South Africa’s last-mile delivery market value is about R7bn and projected to increase to more than R16bn in the early 2030s. The e-commerce delivery business is also booming in the townships. Kabelo Rabotho, former Nissan South Africa country director who is now director of micromobility at Stellantis South Africa, believes the market could be ripe for vehicles such as the Fiat Tris — a small, fully electric three-wheel delivery van akin to the old tuk-tuk, which the company launched early in the year. Rabotho said electric micromobility solutions such as the Tris can overhaul small- and medium-sized entrepreneurship efforts such as one-man garden services and catering companies. Benefits include affordability, functionality and low running costs.He also lists the fact that the Tris requires just a motorcycle licence as another plus point.The multinational Stellantis conglomerate, which manufactures 14 automotive brands globally, decided to hit the small streets, here and abroad, by shifting its view beyond producing vehicles with defined passenger and load-carrying capabilities to look at mobility in its entirety, including the micro class, he said. The company historically builds Fiat, Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and Dodge commercial cars, among others, but it hit a certain ceiling in its segmentation. Vehicles such as the Citroen Ami — an electric quadricycle aimed at urban transportation and not on sale in this market — speak to this new outlook, though this particular model is mostly aimed as a passenger solution. With micromobility a cog in the global automotive industry ecosystem since the dawn of the automobile, Rabotho said increasing traffic congestion keeps driving the demand for even smaller and nimbler solutions, especially as businesses try to penetrate their markets easily and rapidly.Fiat says the Tris can carry a payload of more than 500kg. Picture: (Fiat) South Africa’s logistics chain is largely similar to global markets. Heavy goods trucks transport cargo from the ports to major internal depots, and small and medium-size trucks cart the goods closer to cities to various, smaller warehouses.For many decades, the one-tonne and half-tonne bakkies were the backbone of South Africa’s last-mile delivery sector. This is still the case, but the latter has since disappeared completely for various reasons, pushing the two-wheel motorcycle deliveries boom to the fore, especially for household deliveries of parcels and groceries.As urban congestion rises and South African logistics business efficiencies get negatively affected, enterprise heads have begun searching for solutions that maximise load carrying and access while reducing running costs and creating a new niche of fully electric delivery vans such as the Tris. Traffic congestion in South African cities is having a negative effect on the logistics sector. File picture: (ANTONIO MUCHAVE) The Tris compact electric half-tonner has open sides and is powered by a 6.9kWh lithium battery and provides a 90km driving range, perfect for zipping through inner city channels. It’s charged on regular home and office 220V three-pin wall sockets.He said more Fiat commercial micromobility products will be introduced for various purposes as last-mile deliveries transform, in any size or wheel count depending on market needs.Business Day