Over 750 companies and public institutions across Germany tested everyday use of cargo-bikes, with a third of the participants planning to switch to cargo bikes in the long term.

Source: German Aerospace Center

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute for Transport Research recently invited over 750 groups to test cargo-bikes within their day-to-day operations for a period of three months. The project was funded by the National Climate Initiative (NKI), as part of its “I relieve cities” scheme. A total of 152 cargo-bikes in five designs were available, allowing companies to trial the vehicles without major upfront investment costs.

At the end of the project, participants had registered a total of 307,000 km across 30,000 recorded routes. Two-thirds of these journeys replaced those of a combustion engine vehicle, highlighting the potential of cargo-bikes to replace commercial journeys by car.

Once testing was concluded a third of participants outlined plans to switch to their own cargo-bike system; those making the switch cited environmental protection as a key factor in their decision. Additionally, two-thirds of those involved rated the suitability of cargo-bikes to their business model as good to very-good, but also noted the need for further optimization regarding the bike models tested.

This research has outlined the true potential of cargo-bikes in moving towards a cleaner, greener, and emission-free future. The full report can be found here.