What does a circular business do when its third-party couriers keep breaking the circle? In this client story, we’re in London, where CO2 YOU, the UK’s doorstep CO2 refill service, brought its deliveries in-house on a fleet of custom-wrapped Vok XL cargo bikes that blow bubbles as they ride.
Key takeaways:
- CO2 YOU delivers 40–45 orders a day across London zones 1–3 on Vok XL cargo bikes which is already more cost-effective than a third-party courier.
- The fleet has doubled in the first two months of operation, with riders covering up to 70 km per bike per day.
- Every delivery is also a collection: empties come back on the bike, keeping more than 1,000,000 refilled cylinders in circulation and out of landfill.
- The bikes are brand ambassadors as much as delivery vehicles: custom vinyl on every surface (including the roof) and bubble-blowing machines built on board.
About CO2 YOU – the refill revolution for sparkling water
CO2 YOU is the UK’s leading doorstep CO2 cylinder refill service, built to make sparkling water easier to enjoy at home, at work and in hospitality. Founded by Marcus O’Donovan in 2021, the company delivers refill cylinders directly to customers and collects the empties in the same visit – one stop, no labels, no landfill.
The model is fully circular: to date, CO2 YOU has refilled and reused more than 1,000,000 cylinders, compatible with all major machines including SodaStream, Aarke, Smeg and Quooker taps. More than 27,000 UK homes use the service, which holds a 4.8/5 rating on Trustpilot.
Challenge: a circular product deserves a better delivery experience
CO2 YOU offers free next-working-day delivery on every order. However, with a third-party courier, the doorstep experience was out of their hands. Failed deliveries, no-shows, empties left uncollected: the pain points landed on their customer service team, often before the company even knew something had gone wrong.
”A lot of the pain points for our customer service team were coming directly from third-party courier issues – failed deliveries, not turning up, not collecting. And our reaction was slow, because we might not find out until the customer got in touch,” says Hugh Dixon, Operations Manager at CO2 YOU.
For a swap-based service, control matters more than for ordinary parcels: someone has to be home, empties have to come back, and the visit has to feel like the brand. A van was never seriously considered for central London and their hub is too central to park one economically. And as a sustainability-minded business, the answer had to be electric.
Interestingly, the project started elsewhere: CO2 YOU was preparing a B2B range of larger cylinders for pubs and offices, and wanted to disrupt an old-fashioned corner of the gas industry – suppliers with fixed delivery days and little flexibility. They quickly realised the same bikes could fulfil their entire catalogue, starting in London.
Solution: a fleet of Vok XLs wrapped, branded and blowing bubbles
CO2 YOU chose the fully custom branded and dual-battery Vok XL, after comparing alternatives and running test trials: the secure cargo box suited pressurised cylinders, and the payload and battery life came out ahead. The bikes now handle the full product range across London zones 1–3, with routes optimised daily through SmartRoutes, plugged into their warehouse system – customers get live tracking links, ETAs and delivery notes, just like a ride-share app.
The operation is deliberately distinctive:
- Custom vinyl artwork on every surface – including the roof with the bubble blower – designed with Boundless Design Agency
- Custom-built bubble machines that blow bubbles around the city as the bikes ride (”They’re pretty hard to miss!”)
- Customisable shelving carrying up to 200 kg of gas cylinders to households, offices and hospitality venues
- Full-time riders – affectionately known as the Bubble Heads – in custom merch, employed directly rather than outsourced
The result: improved delivery experience and a growing operation
CO2 YOU’s own fleet is young but the early numbers point one way:
- 40-45 deliveries a day on average, with 20–25 drops per bike. This is already beating third-party courier costs, with every added drop improving the economics.
- Up to 70 km per bike per day on roughly 7-hour routes, running on two batteries.
- Fleet doubled within the first two months, with the next bike already in order to stay ahead of demand.
- Fewer failed deliveries as logistics and customer communication now sit with their own team – with emissions tracked, reduced and offset with Climate Partner over the next three years.
”The experience of our Bubble Head drivers has been really positive – and as we bring on more bikes, each rider covers a denser area, so the numbers per bike will only grow,” says Charlotte Fleming, Senior Marketing Manager at CO2 YOU.
Why Vok?
For CO2 YOU, three factors made the difference:
- Payload – high weight capacity for a product that’s heavy by nature, with room to push the limits
- Range – the dual-battery setup covers a full London delivery day without missing a customer
- Brandability – a rolling canvas for a brand that refuses to be boring, from vinyl wrap to bubble machines
Looking ahead
The next chapter is already underway: CO2 YOU has launched larger B2B gas cylinders for pubs, offices and hospitality, which the bikes will deliver too, likely in multiple short loops, given the 20 kg cylinders. As the fleet grows, so do the postcodes covered, and the plan is clear: prove the model in London, then take it to other cities across the UK. Beyond that, the team is exploring new services such as water filtration installations with sustainable delivery methods baked in from the start.
For CO2 YOU, the Vok fleet is more than logistics. It’s the brand rolling through London, blowing bubbles as it goes.
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