An e-cargo bike can replace a family car for everyday journeys. Two children to drop off at school or nursery? No problem. A boot’s worth of groceries to haul home from the supermarket? Piece of cake. 

You see more e-cargo bikes around these days because they address two serious problems: the cost of living crisis and the environmental crisis. An e-cargo bike is cheaper to buy than a car and much, much cheaper to run; it costs pennies to top up its battery. E-bikes produce no pollution directly and less than 10% of the carbon emissions of a car per kilometre after you factor in electricity production.  

The two commonest types of e-cargo bike are the longtail, which we’re looking at here, and the bakfiets (Dutch for ‘box bike’). A bakfiets has a large box in front of the rider. It’s ideal for loose items of luggage, such as bags of shopping, and will usually accommodate at least a couple of small children on bench seats. Box bikes are heavier and wider than longtails, and they tend to me more expensive. 

Longtail are essentially just bikes with an extended passenger/cargo rack behind the rider. Most use 20in wheels, or at least a 20in rear wheel, to keep the load low and stable, and the total length manageable. You can expect to ride and park a longtail e-cargo bike wherever you’d take a normal e-bike. As they’re cheaper than box bikes, other things being equal, they’re an easier entry point into e-cargo biking.  

An e-cargo bike must have good brakes because, fully laden, it could weigh as much as a motorcycle. E-cargo motors are limited to 250W, like those of other e-bikes, but generally have more torque to help you get all that extra weight moving – especially uphill.  

Here are five of the best longtail e-cargo bikes available right now. Prices are RRP, before Cyclescheme savings:

Rad Power Bikes RadRunner 2 £1,449 

The quirky-looking RadRunner 2 is less a longtail than a ‘mid-tail’but its rack is integrated into the frame and will carry a load of up to 54.4kg. This load can be a passenger: you’ll need the £89 Passenger Package 2.0 (padded rack seat, footpegs and skirt guard) if they’re too big for a child seat. An 80Nm rear hub motor provides enough torque to climb hills even though the bike has a singlespeed drivetrain. Chunky 3.3in tyres are unfazed by rough surfaces and provide lots of braking traction. The suggested range is 55-88km per charge, and its maximum payload is 136kg. It comes with mudguards, lighting and a sturdy stand. Lots of other accessories are available, including a front rack.  

Mycle Cargo £1,999 

Despite its budget price, the Mycle Cargo is a heavy-duty load hauler. The rear rack alone is rated for 125kg and the maximum overall payload is 210kg. To carry a passenger it needs only a padded cushion (£30) as the saddle has a passenger handle and the bike is equipped with foot plates. These footplates are also useful for strapping boxy loads to the side of the bike. The rear rack can alternatively be fitted with two child seats; a third, front-fitting child seat is one of the many other accessories available. The Mycle Cargo is powered by a 65Nm rear hub motor with three levels of power assist. Range is up to 60km or 120km with a second battery (£500). It has 7-speed derailleur gearing, 20x3in tyres and mechanical disc brakes. 

Mycle Cargo

Elops Electric Cargo Bike Rear Loading Longtail R500 £3,499 

Decathlon’s e-cargo bike has jumped in price by £500 from its 2022 launch but it’s still good value, given that it comes with equipment you’ll pay extra for on other machines. For example, there’s a retention bar around the rear platform for passengers (max load 80kg) or for accommodating a 60x40cm crate, plus a front basket and a rear wheel lock. The bike’s 8-speed Microshift drivetrain is better than most budget e-cargo bikes, as are the hydraulic disc brakes. A large 672Wh battery is neatly hidden away in the frame and is a good for a range of 50-90km. The main point of difference from more expensive e-cargo bikes is the motor: it’s a rear hub unit. At 58Nm, torque is decent but it won’t be as efficient or as effective on hills as a crank motor that can utilise the bike’s own gears. 

Elops Electric R500

Trek Fetch+ 2 £4,500 

Trek is a mainstream bike brand so the fact that it’s producing e-cargo bikes (there’s also a box bike) is significant. The Fetch+ 2 follows the 20in-wheel compact cargo bike format of the Tern GSD. It’s a well-designed bike with an excellent 85Nm Bosch Performance Line Cargo crank motor. Four-piston hydraulic disc brakes will stop it easily even carrying its maximum load (approx 170kg, including the rider), while the wide-range 1x10 Shimano Deore gearing means you won’t always need to stick the motor in Turbo mode for inclines. The bike’s ‘family pack’ (seat pads, retention bar, skirt guard) is £259.99, while mudguards are £54.99. The Fetch+ 2’s rigid plastic panniers (£179.99) carry 44 litres per side and can be left in place for little passengers to slot their legs into.   

Trek Fetch + 2

Tern GSD S10 £5,099 

Tern’s GSD (‘get stuff done’) is the e-bike that really established the small-wheeled compact longtail design. No longer than a standard adult bike and capable of being stored in less space due to a telescoping seatpost and a folding stem, the GSD’s rear rack will nevertheless carry two children, another adult, or any other load up to 100kg. (Maximum load including the rider is about 170kg.) Like the Trek Fetch+ 2 that was surely inspired by it, the GSD has a great 85Nm Bosch Cargo Line crank motor, a 1x10 Shimano Deore drivetrain, and four-piston hydraulic disc brakes. It comes with one 400Wh battery as standard, giving a range of 42-85km, but can be equipped with a second battery (500Wh, approx£700), boosting the range to 97-195km. There’s a huge list of accessories, including the usual bags, racks and childseats. The most impressive is the Clubhouse Fort kit, which provides two child passengers with their own weatherproof compartment.