We love electric pickups. The trouble with them is that they are massive, even by truck standards. An EV startup, Telo, is trying to resolve that issue with a small electric pickup, the MT1, that makes even the compact Ford Maverick look bloated and wasteful.
Here’s what we know about the Telo MT1 electric pickup.
Telo
What is the Telo truck?
It’s an electric pickup truck. The first model will be called the MT1. It eliminates the engine bay or frunk for an almost cab-over design that will accommodate a four-door truck cabin and a standard five-foot truck bed in a 152-inch length, nearly the exact length of a two-door Mini hardtop (and about five inches wider).
Telo
How many people does the TELO truck seat?
In its standard configuration, the Telo truck seats five passengers. Telo says the cabin size is comparable to a Toyota Tacoma (which is usable but still pretty tight). A Telo add-on can cover the cabin and expand the seating capacity to eight.
Telo
How much power does the Telo truck have?
More than enough. Telo says its dual-motor all-wheel-drive system will push out 500 horsepower, permitting 0-60 mph acceleration in four seconds and a top speed of 125 mph.
How much electric range will the Telo truck have?
Telo says its truck will have a 106 kWh battery pack, permitting up to 350 miles of range on a single charge. Hitting that number would place it among the longest-range vehicles on the road. Telo also promises super-quick charging from 20-80% in about 20 minutes.
Telo
Any other cool Telo truck features?
Telo says the pickup will have a Rivian R1T-like gear tunnel, which serves as the footwell in the three-row seating configuration. The truck also features an “innovative midgate” system that permits owners to haul longer items like surfboards in the bed.
How much will the Telo truck cost?
Telo says the base price will be $49,999. Telo is currently accepting refundable deposits of $152.
Telo
When will the Telo truck arrive?
We don’t know. Telo does not offer a timeline for bringing the MT1 pickup into production and beginning deliveries. That will be harder to figure out than designing the truck. We’d also note the images are computer renderings, not a viable vehicle in testing, which suggests the timeline could be far off.
Will the Telo truck be road legal?
We don’t know. The NHTSA has typically frowned on mini-trucks. However, the TELO is much larger than a Japanese kei truck — about a foot and a half longer and wider and three times as heavy. Emissions standards would not be an issue. Neither would keeping up with traffic. And we suspect that meeting NHTSA crash test standards would factor heavily into the design.
Telo
Is the Telo truck too good to be true?
We hope not. Designing a car is the easy part. Viably producing a car at scale is much harder. And the automotive world is far harder to disrupt than the tech world. Tesla is the exception. And companies like Rivian and Lucid have strong financial backers.
Telo promises to beat legacy automakers with engineering — the best combination of EV powertrain, charging tech, aerodynamics and practical use of space on the market — and do it at a more affordable price. If Telo can get the MT1 to market, it could be a game-changer. But place a heavy emphasis on the “if.”
Telo
Telo
