Ukraine's state postal service to purchase 5,000 electric bikes

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) redistributed part of the loan allocated to Ukrposhta in November 2020 to increase the company's operational sustainability. The funds will be used to purchase electric bicycles and trucks, according to the bank's website.

€22.7 million will be used to purchase more than 5,000 electric bicycles and about 350 trucks.

An initial loan of €63 million was agreed in November 2020. Its purpose was to finance the modernization of the company's logistics infrastructure and operational fleet. However, Russia's war against Ukraine changed priorities, the EBRD explained.

The new investment meets the initial goals of the project and will allow the company to maintain the postal fleet and improve delivery services.

Last year in December, the EBRD provided Ukrposhta with a grant in the amount of €4.5 million for the purchase of equipment for satellite access to the Internet and electricity generators. This was supposed to help create "points of invincibility" at Ukrposhta branches in remote and rural areas.

On March 7, 2023, Ukrposhta CEO Igor Smelyansky announced the launch of the pilot program "Postmen on Electric Bikes". The company will provide postmen with electric bicycles to serve customers in hard-to-reach areas.

"We will try different formats and models (2- and 3-wheelers) to be sure that we can deliver quickly, conveniently and with GPS tracking. And considering that we plan to provide all postmen with laptop computers and POS- terminals, they didn't forget about USB charging either," Smelyansky said at the time.

Later it was reported that Ukrposhta had bought 20 electric bicycles for UAH 1.4 million ($37,902) for the pilot project. According to the tender notice, the company purchased 10 three-wheeled electric bicycles with boxes, five two-wheelers with boxes and five two-wheelers with boxes.

The winner of the tender was the company Bikebox from Chernihiv, founded as a startup in 2020. The company produces heavy electric bicycles under the Bayka brand, electric boats, electric buggies and other small electric vehicles. The retail price of the company's electric bikes ranges from UAH 65,000 ($1,760) to UAH 172,000 ($4,657).