A promising micromobility solution developed in Latvia: an industrial electric cargo bike
Latvian startup company Bruntor has created an innovative electric cargo bike that is suitable for intensive industrial use both in urban environments and over difficult terrain: cobblestones, bumpy streets, park and forest paths. The company has already produced several dozens of these vehicles, which are used for both parcel delivery and city and park maintenance work. The product is currently undergoing further development and testing, while negotiations are underway with several large potential customers, including the Danish Postal Service.
Raimonds Jurgelis, the creator of the product and founder of the company, jokes that the best ideas really do come from necessity. The company was founded in 2021, at a time when Raimonds was already actively experimenting with various mobility solutions and working on the development of an electric board. However, it was in an everyday situation that the idea for a completely different product was born. “I had to go and pick up a heavy parcel for my family. It wasn’t far and I didn’t want to use the car for something like that. It would have been difficult to carry a large box on an electric board, and it was too heavy to carry on foot,” he recalls. “I needed something in between: electric, environmentally friendly, but large enough to carry a serious load.” It was at this moment that he came up with the idea of an electric scooter with a cargo compartment – an idea that would later become Bruntor’s flagship product.
The first Bruntor Cargo scooter was built in the family garage in Ikšķile, and the initial feedback on the prototype was surprisingly good. Interest arose even before Raimonds had figured out how to market this solution. From the moment the idea was conceived to the purchase of the first test unit by Latvijas Pasts, only six months passed – an incredibly short cycle for a new industrial product. This was the first clear signal to Raimonds that the scooter fills a veryu real, not just theoretical, need in the market.
Bruntor Cargo is an electric cargo bike with a cargo box, designed specifically for industrial use: parcel delivery, urban and park management, and the daily work of housing management and municipal services. It can travel up to 100 kilometres’ on a single charge and can be customised to specific needs, both in terms of cargo box size and battery capacity.
“What sets us apart from our competitors is that we didn’t just take a bicycle and add a box to it,” says Raimonds Jurģelis. “We created a vehicle from scratch – durable, stable, and truly suitable for industrial loads. Its suspension automatically adjusts to the weight of the rider and the load, significantly reducing vibrations and improving ergonomics. This is extremely important for delivery companies: if a person spends hours a day on a scooter, comfort is not a luxury, but a necessity.”
The scooter easily handles a variety of surfaces from smooth asphalt to cobblestones, bumpy streets, park paths, and even light off-road conditions. “Our closest competitors operate in southern countries. We joke that they don't know what winter, ice, and truly challenging surfaces are. Bruntor Cargo can handle it all,” he says.
It is precisely this ability to withstand Latvian weather conditions that has made Bruntor an interesting partner for international customers as well. The Danish Postal Service, looking for a faster and more ergonomic way to send and deliver parcels, conducted thorough testing of the vehicle. The results were impressive: the number of deliveries per hour increased by 30% compared to traditional deliveries by car. In addition, by adjusting the size of the boxes and restructuring internal logistics, productivity could be increased even further. However, decisions are not made quickly in large organisations. “A new development strategy for the Danish Postal Service is currently being developed, which will only come into effect in two years’ time. They really like the product, but everything is still in the testing and evaluation process. We are hoping for a good result,” Raimonds says.
Large deals take time, but Bruntor already boasts a stable customer base. The Riga forests management agency (Rīgas meži) use the vehicle for park maintenance. Building managers buy one or two units to make it easier for employees to transport tools and materials. These solutions are already being tested in city cleaning work not only in Riga, but also in Cēsis and Limbaži. In Estonia, city maintenance services use them in places where there were previously no convenient alternatives: “There was nothing really between a wheelbarrow and a quad bike with a trailer. But our model does not require a driver’s license, and it is environmentally friendly and very practical,” Raimonds explains, based on customer feedback.
The company has now moved its operations to Riga, where the current production facilities allow it to produce up to 100 Bruntor Cargo units per year, but with the increase in orders, capacity can be increased to up to 400 units. The first small deals have already set off a snowball effect: the product is appearing in cities, other municipalities and companies are noticing it, and interest is growing.
International visibility also provides additional momentum. The company has been operating for the first year in the business incubator set up by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) in Ogre and, with the support of LIAA, has participated in several important international mobility exhibitions. It was at one of these events that Bruntor won the finals in the mobility category of EIT Jumpstarter, a competition held by the European Innovation and Technology Institute's Knowledge and Innovation Community EIT Urban Mobility.
Information material prepared with the support of the European Regional Development Fund
