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L2e-U or L7e-CU: which cargo vehicle do you actually need?

The cheaper vehicle is the one whose licence your customer already holds. That is usually an L2e-U — until the route includes a hill.

Last reviewed 6 November 2026

These are the two categories that carry most of the European last-mile volume, and the choice between them is not primarily about price. It is about who is allowed to drive, and what the route actually looks like.

Side by side #

L2e-UL7e-CU
Wheels34
Maximum speed45 km/hAbove 45 km/h (90 km/h ceiling)
Maximum power4 kW15 kW
Unladen mass ceiling270 kg excluding battery600 kg excluding battery
Licence, most member statesAM from 16; often covered by a B licenceB1 from 16, or B from 18
Typical useShort urban circuits, light loadsLonger routes, heavier loads, gradients
Cost positionLower acquisition, lower freight per unit at high densityHigher acquisition, larger body

Start from the licence #

In most member states an AM licence, or a B licence held for years, covers an L2e vehicle. That is a much larger pool of drivers than the B1 route, and for a fleet hiring staff it is decisive: an L2e cargo tricycle can be handed to a worker with a car licence and no additional training.

Where the L2e case collapses Four kilowatts on a loaded tricycle is not much. On flat ground at 30 km/h it is fine. On a sustained gradient with 400 kg aboard it is slow, and the motor runs hot. If your customers work hilly terrain, or carry near the rated load all day, the cheaper vehicle becomes the more expensive one — in downtime, in motor replacements, in drivers refusing the route.

The gradient test #

Ask the customer one question: is there a hill on the route that takes more than thirty seconds to climb? If yes, the answer is L7e-CU. If the route is genuinely flat and short, L2e-U is the right tool and the licence advantage is real.

A third option people forget #

There is a middle position: a three-wheel cargo vehicle above 45 km/h with more power falls into L5e-B, which requires only two seats and a goods body — but sits on an A1 licence rather than AM. That is a narrower customer pool than L2e-U and a smaller vehicle than L7e-CU. It exists, and it is occasionally exactly right, but it is not the volume answer.

What we would tell a dealer #

  1. Stock one L2e-U model first. It is the cheapest way to test whether the market exists.
  2. Add one L7e-CU model once you have a customer who has outgrown it — that conversation happens within six months if the terrain is not flat.
  3. Do not stock both at launch. Two categories means two sets of documents, two parts systems and two licence conversations.

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