this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2025
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Electric Vehicles

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Hands on and first ride in TELO's tiny electric truck that's as big as a Mini (electrek.co)
submitted 2 weeks ago by MyOpinion@lemm.ee to c/electricvehicles@slrpnk.net
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Despite being small, the truck is still rather hefty with a 4,400lb curb weight, regardless of battery option (the larger option uses newer, denser cells to pack more energy in a similar weight). This is still thousands of pounds less than other electric trucks (~6-7k lbs), but (understandably) quite a bit more than the Mini SE (~3,200lbs), and even not far off from the Toyota Tacoma (~4,500lb) to which TELO compares itself. Speaking of that comparison – the TELO truck is a full five feet shorter than the “compact” Toyota Tacoma or four feet shorter than the Maverick, to say nothing of other enormous vehicles in the US. TELO gave us a live demo of what the truck looks like next to both a Mini Cooper SE and a full size RAM 2500 pickup.

And TELO’s $41k base price and 260 miles of range compare favorably to the most popular commercial EV: Ford’s E-Transit, with an 89kWh battery, 159 mile range and $51k base price (which is now the same as the gas version). That’s a much larger vehicle, but for a company that doesn’t need that much space but still wants to do intra-city deliveries, tradesman work, etc., this could be a great option All in all, despite TELO not being all that old of a company (or that large – it only has 11 employees to date, with one cofounder being Forrest North, an early Tesla employee, and the board including Marc Tarpenning, a Tesla founder), it has produced a pretty neat vehicle which seemed pretty well put together – at least for the few minutes we got to ride in it.

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[–] athairmor@lemmy.world 22 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Ok. How about un-extending the cab and giving it a proper sized bed?

[–] ThePantser@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

If the back window and seats folded down like an avalanche it would be a perfect combination.

[–] bw42@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

Seriously, I keep looking for a small electric truck, but all I find are SUVs with pretend size beds.

[–] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 week ago

A lot of short bed trucks can extend the bed into the cab by folding down the rear seats. I would hope this truck can do the same.

[–] alexc@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Once upon a time, being as small as a mini would have been impressive. But now Mini’s are about hte same size as most other mid-size cars.

Love this truck though. that’s cool

[–] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 week ago

It's nearly a foot shorter than my Bolt EV, so this thing is pretty small.

[–] JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is very cool - not quite as cute as the canoo (RIP) but it seems quite practical and I hope it makes it to market - I'd like a small electric truck someday.

[–] Jimny_Crkt@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Canoo is dead!?

[–] burble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 week ago

This is cool. I hope they make it.

I like camping and hiking 20+ weekends out of the year and end up on some nasty dirt roads, but I also commute to work and deal with city driving a lot. I've been thinking about 2 car solutions like a Bolt or R3 small EV plus a beater for the mountains, but if these actually make it to reality then it could do everything I want.

[–] shadowDingus@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago

This is fantastic!

I hate big trucks, so I would love to see more EVs go this route!

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Haven't looked too hard yet but, it seems like it might have a sanely repairable chassis/body. I think I see panels there.

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago

I wish the passenger cabin was a little bigger, given they were able to shorten the length of the vehicle by not having a giant front hood.

[–] ptc075@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 week ago

Okay, this could be very cool. Hats off to them for generating buzz.

Serious question, if they do make the initial production, but a few years down the road the company doesn't survive, is there any way to get parts? Saw a video where they briefly mention all the parts are coming from existing contract manufacturing, which implies to me that parts are either off the shelf components and/or they've got the CAD files designed & out there. Would they bundle that up & sell it as an "advanced owner's manual" with the vehicle if we wanted it? Because we're not going to be able to call up a junkyard & ask for a wheel hub the same way you can with an F-150.

[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I'm a self-employed handyman, I want one of these pretty bad.

[–] iamdefinitelyoverthirteen@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

The "compact Toyota Tacoma" is now the size of the F-150s of old.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk -5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So I guess we're doing away with crumple zones now.

People bored of still having legs after accidents or something?

[–] clover@slrpnk.net 10 points 1 week ago

There is still a crumple zone, but it doesn't have an engine...