Wide load! Extra thick four-wheeled electric cargo bikes to replace trucks in New York
A proposed rule update in New York will pave the way for four-wheeled electric cargo bikes, which look like small delivery vans with bicycle pedals, to share the bike lanes and roads.
Four-wheeled electric cargo bikes are commonly used across Asia and Europe, often for last mile delivery. They’re larger than typical e-bikes but much smaller than box trucks and delivery vans used in the US for last mile delivery jobs.
They usually consist of a rear cargo box on a larger platform cargo bike frame, and use bicycle pedals paired with standard mid-drive motors common across most electric cargo bikes. Thus, while they may look like a shrunken delivery van, they’re still operated like an electric bicycle.
Most bicycle laws in the US require either two or three wheels to be legally classified as a bicycle, and thus four-wheeled e-bikes have yet to catch on in the country. But if the New York City Department of Transportation gets its way, those useful last mile delivery bikes will finally be coming to the Big Apple.
The proposal hopes to use the four-wheeled cargo e-bikes to make deliveries safer and more sustainable by reducing the number of delivery trucks on New York City streets.
Mayor Eric Adams, who has been a proponent of increased micromobility in NYC, explained how the use of these larger electric cargo bikes will help improve the city:
“Safety and sustainability go hand in hand in New York City, and our administration is innovating every day and using every tool available to advance both. Cargo bikes have been a valuable tool in our administration’s efforts to move goods throughout the city while prioritizing street safety and our environment, and these pedal-assist cargo bikes will help New Yorkers get the items they need while reducing carbon emissions and traffic congestion — and getting dangerous trucks off our streets.”
NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez further detailed the impact of using cargo e-bikes instead of box trucks:
“Greater use of cargo bikes will bring incredible environmental and safety benefits for New York City by reducing the number of large, high-polluting trucks on our streets. Just two cargo bikes can replace one box truck, increasing safety and reducing CO2 emission by 14 tons per year — equivalent to 30,872 passenger car miles traveled.”
In order to allow for these types of cargo e-bikes, the NYC DOT will have to update current laws. Electric cargo bikes used on NYC’s streets and bike lanes have previously been limited to a width of just 36 inches (91 cm) and no more than three wheels. According to the NYC DOT, the updated rule would “expand low or no-emission options for freight deliveries — including packages and groceries — by allowing the use of pedal-assist bicycles that may be up to 48 inches [122 cm] wide and have up to four wheels.”
The rule proposal isn’t final, and the city has just opened a 30-day public comment period. The NYC DOT will hold a virtual public hearing on the proposed rule on September 13, 2023.
Cargo bikes have seen rapid expansion in NYC where they are frequently used for commercial deliveries.
Since the launch of the NYC DOT’s Commercial Cargo Bike pilot program back in 2019, cargo bike deliveries have skyrocketed in the city. In 2022, cargo bikes made more than 130,000 trips delivering over 5 million packages. That resulted in the reduction of over 650,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions and demonstrated the effectiveness of cargo bikes as a last-mile delivery mode.
NYC is leading the US with hundreds of thousands of cargo e-bike trips per year and millions of deliveries, yet is still playing catchup compared to cargo e-bike deliveries in Europe and Asia. But just as the consumer e-bike market in the US has followed years behind the rest of the world, it appears that the North American commercial cargo e-bike market is finally joining the modern age of urban delivery as well.
Electrek’s Take
It’s about time! This is wonderful news for anyone who lives in NYC and uses the road (no matter what type of vehicle you use). But it’s also great for anyone who breathes air and lives within roughly 12,500 miles (20,000 km) of NYC.
The only downside here is that some cyclists are going to be annoyed about sharing the bike lane with what are effectively bike vans. And I get it. The bike lane is an area to efficiently slip through the city, and getting stuck behind a wide bike is going to be annoying. But you know what’s worse? Getting run over by a box truck. At least when an overworked and underpaid FedEx driver parks a four-wheeled e-bike in the bike lane, you can still pedal around it.
Also, this is basically going to become the new normal so we better get used to it. Just as it’s annoying to get stuck behind a truck on the road when you’re driving, it’s going to be annoying to get stuck behind a big bike in the bike lane. But in the same way that we still acknowledge the truck’s right to use the road, we have to acknowledge the right of bigger bikes to use the bike lanes. This is all for the greater good, which is reducing the use of heavy and dangerous delivery vans/trucks in our cities. If Amsterdam’s e-bikes of all sizes can co-exist, we can make it happen too. And if this helps push the city to continue its expansion of bike lanes, then all the better.
via: Gothamist
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Zero 60, an EV charge point operator on the ChargePoint network, is bringing fast charging to a Culver’s in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. The company, founded by Faith Technologies Incorporated (FTI), will install a renewable-powered charging station in Rhinelander.
The new site sits along a state-designated Alternative Fuel Corridor at Culver’s on 620 W. Kemp St. It will feature four 160-kilowatt charging ports, giving EV drivers in northern Wisconsin reliable fast charging well beyond the state’s urban hubs.
The project is backed by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s first round of funding from the Wisconsin Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (WEVI) program. Wisconsin wants to ensure EV drivers can confidently travel north, knowing they won’t be stranded without chargers.
“Partnering with a well-known brand like Culver’s gives us a unique opportunity to combine Midwest hospitality with clean, convenient charging,” said Wade Leipold, executive vice president of FTI. “We’re proud to support Wisconsin’s efforts to build a robust, future-ready charging network that serves communities and travelers alike.”
Zero6 Energy is financing, owning, and operating the station, while FTI is handling the engineering, design, installation, and ongoing maintenance. Zero 60 already operates nine charging sites and has plans for many more across the US, with the first wave of stations installed in New York, California, Colorado, and Wisconsin, and more currently being developed in other states.
Read more: GM, EVgo, and Pilot hit 200+ charging sites across 40 states
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Tesla is attempting to conceal the details of three separate accidents involving its Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, despite having only two months of service with a small fleet.
Due to the Standing General Order 2021-01 (the “SGO”), automakers are required to report to NHTSA crashes involving their autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems within five days of being notified of them.
We have previously reported on Tesla leading crashes for level 2 driver assistance systems by thousands of reported crashes, but the automaker never reported any automated driving crashes because it never had any system that would qualify as a level 3-5 SAE automated driving system, despite the name of its “Full Self-Driving” software package.
This has changed with the launch of Tesla’s limited Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.
Now, Tesla has reported its first three accidents involving an “automated driving system” through its new Robotaxi effort:
| Report ID | Same Incident ID | Model | Model Year | Incident Date | Incident Time | Roadway Type | Injury Severity* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13781-11507 | 346e79b6abcc2ca | Model Y | 2026 | JUL‑2025 | 03:45 | Street | Property Damage. No Injured Reported |
| 13781-11459 | 8578fbc6ef74c60 | Model Y | 2026 | JUL‑2025 | 12:20 | Street | Minor W/O Hospitalization |
| 13781-11375 | b5d3e7bb23a3388 | Model Y | 2026 | JUL‑2025 | 15:15 | Intersection | Property Damage. No Injured Reported |
All the accidents happened in July, during Tesla’s first month of operating its Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.
There was at least one injury reported for one of the crashes, but Tesla lists it as “minor”. None of the accidents is being investigated by authorities based on the information Tesla has released.
Tesla hasn’t released many details about its Robotaxi effort, but the automaker is estimated to have only about 12 vehicles in its Robotaxi fleet in Austin as of July, and it was offering rides to only a limited group of users, mostly Tesla influencers and shareholders who are disincentivized from criticizing the company.
As it does with its ADAS crash reporting, Tesla is hiding most details about the crashes. Unlike its competitors, which openly release narrative information about the incidents, Tesla is redacting all the narrative for all its crash reporting to NHTSA:
It makes it hard to get any context about the accident and assess the level of responsibility for the automated driving system.
Unlike competitors, such as Waymo, Tesla’s Robotaxi still uses a “safety monitor” who sits in the front seat with a finger on a kill switch ready to stop the vehicle. Despite this added level of safety, Tesla is evidently still experiencing crashes.
CEO Elon Musk has claimed that Tesla would remove the safety monitor by the end of the year and deliver on its “full self-driving” promises to customers, but he has never shared any data proving that Tesla’s automated driving system is reliable enough to achieve that.
NTHSA is also investigating Tesla for misreporting its crash data.
Electrek’s Take
The facts are that Tesla has never released any significant data to prove that its system is reliable. Never.
The only data Tesla has shared is the cumulative mileage driven by the fleet on Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, but that’s with a human driver at the wheel at all times.
Tesla never shared disengagement data despite publicly claiming multiple factors of improvement in miles between disengagements.
How can you trust a company that operates like that?
Furthermore, it redacts the most critical details of crashes involving its driver-assist and automated driving systems.
That’s not the type of opacity I want to see from a company deploying potentially dangerous, yet also potentially lifesaving, technology.
Unfortunately, I’ve lost hope of regulators doing anything about this any time soon. It will likely take more tragic accidents for them to act.
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Environment
Toyota’s new app rewards EV and PHEV drivers for charging, since it doesn’t happen enough
Toyota introduced a new “science-backed” app that rewards EV and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) drivers for charging their vehicles. Why? Because, according to Toyota’s own research, PHEV drivers don’t plug in often enough.
Toyota develops an app to reward EV drivers for charging
Hybrid vehicles and Toyota are nearly synonymous at this point. Toyota launched the Prius, the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, back in 1997.
Just under three decades later, the Prius is now in its fifth generation, and Toyota offers over 16 hybrid vehicles, two PHEVs, and one all-electric model in the US (two, if you include the Lexus RZ).
Although Toyota is committed to offering vehicles across all powertrain options (EV, PHEV, and hybrid), the company believes it has found another way to cut emissions.
The Toyota Research Institute’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HCAI) division developed an app, Charge Minder, that “applies behavioral science to EV charging.” It basically turns the charging experience into a game with rewards for charging streaks and “encouraging messages.”
The app also includes education quizzes to teach you more about your vehicle and when the best time is to charge up for maximum cost savings.
Toyota’s research found that, in the US, “behavioral interventions increased charging by 10% for plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) drivers.” Satisfaction among the PHEV drivers rose 16 percentage points, bringing it to 100%
In Japan, PHEV and EV drivers shifted to charge during peak renewable charge times by 59%, which Toyota said added nearly 30 hours of daytime charging per vehicle, per day.
“This research and development shows how science-based behavioral interventions can both help us reduce carbon emissions as much as possible, as soon as possible, and increase customer satisfaction,” Dr Gill Pratt, chief scientist and CEO of the Toyota Research Institute, said.
Toyota’s app (ChargeMinder) integrates over a dozen science-backed “interventions” that are designed to promote better charging habits.
Electrek’s Take
It’s no secret that Toyota is sticking to its roots and will continue to offer PHEVs and hybrids, alongside all-electric vehicles, for the foreseeable future.
Most PHEVs nowadays offer between 20 and 50 miles of electric driving range, which is plenty for most daily commutes. However, there’s one issue. PHEV drivers are not plugging in as they should and are primarily using them as traditional gas-powered vehicles.
A report from the European Commission last year found that PHEVs pollute more than they are promoted, largely because drivers are not plugging them in.
New findings from earlier this month revealed that carmakers are misleading buyers about PHEVs, with real-world emissions that are multiple times higher than what they are documented to be.
Can Toyota’s app really help cut emissions? Maybe a little, but battery electric vehicles EVs are still the most effective way to truly make a difference and pave the way for sustainable transportation.
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