The adoption of cars, motorcycles, bicycles and electric scooters and the use of these non-polluting modes of transport have grown worldwide
Air pollution is an important problem that affects many people in large cities. Thus, in 2019, 99% of the world's population lived in places where air quality did not reach standards. minimum parameters defined by the World Health Organization.
Reducing this pollution, according to the entity, would greatly improve people's quality of life and reduce the incidence of respiratory, circulatory and heart diseases.
Thinking about air quality, non-polluting modes of transport. They are vehicles that do not emit gases and particles that are harmful to health and the environment. In this way, they become an interesting alternative and are beginning to be adopted around the world.
On the one hand, electric cars and motorcycles help people who need to travel long distances. On the other hand, scooters, unicycles and electric bicycles are an alternative for micromobility. In other words, they can be used to overcome short distances.
But this is possible: according to a research carried out by McKinsey consultancy, in 2019, the majority (60%) of car trips were made to cover distances of up to 8 km.
Therefore, find out below six non-polluting modes that are on the rise in cities around the world and find out what the growth outlook is for them in the coming years.
Electric motorcycle
Recently, iFood launched its new Electric motorcycle, which reaches the platform’s delivery partners. Thus, in addition to discounts on purchase, they will have easy financing and a reduction of up to 70% in maintenance and running-in costs.
The new polluting mode, initially implemented in São Paulo, will have 100 battery stations at Ipiranga stations throughout the city. Recharges will be in some neighborhoods such as: Lapa, República Consolação, Pinheiros, Jardins, Paulista, Aclimação, Paulista, among others.
The new electric motorcycle is another of iFood's innovations to become carbon neutral in its operations. Therefore, we are looking for solutions for delivery through initiatives such as iFood Pedal and iFood Regenera.
Electric Bicycle
The pandemic made many people rethink the means of transport they chose to get to work. There were those who swapped the bus for bicycles, especially electric ones, which reach a good speed (25 km/h). Furthermore, without requiring maximum effort from cyclists.
With this change in behavior, the consultancy Deloitte projects an increase of 1% in the number of people who started to use bicycles, especially electric ones, to work in 2022.
According to the consultancy, innovations such as lithium batteries and pedal assistance accelerated the adoption of electric bike. Furthermore, the expectation is that more than 130 million of these skinny cars will be sold worldwide between 2020 and 2023. Meanwhile, sales of electric cars and trucks are expected to reach 12 million in 2025).
Additionally, electric bikes become a good option for the last leg (last mile) of delivery in large cities, points out Deloitte. Therefore, they are present in the iFood Pedal, which has the goal of add 2,000 electric bicycles to delivery in 2022 (another 500 are already running across 6 capitals).
A new market that has been opening up recently is that of electric motorcycles and scooters, used both in personal transport and in delivery services in the city. Thus, in 2022, the iFood should have 10 thousand electric motorcycles circulating around the country, produced especially by Voltz for this type of service.
Worldwide, the estimate is that 1.1 million electric motorcycles and scooters will have been sold in 2021. Furthermore, the expectation is that this segment will grow by 32% between 2021 and 2030, points out a Quince Markets Insights study. According to the consultancy, scooters are still more popular than electric motorcycles, especially because they are smaller and cheaper.
Electric car
Electricity-powered cars are powerful allies in combating air pollution in large cities and are starting to become more popular around the world. More than 6.75 million electric cars were sold worldwide in 2021, 108% more than in 2020. With this, they now represent 8% of the global fleet of passenger vehicles.
The Chinese are the most avid buyers of electric cars: in 2021, they purchased 3.4 million units (more than the entire world bought in 2020, points out the International Energy Agency. To reduce air pollution levels, the Chinese government supports the movement and has the goal of electric cars reaching 20% of market share by 2025.
Meanwhile, Brazilians purchased 34,990 electric cars in 2021, an increase of 77% compared to 2020, according to the Brazilian Electric Vehicle Association (ABVE). Furthermore, it is above market expectations, which were to sell 29 thousand vehicles.
It's still not enough: this volume represents 2.3% of sales in the year, but the trend is for growth in the coming years. According to ABVE, there was an increase in sales of electric vehicles to make deliveries to retailers concerned about meeting their ESG goals (acronym in English for good environmental, social and governance practices). An indication of this is that two of the best-selling models were vans.
iFood drone
In January 2022, iFood became the first company in the Americas to be allowed to use drones in delivery. Thus, Anac (National Civil Aviation Agency) authorized the use of devices developed by Speedbird.
Despite the novelty, the delivery system does not change for customers or delivery partners.
The permission granted to iFood is to deliver loads of up to 2.5 kg on routes of up to 3 km. This way, upon receiving the order, the restaurant itself will assess whether that meal can be transported via drone.
When the food is ready, an iFood partner takes the order to a droneport (a special area authorized for landing and taking off of drones and strategically located close to the demand for orders).
Ada Robot
A ADA was the robot developed by iFood in partnership with the Brazilian company specialized in artificial intelligence Synkar. It is an autonomous, 100% electric and environmentally friendly vehicle.
Furthermore, the ADA Robot has the capacity to transport up to 30kg and can run for around 12 hours. Currently, it operates during business hours at Shopping Iguatemi Ribeirão Preto.
Upon receiving the order and the iFood signal, ADA goes, completely autonomously, to the restaurant. She collects the order and heads to a meeting point where a courier picks up the order.
Finally, in the shopping mall, there is a strategically chosen space to facilitate order logistics between the robot, messenger, delivery people and customers.
Electric scooter and unicycle
Just like bicycles, scooters and unicycles (one-wheeled vehicles) are non-polluting electric modes of transport and appear as micromobility options. Furthermore, they have the advantage of being smaller and easier to transport.
Between 2022 and 2027, the electric unicycle market has the potential to grow by 4.7% worldwide, according to Research and Markets. Electric scooters are expected to expand by 10.7% between 2020 and 2028, according to the Fortune Business Insights.
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