This CAKE E-Cargo Bike Can Carry Your Anvils to Adrigole

Whenever we write about e-cargo bikes, someone comments that "micro transportation will never replace cars simply because they never have the same range and payload as a car/truck." Or: "That's a nice story. Feel free to call me when you need to move your washer/refrigerator or literally anything that exceeds the size of that bike of yours." Then there is the famous Irish tweet:

To which we respond: Meet the CAKE Åik—an e-cargo bike unveiled at CES 2023.

It has a maximum gross vehicle weight of 440 pounds, so if you subtract the 78 pounds of the bike and 150 pounds of rider, you still can carry up to 212 pounds of anvil or fridge. You can even get a model with a fridge built right in.

And if you have a full-sized washer or fridge to move, there is always a trailer.

As for getting from Killybegs to Adrigole in Ireland, that's 304 miles. With three 750-watt-hour batteries connected in parallel, the Åik has a range of 223 miles, so it won't quite make it on one charge, especially when carrying an anvil. However, this version of the e-bike is designed to the European Pedelec standards with a maximum speed of 15.5 mph, so the trip would take 19.6 hours. There would likely be an overnight stop when it could be charged or a long lunch—it charges to 80% in two hours and 100% in three.

There is also an American Class 2 e-bike model with a 500-watt motor with 1000 watts of peak power, 100 Newton-meters of torque, a 20 mph speed limit, and a throttle. CAKE makes electric motorcycles, but they have specifically aimed for the Pedelec rules in Europe and the Class 2 rules in the U.S. to open up the market.

"By creating a transportation solution that does not require any special license to operate, CAKE has filled a gap in the :work series. The newest member of the :work family blurs the lines between lightweight electric motorcycle and utility e-bike. For those who typically rely on motorized transportation, it opens up networks of bike lanes and paths that are off-limits to motorcycles and cars. It’s also indisputably easier to find a spot to park a bicycle than it is a motor vehicle."

It comes with an "Enviolo Extreme CVP Hub with stepless automatic shifting, optimized for cargo use and allows shifting at a standstill and shifting under load." This is important; if you have regular gears and forget to downshift before you stop at a light, it can be hard to get going again.

This is a serious working bike. "Nothing is left aside to promote reach, power, and efficiency for easy utilization and uncompromising economy in commercial use. The Åik is engineered to solve business challenges, setting a new standard for two-wheeled work vehicles."

The 20-inch wheels have three-inch tires that will eat up the bumpy pavement. There are security enhancements, including a GPS-activated alarm and tracking.

In an earlier post, I noted that e-bikes seemed to be evolving into light-duty cargo bikes with smaller wheels, and quoted Arleigh Greenwald of Tern: “If you are looking to replace car trips, and always have utility built into your bike—an electric cargo bike may be the perfect one bike solution for you.”

If you are looking to replace delivery vans, the CAKE Åik may be the perfect solution. It's not cheap, starting at $6,740 without any accessories, not even lights. But this is a working vehicle, "a heavy-duty transportation tool with unsurpassed capabilities." You are likely getting what you pay for.

I also suspect we will see a few people loading it up with baby seats and shopping baskets. It is the e-cargo bike version of the urban pickup truck, but a lot cheaper than a loaded Ford F-150 Lightning and easier to park. The CAKE Åik may be overkill, but the basic design is what most e-bikes seem to be evolving into: smaller wheels and a bigger load.

And someday, we will discover why they need so many anvils in Adrigole.