Meet the VOK U, a four-wheeled electric cargo bike that costs a massive $15,000 but needs no tax, insurance, or even a license. We put this automotive-grade “electrically-assisted pedal cycle” EAPC to the test in the city of Bath, racing it against a pro cyclist and finding out why businesses like Priority Express are using it to replace vans. Is this the future of urban commercial transport, or does it risk overloading our cycling infrastructure?
https://vokbikes.com/vok-u-electric-cargo-bike-by-vok-bikes/
With a range of up to 100 km and a top speed of 25 km/h
maximum payload of up to 200 kg with a hydraulic lift bed
The ideal road vehicle for me would be an electric kei truck with some kind of modular bed. I want something small but hyper-efficient and utilitarian. Cargo ebikes fit the bill within cities beautifully, but they have limitations in terms of volume/stability with extreme weight/range that make them fall just shy of me recommending my workplace swap out most of our trucks for them. For the cost of our new Ford Emotional Support Truck, one in a fleet of maybe 50~, we could have bought 40~ of my cargo ebike that achieves 80% of our work tasks.
This platform seems like it’d bridge the gap between what I want from a truck and what I want from a bike. $15k is intimidating, but a $10k cargo bike is built with top-tier components that you can mostly swap out yourself. With $15k you can’t buy a new version of the cheapest econobox car in the US and any used vehicle for that amount is going to start having expensive issues soon. My workplace could get five of these for the cost of one new fleet truck and accomplish 95% of the workload just as efficiently if not more so. Our shitty combustion engine UTVs that barely work cost as much as four of these and we can’t even repair them ourselves. The only thing this model is missing is battery range and that seems like the next component sector that’s getting big innovations after motors.