Peabody has taken delivery of its first electric micromobility vehicle from Northgate Vehicle Hire, helping cut carbon emissions, noise pollution and promote sustainable ways of getting about.

It will halve the time it takes caretakers to travel between homes in the Earls Court area of West London, giving them more time to keep residents’ communal areas clean and tidy.

The bike, officially known as an electric cargo bike, can travel about 25 miles on one charge. It can use bus lanes so will reduce the time caretakers spend waiting in traffic and will be easier to park, particularly when traveling between homes on West Cromwell Road, Earls Court Road and Fulham Road, which are on red routes where parking is very limited.


"There are lots of benefits to having a micromobility vehicle like this on our fleet," said Eugene Brown, Peabody's Head of Estate Services for Northwest London. "It is kinder to the environment than our traditional vehicles and will make it much easier for caretakers to move between estates with their equipment. By using bus lanes, it can avoid traffic jams and parking will be much easier as caretakers can park it in communal paved and garden areas while they service sites."

Switching its fleet to electric vehicles is one of the pledges of Peabody's Sustainability Strategy and while vehicle emissions account for only a small part of the Group’s overall carbon footprint, every small change helps. Northgate has supplied the bike to Peabody on a four-year long-term hire contract, which includes battery charging. The cost is roughly half that of the smaller diesel vans Peabody currently uses in London, which emit nearly two tonnes of carbon each a year. By contrast, an electric cargo bike has no emissions. If successful, the Estate Services team will add more bikes in other neighbourhoods.

Peabody is in the process of installing more chargers so caretakers and other colleagues who travel around London can switch to electric vehicles.