How UPS has redefined the entire parcel delivery journey using Cambridge for its first trial

Last month we reported on the new UPS eQuad cycles now delivering parcels across Cambridge, but the new EVs are just one part of a much wider delivery plan, says Robin Haycock, chief technology officer at eQuad manufacturer Fernhay.

Fernhay was founded in 2013 and works in partnership with cities, logistics companies and research institutions to reduce carbon emissions and traffic congestion in cities.

The company has been testing out the eQuad as a last-mile delivery vehicle from its Cambridge base at Barnwell Drive for the past year, but the last-mile component is just one part of an operation that begins at the UPS depot in Bury St Edmunds and ends with delivery to the customer’s doorstep.

“Level 1 prototype hardware for this project has been in operation for a year,” says Robin. “We’ve tested the stops per on road hour [SPORH] of using our e-assist bikes in Cambridge, and the principle of moving parcels in bulk from Bury St Edmunds, but there’s lots of things we have learnt on the journey to here which lead to lost time and lower efficiency.

“There’s two critical factors in a parcel delivery: lost time, and how many interactions there are with humans – double-handling. The whole project is about how much it costs to drop each parcel.

“We compare our method with a large van, known as a Package Car in UPS terms. Making an environmentally-friendly vehicle is not going to cut it or change the world if it turns out to be more expensive than a diesel van.”

Fernhay went up a gear with the system when it began testing from its ECO Hub site near Abbey Pool earlier this year.

“Level 2 hardware is now in use and this is the first equipment UPS has bought outright and highlights the progress we are making,” Robin confirms. “It’s far more efficient. Fernhay’s dream was never entirely about making eQuads. The eQuad is part of how to solve the problem of moving a 300kg box from an out-of-town depot across multiple assets and multiple different vehicles – including the eQuad – safely, efficiently, with one person operating at multiple heights and significant tolerance variances.

“It’s a system approach and whilst our competitors are busy optimising their version of the Fernhay eQuad they took inspiration from, they are missing the system the eQuad operates in. By the end of the year we’ll have the complete production system delivering at scale in Cambridge before the Santa Claus rush, and fully accepted by UPS in operation and at a higher profit than a diesel van from the depot to the door of the customer.”

The end-of-year deadline allows time for Level 3 to be introduced and fine-tuned over the summer.

“Level 3 hardware takes all the learnings from Level 2 and leads to a significant decrease in dwell time by improving the hardware and shifting to the final stage of Ro-Ro [roll-on-roll-off] Cubes linked to some very snazzy pre-load assist and routing software.”

The Ro-Ro Cube has gone through extensive testing now and is due to go into operation in Cambridge in June. The goal is to standardise the size of a last-mile delivery box in the same way as the maritime industry has an industry-standard shipping container. Ro-Ro Cubes are preloaded at the freight centre in Bury St Edmunds for transportation to the microhub by a UPS Package Car (you’d be safe to call it a van) with a trailer full of Cubes.

Robin, an engineer by training, co-founded Fernhay as an urban logistics company.

“We set up a powered cycle trailer carrying a huge battery pack for use in gardening and city maintenance,” he says. It didn’t go places fast but Robin adds: “As with all bright ideas combined with hard knocks on the road, it made us realise what would be the answer to the problem and spawned a four-wheeled cabbed bike – the eQuad – and an equivalent powered walker.”

The Fernhay mission soon became to make a positive contribution to the climate through carbon reduction on parcel deliveries.

“You can do this in many ways, but if you do not make it profitable, then you will never scale, so what would be the point?” says Robin. “The Fernhay solution saves money, and when you save money, are reliable, and the operations team say they love the solution, and Health and Safety say it is all good to go and the riders get smiled at when they deliver in our cities – then it becomes very compelling to scale.

“If we scale we make a real difference to the things that matter to me – positive climate impact. When that happens Fernhay will have achieved the dream I had when we started and the rest will be history, with the value rolling through to our customers, and Fernhay’s main investor, who put his faith in me over two years ago, will see strong returns.”

Fernhay’s multi-organisation approach to parcel delivery challenges has been welcomed by Cambridge City Council.

A Cambridge City Council spokesperson said: “We were happy to be able to accommodate the UPS electric quad bike delivery trial from a small part of the council-owned parking area at the Abbey Leisure Complex. Supporting innovative projects like this one with its low carbon footprint is just one way in which the council is leading efforts in the city to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and help to improve air quality. Since 2021-22, the council’s direct carbon emissions from our own buildings, fleet and travel have fallen by a further 10 per cent and last year Cambridge was named an A-List City by the international Carbon Disclosure Project.

“We’re also very pleased that the rent money received for the use of the parking area during UPS’ ongoing trial will be directly invested into additional carbon reduction projects at Abbey Leisure.”

Once perfected in Cambridge, expect the UPS model to be rolled out in other UK cities on its way to becoming a universal standard.