Even though many EV businesses are having trouble, a new company can take advantage of Americans’ love of pickup trucks. Telo Trucks, based in San Carlos, California, says it will build electric pickup trucks that can fit in small spaces by hand. Even though the company hasn’t built a unit yet, the starting price of $50,000 for 350 miles of range, a 60-inch truck bed, and 500 horsepower seem like a great deal. Another company that wants to make electric vehicles (EVs) is going for it, which is a risk because EV sales aren’t stable. Jason Marks and Forrest North, who started this company, left National Instruments, Tesla, and Mission Motors, respectively, so you can guess how they began. But Telo Trucks may have a secret tool in the form of a high-quality item. Telo Trucks needs to make the next generation of luxury cars or try to beat Ford in the electric pickup truck market. Instead, it’s following in the lines of Japanese companies from decades ago by making its first small electric pickup, the MT1. The Telo MT1 truck is only 152 inches long, the same length as a Mini Cooper with four doors. Even better, the MT1 has four doors, can fit five people, and has a 60-inch bed. The vehicle has the same bed length as a 2024 Toyota Tacoma and is only one inch shorter than a Chevrolet Colorado. This is because the mid-partition folds down into the passenger area. The MT1 bed can fit four-by-eight-foot plywood sheets, long ladders, and a nine-foot surfboard with the door closed. It fits a lot into a small space by making the passenger area the size of a small car. However, a shorter front span gives the driver more legroom. “By focusing on the design and placement of the battery pack within the truck’s chassis, we can not only make a roomier crew cab,” said CTO and co-founder Forrest North but also make a vehicle useful for its users.” In our small design, our battery packs, for which we have a patent filed, are easy to make and make the best use of space to give a fantastic 350-mile range between charges. That’s a lot of range for a truck meant to serve cities, though the maker may be overstating the degree because heavy equipment will likely be put on the back. Also, Telo hasn’t said who will provide the battery or what size it will be, and the 350-mile range isn’t an EPA-approved number. So, it’s hard to check out the claim that the Telo Truck can charge from 20% to 80% in 20 minutes. 525 horsepower all together The model is thought to have two unknown batteries and two electric motors that add up to 500 horsepower. This gives the car its four-wheel-drive system. With a curb weight of 4400 pounds and a claimed time of four seconds to go from 0 to 60 mph, the MT1 might be better at moving mulch. Early marketing materials used “4WD” instead of “all-wheel drive.” This could mean the drivetrain can be switched for cases needing more range or less traction. The boxy, matte-finished EV was made by Yves Béhar and used by Herman Miller, Samsung, SodaStream, and Prada. The truck is made for city dwellers who like to spend their weekends outdoors. It looks more like a current Renault EV than a big Rivian truck, which Béhar wanted to avoid. Still, it’s hard to argue with the MT1’s size since it’s shorter than a Toyota RAV4. The amount of $152 can now be put down as a deposit. Even though the MT1 won’t be out until 2025, it’s still worth putting down a refundable $152 deposit to book one before the price goes up to $50,000. The company says that the first 500 devices will be made by hand in 2025 and that big sales will start in 2026 from its San Carlos, California, facilities. Telo can fight on price alone if it can gain traction in the competitive EV startup market and use the possibility of federal and local EV tax incentives.
