Kubo: an electric cargo scooter for the city

With the exception of takeaway restaurants, few businesses in Britain recognise scooters as a quick and cheap way to make urban deliveries. However, if electric vehicle pioneer Lit Motors has its way, all that could be about to change.

The Kubo is an electric cargo scooter that claims to combine ‘the beautiful design of a Vespa with the basic utility of a pickup truck’.

Anyone who has ridden a Vespa will know that it has an amazing ability to carry cargo (it is perfectly possible to carry a suitcase in front of the rider’s legs), but that is not to say there is no demand for the Kubo.

Unlike a petrol-powered scooter, the Kubo makes very little noise and has no exhaust emissions at point of use.

The bike might be battery powered, but it is no slouch on city streets. It is capable of carrying a total payload of 136 kg and can reach a top speed of 45 mph.

Its cargo area includes tie-down hooks, loops, and rails to maximise the number of ways awkward-shaped cargo can be secured.

The Kubo boasts regenerative braking and a useful onboard charger, which means its battery can be topped up from any wall socket.

Why don’t we use motorcycles as utility transport?

Small motorcycles in this country might have been relegated to delivering pizzas, but in Asia they are hard-working utility vehicles – cheap, economical and durable transport that is as likely to be seen carrying bags of cement and ladders as entire families.

Scooters are as easy to master, and as unlikely to cause congestion, as a bicycle. With a vehicle excise duty of £17 a year, 100 mpg fuel economy, free in-town parking, cheap insurance and near care-free maintenance, it is a surprise that more of us do not turn to them in these cash-strapped times.

Lit Motors C-1

The company behind the Kubo is best known for the C-1 – a radical fully-enclosed, steel-bodied scooter that uses gyroscopes to balance on two wheels, even when it’s at a standstill. The stylish-looking, battery-powered C-1 boasts two-seats, side-impact bars and airbags.