On-demand laundry and dry cleaning firm, Laundryheap, is investing £2.5m in a fleet of e-cargo bikes. The firm said a trial of the EAV2Cubed vehicles revealed that they move around cities almost twice as fast as vans with almost no environmental impact.
Founded in 2014, Laundryheap is a service that allows users to get their laundry collected, washed, ironed, and returned inside 24 hours.
It is the second on-demand laundry service to turn to the EAV2Cubed after rival Oxwash began using the vehicle to operate within London’s ultra-low emission zone last year.
Founder Deyan Dimtirov – who set up Laundryheap after finding himself standing outside a closed dry-cleaner with his suit on the wrong side of the doors – said the decision was an easy one.
“We first trialled the EAV2Cubed last year and it’s been a tremendous success for us. The operational efficiency of an e-cargo bike in comparison to a van has become really easy to see and work with.
“Our EAVs can move around cities almost twice as fast as vans and the fact that they make almost no environmental impact whatsoever gives us a much more carbon neutral status as a business.
“We're rapidly growing as a business but, as we do this, we want to maintain our sustainability and environmental focus which is essential to the ethos of Laundryheap.”
The four-wheeled EAV2Cubed – which gets its name because it has a capacity of 2.0m³ – allows riders to transport sizeable volumes of laundry. Laundryheap is buying 200 vehicles, which will be deployed in Europe, the USA, Asia and the Middle East. The firm’s UK network covers Birmingham, Coventry, London and Manchester.
Leo Bethell, Head of Business Partnerships at EAV, commented: “Using e-cargo bikes in urban environments is much more efficient and effective than vans – combustion engine or electric.
“We’re lighter and quicker and easier to operate. The fact that Laundryheap has placed such a substantial order shows their commitment to the future of city and town transport and their business which is going from strength to strength.
“We’re excited to be delivering EAVs to Laundryheap locations all over the world where we’ll be able to clearly demonstrate the superiority of lightweight future transport solutions over legacy vehicles.”
