Gartencoop Freiburg

CARLA CARGO arose from the fact that the solidarity agriculture Gartencoop Freiburg needed a trailer to transport its vegetables by bicycle. The cooperative has been delivering large quantities of vegetables in Freiburg since 2011 and has set itself the goal of making these deliveries emission-free. As inventors, we quickly recognised the great need for an intelligent trailer concept with which large quantities of vegetables can be transported safely and conveniently by bicycle.

We tackle it!

The bicycle is one of the most efficient, safest and space-saving means of transport in the world. In combination with powerful electric motors, completely new, sustainable concepts for transporting heavy loads in urban areas are emerging. With CARLA CARGO, we have created the oppurtunity to tackle change, bring an intelligent transport option for the city to market and begin to replace outdated combustion engine based technologies. Our vision are cities where CARLAs are transporting heavy loads and where there is more space to live and more space for new ideas.

From crowdfunding to starting a business

Among friends the idea to develop a load trailer with electrical support and integrated overrun brake was born.

With the help of a crowdfunding, enough money was raised and the first CARLA CARGOs were financed and built on the waggonplace Schattenparker. After more than a year of tinkering and a few test drivers, several CARLAs have been delivering the vegetables for the Freiburg Gardencoop on a regular basis since summer 2014

Scaling

CARLA CARGO Engeneering GmbH was founded in spring 2018 to accelerate series production and meet the growing demand for CARLAs. CARLA CARGO distributes its products throughout Europe and cooperates with selected cargobike dealers. Today CARLAs are used worldwide and transport heavy loads e.g. in Germany, the Netherlands, France, England, Sweden and the USA.

Robot automation

Since the end of 2020, the majority of our frame production has been manufactured on a welding robot at Wecubex just 6km away. In this way, we make an important contribution to leaving the smallest possible CO² footprint even during production and thus guarantee high availability. We are able to react very flexibly even to larger order quantities and create a high degree of independence compared to otherwise rather common long-distance imports. Hard to believe, the frame can be welded through every half hour and gives us the opportunity to make even more impact with our CARLAs for a more climate-friendly future.

New Basecamp

Since the summer of 2023, the first CARLAs have been produced in our new BASECAMP in Herbolzheim, in the immediate vicinity of our manufacturer, which produces the frames on the welding robot less than 50 meters from us. We are all very happy to be able to produce CARLAs for you every day in the light-flooded rooms designed with lots of wood. The location in the industrial area suits us perfectly and reflects our vision of a post-fossil society with its park-like character in an extremely charming way.