Deliveroo is now renting electric mopeds to delivery riders by the hour

With the increased availability of on-demand food delivery services, food couriers are flooding the streets of cities worldwide.

While many of these delivery riders use gas-powered scooters, Deliveroo is working to transition them towards more eco-friendly electric mopeds instead.

Food delivery giant Deliveroo has announced that it has teamed up with electric moped rental company Elmovo. Together, the two are introducing a new service for food delivery riders in London.

Such riders can now rent an electric moped by the hour to make their food deliveries. The moped comes with all the cargo gear necessary as well as insurance.

According to Deliveroo’s managing director Dan Warne:

“Deliveroo wants every meal we deliver to be truly amazing, but that is only possible if the delivery is sustainable alongside the great food we offer. Our company’s brand color is teal but we are working hard to make sure we are a green company too. Electric mopeds and bikes represent an environmental friendly, neighborhood conscious solution to cut emissions which save riders money in the long run.

We are delighted to be working with Elmovo to offer this flexible hire scheme that matches the flexibility riders have come to expect when working with Deliveroo. We hope this encourages further take up of e-bikes and e-mopeds across London and beyond.”

Delivery riders will be offered the electric scooters for £1.83 per hour. That price includes the food delivery insurance and all other necessary costs. The company says that further discounts are currently being planned.

The partnership between Deliveroo and Elmovo will begin with 72 Deliveroo-branded electric scooters available for hourly rentals. Unlike the rest of of Elmovo’s fleet, these scooters will be reserved exclusively for Deliveroo riders. The company reports that over 500 hundred riders have already registered to be able to rent the electric scooters.

The electric scooters are being provided by Govecs, a German electric scooter manufacturer. They have a top speed of 51 km/h (30 mph) and a range of 90-120 km (55-75 mi). That should provide plenty of city riding before they require a recharge or quick battery swap.

Electrek’s Take

I think programs like this are an excellent idea and that they are a sign of changing times. While gas-powered scooters used to be the go-to option for delivery riders in Europe, electric scooters are already displacing them at an impressive rate.

Most US delivery drivers still use cars, something that has always frustrated me. Why do you need a 3,000 lb vehicle to deliver a pizza or burger? These electric scooters (or mopeds, or whatever you call them where you’re from) simply make more sense.

While this program is currently beginning in London, I don’t see why it can’t expand or be duplicated elsewhere. My cousin rides as a bike courier in Tel Aviv, where I performed an electric conversion on his bike to help him make deliveries faster and easier. Food delivery riders and couriers are everywhere there and the last few years have seen a large shift towards e-bikes. Now a majority of delivery riders there are using e-bikes, and many simply keep a spare battery charging at their hub to swap every few hours between deliveries.

Electric scooters and e-bikes simply make sense for these kind of high-use applications. They are more cost effective over the long run and also reduce both air pollution and noise pollution. Anyone who lives in a city where gas scooters are popular surely appreciates the benefit of silent electric scooters.

I just hope more cities start adopting programs like this to help delivery riders switch to EVs.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.