A Canadian micromobility company called Scootility has designed an electric cargo scooter, which the brand says is designed for “urban delivery and other jobs in corporate and institutional fleets.”
It’s not the first of its kind – we covered Beyond’s Cargo One, a folding 2,000W cargo e-scooter aimed at New York delivery riders in 2022. The Razor EcoSmart Cargo was also released that year, although that was more of an electric moped than a scooter, as it came with a seat.
All of these have been sold to customers and businesses in the US and Canada, and given the UK government’s lack of clarity on if or when they will reform current e-scooter legislation, it seems unlikely they'll be hitting the UK market any time soon.
But let’s take a look at the Scootility e-cargo scooter. What makes it different? Firstly, it comes with a 140 litre capacity cargo box at the front, which pushes the handlebars towards the middle of the scooter. The rider stands behind, which gives them a higher view of the road compared to something like an e-bike.
The boxes can be swapped out, and the battery packs are located underneath the footdeck, where the rider stands. These are also removable.
In front of the rider there is a leg rest, which the Scootility website says doubles up as storage for personal effects, including, but not limited to, “a clipboard.”
The steering column folds down to make the scooter that bit more compact, and comes with suspension above the front wheel. Two iterations of prototypes have been built, and now the brand is looking to develop a production model. For this, Scootility has joined forces with Springtime Design in the Netherlands and Engineering Design Lab in Canada. The company is currently looking for investment.
Whether or not an e-cargo scooter could work as a viable alternative to e-cargo bikes, or even vans, is an interesting thought. The positives of such a vehicle include the agility of it and the lack of physical effort required from the rider to get to their delivery destination.
In the UK at least, it’s unlikely we’ll see these until the government clarifies its position on e-scooters and introduces the low-speed, zero-emission vehicle category that's been mooted. So get used to seeing e-cargo bikes and riders delivering all sorts of incredible things by bike for now.
