‘Why would you swap your nice warm van, where you can eat your butties and listen to the radio?’ Mainstreaming a niche of cycle logistics in the United Kingdom

Due to a high level of dependency on fossil fuels, transport is not only a priority for decarbonsation but also a particularly challenging sector to decarbonise. Significant low-carbon energy transitions in mobility will require changes in practices, technologies, infrastructure and policy. Cycle logistics is a growing economic sector. E-cargo bikes have the potential to replace some delivery and service journeys and to be used in combination with other transport modes to form a network of low-carbon deliveries. In comparison with conventional cargo bikes, e-cargo bikes are adapted with electric assist motors, thereby enabling the carriage of heavier loads over longer distances with lower physical strain on the rider.

This study positions e-cargo bikes as an emerging technology within the Multilevel Perspective (MLP), a framework for understanding sustainable transitions that is structured around three levels: niche, regime and landscape. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a landscape-level shock that has prompted an interest in increasing active travel and local deliveries. E-cargo bikes are a niche technology, and, although they respond to landscape-level trends, such as decarbonisation and air pollution reduction, the development of cycle logistics faces challenges stemming from the dominant automobility regime. There are limitations with e-cargo bikes themselves, although the technology and practice of e-cargo bike use are developing rapidly; there are factors that relate to the ability of the regime to accommodate and support the niche; there are considerations relating to practices and perceptions; and, finally, there are policy choices that reflect a lack of proactivity in encouraging and enabling e-cargo bike use. The paper explores experiences and perceptions of actual and potential e-cargo bike use and configures the MLP and the relationship between niche, regime(s) and landscape in relation to mobility transitions.