IKEA Is Ditching Its Delivery Vans For Solar-Powered Tricycles Instead

The next time you order something from IKEA, a delivery van might not pull up in front of your house. Instead, a solar-powered trike with a branded cargo container could carry your items.
 
The switch from gas-guzzling vans to an e-trike is the furniture company’s way of trying to cut down its carbon footprint. IKEA first piloted the program at the Delft store in the Netherlands. Deliveries within a reasonable distance of the store were made by cycling over to the customer’s house instead of driving.
 
The trike, or SunRider, can journey up to 62 miles per charge, and it also has solar panels attached to the cargo area of the bike that will help keep it juiced up as deliveries are being made. In addition, it has a payload of 330 lbs, meaning that most of the store’s catalog can be transported by bike.

 
“This Sunrider bike can accommodate roughly 90% of the IKEA product range and emits 98% less CO2 than modern diesel vans. For IKEA, it’s important to explore new ways to improve the service offered to the customers, both from a more sustainable, affordable, and accessible perspective. The solar-powered cargo bike does all that,” denotes Helene Davidsson, Sustainability Manager, Inter IKEA Systems B.V.

Going off of this, one might assume that customers who live further away from the store or orders on items that are heavier than its payload will still need a van.
 
Thanks to the success of the pilot programs, IKEA is now branching out with this new eco-friendly way of transporting goods to stores around the globe.
 
 
 
[via Electrek and IKEA, cover image via IKEA]