To support its goal of having carbon-neutral operations by 2040, FedEx will introduce electric delivery carts from technology startup BrightDrop in New York City for the 2022/23 holiday season.
The pilot will use four-wheeled electric carts (e-carts) on city sidewalks. The e-carts are a part of an expanded pilot program aimed at improving deliveries in major metropolitan areas. The Trace e-carts used in the expanded pilot are intended to help FedEx couriers make deliveries in five locations in New York City – the Diamond District, Theatre District, Midtown, Midtown East and Brooklyn Heights – expanding on an initial test site in the Diamond District in 2021. The routes included in the e-cart courier pilot now cover more than seven walking miles across the two boroughs.
With this trial, FedEx plans to reduce vehicle idling and redistribute delivery activity away from the curb, helping to alleviate bottlenecks on high-traffic streets. In the previous, smaller Manhattan pilot, FedEx couriers increased the total number of stops and stops made per hour when using the e-carts, versus operations without them.
Michael Salerno, a senior station operations manager at FedEx Express in Manhattan, said, “FedEx customers depend on us to deliver resourcefully and reliably, especially during the holidays. By furthering the use of these carts on real routes in Manhattan and Brooklyn, FedEx hopes to shape what the future of efficient urban delivery could look like.”
