After a foreshortened pilot into the use of e-bikes for delivery earlier this year, Croatia Post has become the first national postal operator to use e-bikes. It ordered 180 e-bikes to replace its motor scooter delivery fleet. This is the first national postal service to make such an order, though delivery companies such as UPS are moving to electric and hybrid delivery vans.

The postal company ran a pilot earlier year but was so impressed with the FreeDuck2 e-bikes that they put out a €492,000 tender for a new fleet of machines to replace their ageing motor scooter fleet.

The new machines have a similar range (40km) to that of the motor scooters but unlike their motorised counterparts it is possible to ride them back to base when the battery runs out. The batteries have the capacity for 800 recharges (in other words every two years), meaning that there will be minimal maintenance costs compared to motor scooters too.

E-bikes have seen a steady increase in sales to the leisure market, with around an 11% market share across the EU leisure market. Croatia’s postal service ordering a large fleet of them signals a move for the industry away from leisure and commuting and into the commercial sector.