H&M Group will be the first retailer to trial a new last mile delivery service from Volta Trucks and Swedish electric motorcycle company Cake.

Volta's full-electric 16-tonne truck will act as a mobile micro hub, or mini warehouse, where Cake’s electric motorcycles will be loaded from a distribution centre and deployed into city centres.

In the trial, which will take place in Paris early next year, the motorcycles - which produce "zero tailpipe emissions" - will deliver the last mile of parcels to H&M customers.

The Volta Zero is then free to redeploy to other locations throughout the day or to provide quick-replacement batteries for the Cake motorcycles.

"Most of our customers are using trucks to deliver from out-of-town warehouses to inner city stores," said Essa Al-Saleh, chief executive, Volta Trucks. "But as a forward-thinking brand, we’ve always sought innovative partners to deliver new and industry-redefining solutions."

The chief exec continued: "The partnership between Volta Trucks and Cake will showcase how a combination of zero tailpipe emission transport solutions can bring benefit to brands and customers, such as the H&M Group, and city centre environments.”

The move comes after H&M launched its Global Change Award, which aims to make the fashion industry more sustainable.

A €1 million grant provided by the H&M Foundation will be split between the five winning entrepreneurs to develop their ideas.

In September, H&M recorded a decline in sales driven by the cost-of-living crisis.

In the retailer’s latest financial results, it said that net sales decreased in local currencies by four per cent.

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