Greater Noida, Feb 6 (IANS): A new food delivery solution, that has already caught the attention of fast food giants, was showcased on Thursday by Hero Cycles at the Auto Expo 2020 here in the form of an electric bicycle specifically designed keeping in view the needs of a delivery associate.

The e-bicycle comes with a specially designed back carrier to help fit in a square food delivery box.

According to the Hero Cycles Managing Director Pankaj Munjal, the bicycle has already attracted the attention of fast food giants like KFC.

"We are in touch with them (KFC). They have shown interest in taking thousands of these bicycles to deliver their food packages," Munjal told IANS.

With the advent of food delivery applications, the motorcycle became an instant must have for delivery associates. However, given the cost of petrol, as well as the price of a motorcycle, some applications like Zomato started to hire delivery associates with bicycles.

However, it soon became apparent that food delivery using bicycles is both tiring for the delivery associate, and also slower.

Thus, Hero Cycles, which holds more than 70 per cent of the bicycle market share in India, have come up with the ELectro Food Delivery Facelift 26" SS equipped with a lithium battery to allow this two-wheeler to ply for about 70 km once fully charged.

The bicycle takes about 4 to 5 hours for charging fully and can accelerate upto 25 km per hour which is also the ceiling limit of speed in E-cycles.

This e-bicycle is priced at Rs 14,000 per unit.