Small as a Mini hatchback, roomy as a Toyota Tacoma, eco-friendly and versatile as a Rivian R1T, this is the electric pickup formula from California startup Telo Trucks. The debut, richly equipped version of the Telo Truck will cost $49,999, but then the startup plans to release more affordable modifications to the market.
American pickups have become too big, they waste resources and materials, destroy roads with their mass, and in general have become a symbol of unreasonable consumption: a housewife carrying three bags of groceries from a supermarket in a full-size pickup is a common sight on American roads. The founders of the startup Telo Trucks, based in the legendary Silicon Valley (USA, California), want to change the usual idea of pickup trucks and offer their own take on this type of vehicle. The founders are CEO Jason Marks (autonomous driving expert) and CTO Forrest North (innovative entrepreneur, early Tesla team member). The startup's design department is led by Yves Béhart, who has previously worked with major brands such as Samsung, L'Oreal, Puma and Prada.
1/3 2/3 3/3
The Telo Truck is a cabover pickup truck with a two-row cab and very short overhangs, its overall length is 152 inches (3861 mm), which is comparable to the length of a Mini hatchback, while the cab seats five adults, and the body capacity is at the level of mid-size pickups like Toyota Tacoma (useful area — 1524 x 1524 mm). Overall width Telo Truck — 1854 mm, height — 1676 mm, wheelbase — 2832 mm, ground clearance — 254 mm.
1/2 2/2
With very modest dimensions, Telo Truck is surprisingly practical: under the body floor in front of the rear axle there is an additional storage niche, which can be accessed both through the side hatches and from above (we have already seen a similar solution on the Rivian R1T and Canoo pickups). In hermetic form, the niche can be used as a refrigerator, in the open — to increase the capacity of the body or to install a third row of seats, and then the pickup truck can take on board up to eight people. In addition, the body can be covered with a kung — as a result, you get a minivan in the spirit of the German Evolution Space, which we talked about last spring. To connect external devices, full-fledged household sockets are provided in the body./12 12/12The front side of the body of the Telo Truck is the back of the rear seat of the cab, it can be folded to increase the useful length of the body for transporting long items. The folded tailgate further expands the cargo capabilities of the pickup, but in this case, the load will have to be securely secured. The curb weight of the pickup truck is 2 tons, the load capacity is 750 kg, the permissible weight of the towed trailer is 3 tons.
1/3 2/3 3/3
The Telo Truck power plant consists of two electric motors (one per axle), their maximum combined power is 507 hp, up to 60 mph (96.56 km/h) the pickup truck accelerates in 4 s, the maximum speed is 201 km /h The floor-mounted battery consists of Samsung's compact 2170 cylindrical cells with a capacity of 106 kWh and a range of 563 km on a single charge.
1/3 2/3 3/3
Telo Trucks promises to equip its pickup truck with airbags and modern electronic driver assistants, that is, it will be a complete vehicle for all occasions. The startup is already accepting applications for the Telo Truck, for registration you need to transfer a deposit of $ 152 (a number that coincides with the overall length of the pickup was deliberately chosen). The company plans to show a working prototype of a pickup truck this year, a pilot batch should be made in 2025, and mass production will begin in 2026. The schedule, as usual, can be adjusted, because, as practice shows, the vast majority of startups cannot implement their ideas within the stated timeframe for a number of objective and subjective reasons. In short, those who want to buy a Telo Truck should be patient.