vienna in March 2017.

HNF-Heisenberg saves the day for cargo cycles at the IAA 2016

29 September, 2016 by Johan Erlandsson

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The HNF-Heisenberg CD1 Cargo at the Sortimo booth at the IAA

On the recommendation of the German-Swedish Chamber of Commerce, I went to the gigantic IAA fair in Hannover to learn what is going on in the German city logistics scene and maybe make some contacts.

As usual I travel by train from Gothenburg. I have been on the ground since 2007 for climate reasons. Incredibly enough train services have become worse, not better, in these 10 years. The night trains from Copenhagen are discontinued, the train and ferry still run on diesel (still many times more climate friendly travelling than by air) and there is still no wi-fi onboard… It is not exactly like governments and rail services want you to take the train instead of flying.

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The very first impression when arriving to Hannover (home of VW commercial vehicles) and the fair was not too good – VW defending the diesel in the IAA daily newspaper and had no obvious innovations to solve the challenges of city logistics in congested cities. VW diesel emission scandal anybody?

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But there was also some promise, the Heisenberg tilting cargo trike at least got a little attention in the paper too!

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The next impression was the scale of it all. There are bus shuttles circulating the fair grounds -and there was a point they were there. In the first big hall I entered I found Volvo and was impressed -their exhibition area was like a village, complete with a street and big café.

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But then I entered the Mercedes hall and the Volvo village seemed small and simple in comparison… My jaw dropped several times, I tell you! Both because of the hall and shows, and from the innovations shown. Even if none of the innovations are commercially available, it still was impressive and I am pretty sure that some of this stuff will become reality. See for yourself:

Afterwards it looks almost bizarre, you could say they were going all in. But on site the show did the trick, everyone seemed as amazed as myself. Automated loading and unloading really makes sense -if you could do it reliably and at reasonable cost. On the seminar on “Urban logistics of the future” they went more into detail on their approach, with Vans being used as a “mothership” sending out parcels via drones and robots.

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They also mentioned that digitalisation is opening up for all sorts of actors to become parts of the supply chain.

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But they are missing one important piece of the puzzle -nothing mentioned about cycle logistics. The streets in dense cities are not always this free of traffic, Mercedes…

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Afterwards I also wonder what their current vehicles offerings look like, the vehicles they are actually selling? Are all these bells and whistles just diverting away from all their diesel sales? Maybe they are no better than VW, just putting on a good show?

On the other end of the scale was Streetscooter. You could maybe imagine that the Mercedes electric vision van would be neither cheap to buy or to service. Streetscooter (now owned by Deutsche Post DHL), takes on a quite different approach. Also electric, also focusing on functionality and delivery efficiency, but made to be as cheap as possible both to produce and service. Parts can be easily bolted on and off. It is also modular, so you can put something else than the current box on.

streetscooter-fuer-die-deutsche-post-dhl-729x486-3396c28c53e77e87

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Let’s leave vans for a while and talk cargo cycles instead! The whole cargo cycle and cycle logistics community should be really grateful towards HNF-Heisenberg. The only cargo cycle on the show, but what an impression it made! They did everything right. First of all producing an impressive looking product, then partnering with a strong brand (Sortimo), publishing a nice video ahead of the conference, having lots of cycles with different modules on the show and last but definitely not least, offering test rides. They gave 200 testrides per day.

HNF-Heisenberg made the difference from no cargo cycles on the show, to making cargo cycles something attractive for the visitors. Thank you so much!

I am also excited about the focus on service personnel -has the cargo cycling world been focusing too much on logistics? There are a lot of service vans and cars clogging up our cities…

On the “Future of Urban Logistics” seminar at the IAA, cycle logistics was actually mentioned quite a lot, despite this being the fair of commercial motor vehicle manufacturers. Maybe not as much as we in the cycle logistics world would consider fair, given the potential, but it certainly did get mentioned by many actors.

Of the cycle logistics initiatives presented on the seminar was the UPS and city of Hamburg co-operation with mobile depot and cargo cycles. An important step forward -but with potential to improve, which I will come back to that in a later blog post.

In the food line, I ended up beside the Mayor of Hannover, Stefan Schostok. He told me that the modal share for cycling is 19 %, targeting 25 % in 5-6 years. Good work for a motor city! I did not miss out on the opportunity to show some photos. When he saw the Armadillo Two-seater, he said “We need those!”. Let’s see if he really means it… 🙂

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