Innovation That Matters

Biliti's vehicles make tricky last mile urban deliveries more sustainable | Photo source Biliti Electric

Electric tuk tuks for last mile deliveries

Mobility & Transport

The electric vehicles have a range of 110 miles, holding up to 1,500 pounds of payload

Spotted: LA-based sustainable mobility company Biliti Electric is on a mission to provide ‘smart, efficient and affordable electric mobility solutions’ with its electric tuk tuks.

The three-wheeled, open-cabin, electric delivery vehicles are known as the GMW Taskman. Biliti was founded less than a year ago and is already supplying markets in Asia and Europe. The company claims that the vehicles sold to date have covered a collective distance of 20 million miles, delivering 12 million packages. The company’s next move is to enter the US market – where retail giants such as Amazon and Walmart are based.

The Taskman costs $8,000 (about € 7,068), and is specifically designed for commercial last-mile deliveries. It has a range of 110 miles, and is able to hold up to 1,500 pounds of payload.

The Taskman can be charged at home through a standard 110-volt power outlet—which takes up to seven hours—or through 220-volt outlets, which reduce the charge time to three and a half hours. However, this kind of downtime is problematic for commercial fleets. In response Biliti has created a battery swapping system—known as SmartSwapp—that allows users to quickly and easily swap out spent batteries for fully-charged ones in a process that takes less than a minute. This modular technology is particularly innovative – Biliti claim that the Taskman is the first electric three-wheeler to be fitted for such a system. The vehicles are connected via mobile-cloud, showing users the closest available SmartSwapp station in real time.

Biliti also offers an optional solar panel set up to recharge the battery using renewable energy. Biliti said a full charge from the solar panels takes around three hours.

So far, Taskman has been ground-tested by online commerce companies such as Amazon, Walmart (Flipkart), IKEA, SokoWatch, BigBasket (Tata), and Zomato.

Electric vehicles—known as EVs—are gradually becoming mainstream. The early attention has been grabbed by passenger vehicles, particularly those made my Tesla. But Springwise has spotted several commercial applications for EVs. These include electric construction vehicles, and cargo trucks.

Written By: Katrina Lane

Email: info@bilitielectric.com

Website: bilitielectric.com

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