The French electric cargo bike scene is teeming with ideas at the minute and the latest, and one of the most innovative, comes from Pelican, in the form of their Train electric load hauler. It's essentially a longtail e-bike to which you can attach up to two sizeable trailers which can then be equipped for all manner of things, including courier work, building tasks, refrigerated food delivery and street cleaning. The total ensemble is rated to carry up to a huge 500kg of cargo.

How is it possible to move such a huge load, I hear ebiketips readers ask? As well as the relatively conventional looking longtail, the attached trailer or trailers also have electric motors that, according to this Insideevs article, "work together in a synchronised manner to ensure smooth and efficient operation. They all produce power at the same time and apply the brakes together when necessary."

The entire setup provides 111Nm of torque and, according to the firm itself, complies with the EU’s e-bike performance regulations of 250W of nominal output.

Pelican Cycles was founded by Alex Jacquelin and Thomas Borie after stints at Decathlon and Fabernovel respectively (readers will no doubt know Decathlon already, while Fabernovel appears to have a background in both digital and sustainable technologies).

Pelican also distributes BKL and YakBike cargo bikes, as well as providing maintenance services, and training and fleet management. There are short and long term hire options as well as an outright purchase option - the price of course depends on the spec. Prices are given in euros so we assume availability is currently limited to France.