Cargohopper is a vehicle that is able to tow 3 metric tonnes in a linear line by means of a 48 Volt 28 hp electric engine. Its max speed is 20 kilometres an hour but that is more than enough as it is only driving in the inner city of Utrecht in The Netherlands and does not make more mileage than 60 kilometres max daily. The three trailers are steered on both axles which gives it a great manoeuvrability.
Driving on green power, Cargohopper is designed for the delivery of packages and is able to do the work of 5 to 8 regular vans. It can do that because Cargohopper is a more than a nice looking little train, it is a complete logistics system. The three containers, are in fact separate boxes that can be put on and off the undercarriages by means of a forklift. 8 of those boxes fit on a European sized trailer of 13.60 meters. The boxes are preloaded outside the city in the Cargohoppers Distribution Centre and towed to the boarder of the inner city by means of a regular truck. At a transhipment point, the boxes are put on the Cargohopper and rolled into the pedestrian zone: from there the deliveries to the shops are organised. Cargohopper never leaves its ‘natural habitat’, and the reloading is done within 10 minutes. So it is almost always ready to roll.
Once empty, it collects dry carton, paper and empty packaging from shops for recycling so it never runs empty. In this way, Cargohopper removes up to 100.000 van kilometres from the inner city streets and saves approx. 30 tons of CO2 on an annual basis.
Cargohopper has zero emissions and is allowed in the inner city at any time and any place. That is part of the advantage. It is also quite narrow: only 1.25 metres wide so when stopped to make a delivery in narrow streets, most of the other traffic is able to pass.
