Everyone can learn to ride a cargo bike, but it might take some practice depends on the rider, their experience and the model of the cargo bike.
The biggest differences between an electric cargo bike and a regular bike is the length, weight distribution and, if you haven’t ridden an electric bike before, riding with a motor.
I found that the longtail designs, where the heaviest cargo load is out back, felt most like riding a regular bike. The ride feel is intuitive, and even with a longer wheelbase, if you’ve ridden with panniers before, you’ll quickly adapt to riding with an additional person/ shopping on board. They are similar in design to a tandem bike, but personally I found them a lot easier to manoeuvre with the weight just that little lower than the riders saddle.
The two wheeled box bikes can be harder to ride as the weight load is further forward than you will be used to. While this doesn’t impact the weight of the steering, the biggest challenge is that there is a lot more bike length ahead of you, and it’s unlikely that you will have sight of your front wheel. This combination, whereby the bike will turn, but the load still looks like it’s facing forward for me, created an optical illusion that made it harder to ride the bike, resulting in several ‘training rides’ before becoming comfortable and confident enough to ride on the public highway.
Having a motor onboard is a must have with any cargo bike, with the bikes themselves weighing between 60 to 70 kilos / 132 to 154 pounds and around an additional 100to 150 kilos/ 220 to 300 pounds as cargo, and then your weight as a rider (there’s generally a max rider weight of around 100kg/ 220lbs), anything other than pan flat or downhill is impossible without my un-ceremonially dismounting cargo (often a cross child).
On the best electric cargo bikes, the motor will have setting options to add enough power to make your ride comfortable and hills surmountable. The power should be instantly active on pedal pressure, apply predictable assistance allowing you to be in complete control of speed and stopping.