International Cargobike of the Year 2024: e2trail, Super Bicycles, and Mubea win awards

After an exciting test on the new and central cargo bike course at the IAA TRANSPORTATION in Hanover, the manufacturers Mubea with the Cargo Pack, Superbicycles Super Mighty, and e2trail Lifter have won the "International Cargobike of the Year 2024" awards. The winners have opened up new possibilities for bike logistics in their respective categories, summarized on behalf of the jury by LOGISTRA's Head of Test + Technology and Initiator Johannes Reichel: The Super Mighty brings affordability to the light class, coupled with robustness, easy handling, and flexibility. The industrial-standard designed, strongly electrically assisted e2trail allows pallet and general cargo transport by bike. Mubea's quad transports automotive quality paired with fine handling and high practicability to the top class. 

During the award ceremony, VDA Managing Director Jürgen Mindel emphasized the growing importance of cargo bikes in the transportation mix and at the fair, which is being acknowledged with this third award at an IAA. With the renaming of the fair to "IAA TRANSPORTATION," the expansion to a platform for complete logistics has been accomplished, explicitly including light vehicles.

Trying is Better than Studying: Cargo Bikes to Ride Yourself

The VDA, in cooperation with the German Cyclist’s Logistics Association (RLVD), was a partner of the Cargo Bike Award, which was initiated in 2019 by the trade magazine LOGISTRA from HUSS-VERLAG. The IAA designed an expanded cargo bike course, which was more prominently placed than ever at the West entrance and guaranteed high attention from the trade fair audience. Additionally, the bikes of the exhibiting manufacturers as well as the award participants could be tested on the course. In this context, the National Bicycle Logistics Conference, which was held for the fifth time, was also fully integrated into the IAA TRANSPORTATION for the first time on the day before the Cargo Bike Award.

RLVD board member and juror Martin Schmidt, as a bicycle logistician, was delighted with the high pace of innovation and the experimentation of the manufacturers, and sees great opportunities for cargo bikes with reliable, robust, and affordable technology to transform urban logistics in an emission-free and space-saving manner.

Broad Participation Across All Classes

The award went into a new round with strong participation from 18 candidates, especially with a balanced line-up across all three classes. There was a lively discussion this time particularly among the trailers, as LOGISTRA section head for Test+Technology and award initiator Johannes Reichel emphasized during the ceremony. This year also marked the premiere of evaluations by cargo bike experts from BG Verkehr, who assessed the occupational safety aspects of the bikes on site.

The jury included not only LOGISTRA editor Reichel, but also bike logistician Thomas Schmitz from VRM CityLogistics in Mainz, bike logistician Martin Schmidt from Cycle Logistics in Berlin, and cargo bike design specialist Satish Kumar Beella from The Hague University of Applied Sciences, along with Aline Künzler, bike courier at Veloblitz in Zurich and consultant at "velogisch".