Tern Business division adds versatile and modular cargo solutions

Tern Bicycles’ Business offshoot has showcased a fresh range of eCargo bike solutions to adorn some of its most popular and practical bikes.

With businesses all over the globe turning to Tern’s cargo bikes for deliveries and on the road service work, Tern Business has added light and fast setups for everything from food delivery to heavy-duty parcel freight with loads up to 150 kg and 1.5 cubic meters. Aside from modular carriage solutions, Tern’s work is going broader, analysing where standards need work on things like kickstands.

Tern eCargo bike fleets are already in use hauling Whole Foods orders in New York City, rushing 15-minute groceries in Stockholm, and taking New Zealand Post workers on their daily run to deliver mail and parcels.

“For dense and crowded cities, e-cargo bikes are often the best way to get things delivered,” stated Michael McManus, Tern Business Project Manager. “E-cargo bikes can make more deliveries per hour because they aren’t as affected by traffic, have more route options, and can park closer to the pick up and delivery point. Logistics companies also gain by being able to dramatically reduce their carbon footprint. Benefits to the community include reductions in traffic, noise pollution, and air pollution. E-cargo bikes are a win/win/win and that’s why they’re such an obvious solution that we’re advocating for.”

Recently available for demonstration and test ride at Eurobike, the products on offer from Q3 will include:

Cargo Boxes
Tern’s new Cargo Boxes are optimised for multiple-stop deliveries in the city, like postal or parcel delivery. Made in France, the customized boxes feature theft security with riveted metal wall construction and a locking lid, and are fully weatherproof.

The Cargo Box 300 is designed for the GSD and has a capacity of approximately 300 liters. It is designed for heavy cargo and packages, with internal shelving that helps organize the interior space for parcels of different sizes. The Cargo Box 37 measures 30 x 40 cm and is designed for the Transporteur Rack, which can be fitted to the front of any of Tern’s cargo bikes.

Cargo Kickstand and a new standard?
When loading or unloading cargo on a bicycle, stability is key. Heavy items or unbalanced loads can cause a bike to tip over if it doesn’t have a properly designed kickstand.

Since the bike industry lacks an official kickstand standard, Tern worked with EFBE, a leading German testing laboratory, to develop a custom kickstand test for the Lockstand QuadStruts. The kickstand passes 30,000 engage/disengage cycles with a load of 100 kg, which would approximate 3 years of hard, daily, commercial usage at max loading.

Tern Lockstand QuadStruts are designed for the GSD eCargo bike and add an additional pair of “legs” to the kickstand for best-in-class stability. This patented four-legged kickstand design supports up to 100 kg (220 lb). The QuadStruts work in tandem with the existing Atlas Lockstand on the GSD, so engaging and disengaging is as easy as using a regular kickstand.

Carla Cargo Adapters
Germany-based Carla Cargo makes some of the most popular commercial bicycle trailers in the world. Their trailer can be loaded with up to 150 kg or 1.5 m³ when attached to the GSD; this puts the combined cargo capacity into the territory of a large SUV or small van.

Tern has designed custom Adapters to attach a Carla Cargo trailer to Tern’s GSD, HSD, and Quick Haul cargo bikes.

Tern FleetTracker
A fleet of eCargo bikes is a valuable asset that needs to be tracked, maintained, and used efficiently. Tern’s new FleetTracker by WeMo is designed for this and includes a telematics box and a cloud-based software platform for complete fleet management. Tern partnered with WeMo Scooter, a company that operates a fleet of 10,000 shared e-scooters in Taiwan, to develop FleetTracker.

Features include:

Telematics Box
Always-on 4G cellular connectivity for security and location tracking
Remote read of e-bike data including ODO and Battery percentage
Sensors for and remote notification of collisions
Power from a Bosch battery
Backup battery for GPS location tracking and theft tracking
Over-the-air updates to add additional functions over time

Cloud-based Software Platform
Live location tracking for each bicycle in the fleet
Geo-fencing for alerts if bicycles move outside of designated service area
Home Storage alerts to make sure all bikes are back at home at a designated time
Operational history for each bike
Maintenance history for each bike
AI-driven preemptive maintenance planning

You can tune into a podcast with Tern Founder Josh Hon about the current state of the bicycle industry right here.