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.

  • ptc075@lemmy.zip
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    7 hours 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.

  • alexc@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    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

  • burble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days 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.

  • JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net
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    2 days ago

    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.

  • edric@lemm.ee
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    2 days 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.

  • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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    2 days ago

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

    People bored of still having legs after accidents or something?