It's all good to bike around in the sunshine when you're footloose and fancy-free, and your biggest worry is whether you're going to drop the bottle of iced tea you're holding in your left hand. But when you're late to school drop-off, have to get to the office, and need to pick up some milk on the way home, that's where finding the best electric cargo bike comes in. That's when you've committed to the car-free lifestyle. If this is you, congratulations! We're doing it together.

I first became interested in electric bikes when my spouse noticed how slowly I was biking around our neighborhood while towing two kids in a bike trailer on my analog bike. That's when I realized that I needed a motor. The only problem is that once you get used to carrying a bunch of stuff on your bike, it's always tempting to try to add more. Tying and strapping things on my bike became an obsession, until I ended up competing in a city-wide alleycat race to do it.

When you're on a cargo ebike, errands that might have been annoying or time-consuming in a car suddenly become fun adventures or exercise. You're also not paying for gas, and you're helping slash oil consumption. If I haven't convinced you, it's OK. I won't be upset if you choose to walk or ride an electric scooter to do your errands instead. Be sure to check out the rest of our outdoor buying guides, which include the Best Kids Bikes and the Best Electric Mountain Bikes.

Updated April 2026: I've overhauled this guide with new information on how to ride and choose an electric cargo bike, a new accessories section, and updated information about our picks. I added the Lectric XPedition2 and the JackRabbit MG Doble and deleted older picks. I also updated links and prices.

Best Overall

If you don't have any specific needs to address—that is, you don't have to take two kids to school, or you don't regularly haul mulch or gravel for your garden—the best all-purpose utility ebike is the Specialized Globe Haul ST. It's made by a major bike manufacturer, so you'll likely be able to access an authorized repair network wherever you are. (This is a lot harder than it should be, given that many ebikes have proprietary motors, components, and accessories that most bike shops can't handle.) Because Specialized makes bicycles for people who like to bike, the Globe Haul ST is comfortable to ride, the center of gravity is low to the ground, and the battery is IPX7-rated, so you don't have to worry about riding in the rain.

Specialized's proprietary, 700-watt motor feels natural—sometimes to an annoying extent, as the bike is designed for you to pedal and you won't get faster than 10 mph just by using the throttle. Also, there's no option for a dual battery. Still, the battery well exceeded Specialized's estimated 60-mile range. Granted, I am a small person, but I was usually hauling at least one other person on the bike with me at all times, so I still found this remarkable.

It's easily adjustable—both my 5'10" husband and my 5'2" self were able to switch off riding, which is important if this is your family's all-purpose hauler. The display is intuitive, and the buttons are well-spaced apart so you don't get confused or end up button-mashing. Also, Specialized's accessories go a long way toward making this bike so much more useful. Yes, you could jerry-rig some Home Depot buckets to the front of your bike and drill holes in the bottoms for them to drain, but the Coolcave panniers ($90) are so much more attractive, easy to use, and helpful for carting everything from kid dioramas to a dozen tiny soccer balls.

Best Value

The vast majority of people I know who buy a cargo ebike with their own money choose the Lectric XPedition2. There is just no better value for a dual-battery long-tail cargo ebike. Out of the box, Lectric has also gone above and beyond to make its bikes and accessories easy to assemble and use. You even pop the pedals in, instead of using regular screw-on pedals.

This bike's specs are also wild for the price. It has a 1,310-watt rear hub motor, twice as powerful as the already-powerful Globe Haul. (It has a throttle and is a Class 2 ebike out of the box, though you can use the display to unlock its Class 3 capabilities and assist up to 28 mph.) It has hydraulic disc brakes, front suspension, an incredibly large and bright LCD color display, integrated lights, and fenders.

Lectric also has an incredible range of accessories, some of which I really like and some which are just annoying. For example, I can't imagine anyone trusting their ebike to this flimsy cable lock. The washers on the Orbitor kid rack are all sized just a little off, and all the videos tell you that you'll need a torque wrench to tighten the bolts to spec, even though most people probably don't have one. Also, the double-legged kickstand is the worst piece of equipment I've ever used; I never understood how truly terrible one could be until I used Lectric's. On the other hand, I really like the easy clip-on attachments on the reasonably priced XL pannier bags, and my 8- and 11-year-olds like riding with the cushions and the Barrow Bar.

Overall, I'd say that this is a great place to start with cargo ebiking. It's reasonably priced, very powerful, and has great components, with an incredible weight capacity (450 pounds!). A similarly specced and priced direct-to-consumer alternative is the Aventon Abound ($1,999), which WIRED consumer tech director Michael Calore has tested and recommends.

I have friends who are very happy with their Lectric XPedition2, and if I'd never ridden another cargo ebike, I'd be very happy, too. However, I am bound to say that the pedal sensor is not as sensitive as it could be for a motor this powerful—even on the lowest levels, it sometimes felt like my head was jerking off my shoulders when I started riding—and I do find myself carrying a wrench around to tighten suspiciously rattly bits and bobs as I go.

Best Box Bike

The Urban Arrow FamilyNext Pro is the cargo ebike that I should've gotten, had I not chickened out about the size. It's still the question that I get asked most whenever I ride this bike around my neighborhood—how do I, a small woman, deal with two kids and a bunch of cargo in the front of the bike? The answer is that Bosch's sensors are super sensitive, and I never felt unstable. I put a 160-pound human in the front cargo box, biked around the neighborhood, and felt fine.

Since I first reviewed the bike in 2020, Urban Arrow has made a couple of significant upgrades. The first is that the cargo box is now longer and slimmer, which makes it easier to maneuver. The shell is now made from expanded polypropylene (EPP) foam that shows bumps and dings easily, but Urban Arrow describes it as “an upside-down helmet” for fragile human cargo (the panels are replaceable). The front fork also now has 60 mm of suspension travel, which is an important safety feature if you intend to ride at 20 mph with lots of cargo in the front box. I hit a bunch of potholes going really fast (not on purpose) and boinged right out of them.

It still has everything I loved about the original, including an Enviolo CVT shifter that makes it possible to stop and start the bike from a standstill. And for such a big bike, it only weighs 112 pounds—that's not so much, as long as you remember only to lift it when there's no cargo. The one downside is that the motor on this model is only 250 watts. That fits European specs, and I was able to get up some fairly steep hills. However, many American-made bikes have motors of around 750 or even 1000 watts, so some people might want to consider getting a more powerful bike.

Best Longtail Bike

My own bike—the one I purchased with my own money (used, on sale) and personally convinced many other people in my neighborhood to buy—is the Tern GSD S10. I like it because I'm a smaller woman, and the center of gravity is very low. It's light and maneuverable—it's the length of a regular analog bike—and the longtail is big enough for two Thule Yepp child seats. Tern's accessories are also incredible. Because we bike to school so often in the rain, I have the Tern Storm Box ($265) and the Tern Storm Shield ($265). They're expensive, but totally worth it if you want to get anywhere without your kids being soaking wet and totally miserable. (I personally don't mind being soaking wet.)

[INSERT IMG OF MY KIDS WITH FACES BLURRED OUT]

The latest iteration of the Tern GSD came with a couple of important safety upgrades. First, the bike now has ABS brakes. I understand that this might be annoying; there's extra cabling, the bike now takes a bit longer to stop, it's another thing to repair, a lot of cargo ebikes don't have ABS brakes, etc. However, I live in an area where it rains a lot and where there are a lot of hills, and I've made my husband (who is much bigger than I am) swap out biking the kids on my non-ABS Tern on occasion because I've been afraid that I wouldn't be able to stop or turn fast enough when it's wet. I would've loved to have ABS brakes on my older Tern, so yes, I'm all for it.

All the new components—frame, fenders, kickstand, brakes, everything—have been retooled to meet DIN 79010, the German safety standard for cargo bikes (and the only one of its kind currently in existence). You can only appreciate how important this is after you've used a truly terrible kickstand, like the one on the Lectric XPedition2, and realized it's just as important to not knock the bike down when it's standing still as when you're riding it.

Best Small Cargo Ebike

I am a big advocate for tiny electric vehicles. They're so much easier to store and transport than their full-sized counterparts. (One of the major problems with the Urban Arrow FamilyNext Pro is needing a garage that's big enough to house it.) JackRabbit, the maker of our favorite mini electric bike, also makes the JackRabbit MG Doble, which is what the company calls a “micro-hauler”—it has the same tiny frame, but with a 749-watt motor and two easy-to-charge batteries that are designed to help you carry a lot of stuff, like with the pictured Burley flatbed trailer ($320). It has even more torque than the OG JackRabbit bikes because it's designed to haul a lot of stuff uphill.

The main consideration with the JackRabbit is that it's not technically an ebike because it has foot pegs instead of pedals. You do not have to pedal the MG Doble. Reviewer Stephanie Pearson tested it while hauling compost up hills and carrying her partner on the back of the seat. The MG Doble has more than enough power to climb, but that means you also have to be cautious—Pearson tipped her partner off the back of the bike in an inadvertent wheelie.

There are two considerations when it comes to the MG Doble. The first is that it's so tiny that you have to maximize its usefulness with lots of accessories for the ten mounting points, which can really affect the bike's starting price point. The second is the aforementioned foot pegs and the MG Roble's ebike technicality: Depending on your municipality, you might not be able to ride it on traditional bike paths. Some are stricter than others, and for what it's worth, I have never been called out in Portland, Oregon, for riding a JackRabbit on a bike path.

Compare Top Electric Cargo Bikes

Honorable Mentions

Rad Power RadRunner Max for $2,299: Rad Power Bikes' flagship utility bike is fun, gorgeous, and easy to assemble. However, the company was recently acquired after filing for bankruptcy protection, so I am keeping an eye on it to ensure it remains available in the coming year.

Surly Skid Loader for $4,599: My personal analog bike is a Surly Cross Check, so I have a particular fondness for Surly's trademark chromoly steel frame and amazing colors (Illegal Smile is the perfect green, it just is). It has an incredibly powerful Bosch Cargo Line motor on a relatively small midtail frame, with nice extras in the price—integrated front and rear lights and a sturdy double kickstand. I circumnavigated Whidbey Island on this bike; it handles both asphalt and gravel with ease.

Bunch Original Cargo Bike for $6,499: This big box cargo bike is what most people imagine when they think of electric cargo bikes. (My neighbor asked me if I was starting a hot dog truck when she saw me pedaling it.) It can fit up to four kids and has heavy-duty brakes and a throttle to help keep your most precious cargo safe; Bunch has also added the option to install a double battery since I tested it. However, it's difficult to ride on streets that have a camber (so, most city streets), and it's annoying to have to pay extra for the option to add a door.

Bike Friday Haul-A-Day Elite for $3,300: This is one of the smallest, lightest electric cargo bikes that's capable of carrying two kids. However, I would issue a caveat for any smaller parents whose cargo might outweigh them; I almost fell with my kids on it because the balance was so heavily weighted toward the back of the bike. My much-heavier husband did not have a problem.

Best Accessories

Every bike—not just electric ones—needs at least a few accessories to make it as useful and versatile as possible. For more, check out our guides to the Best Bike Lights, Best Bike Helmets, How to Cargo Bike With Your Kids, and Best Gear for Your Wintry Commute.

Here are just a few accessories I like that make my cargo bike more useful. It's also worth noting here that while tricking out your ride to haul your kids is one thing, I do not recommend putting your kid on an electric bike by themselves.

Thule Yepp 2 Child Seat for $270: I have biked with my kids for years in a child seat, and this is the one to get—every biker uses this seat. It mounts in minutes, so you can safely switch it from your bike to your spouse's bike, and the foam seat is comfortable for your kid and easy to clean. Thule also makes a front-mounted seat for smaller children.

Ortlieb Sport-Roller Panniers Pair for $200: I bought these panniers 20 years ago and bring them out every time I'm not testing others. Most brands make their own proprietary panniers. Of those, my favorites are the hardsided Specialized Coolcave panniers ($90) and the extra-large Lectric pannier bags ($199).

Specialized Align II for $65: This is our best overall bike helmet for offering a combination of great value, lots of ventilation, and very light weight.

Bungee Straps for $10: I have so many of these in every single bag and pannier. They're incredibly useful for attaching random, oddly-shaped items to your front or rear rack.

Lectric Cargo Package for $198: Speaking of panniers, each bike manufacturer makes proprietary accessories, and I would strongly urge you to buy those if you've already bought the specific bike. Cargo bikers are great at jerry-rigging carrying equipment, but the mounting points, bolts, and washers can all differ slightly in size, which can be annoying if you don't already have a big box of wrenches and screws at home. Lectric's are moderately priced and sturdy.

Lectric Orbitor Bar for $199: These steel or aluminum bars are known by a number of names. You can find them if you search for roll bars, monkey bars, or bike cages. They're useful for keeping your small-ish kids contained on the back of your bike, or for bungee-ing random items to.

Safety Vests for $11: If you're transporting kids on a bike that's much bigger than a typical analog bike, or moving much faster than one, it's worth making sure cars around you can still see your children.

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