TELO, an electrical truck startup based mostly in Silicon Valley that’s designing a tiny electrical truck for the US market, has launched a configurator for its automobiles, with design updates and a lower-than-expected base worth… however don’t get too excited but, as a result of manufacturing continues to be many months away.
We first informed you about TELO final June, when the corporate introduced it was planning to construct an electrical truck the dimensions of a Mini however with a mattress the dimensions of a Hummer’s.
it sounds unattainable, however there’s a whole lot of wasted house in automobile designs as of late, particularly vehicles the place automakers take into account an unlimited entrance hood as an essential a part of design (regardless of the inherent deadliness of this design choice).
TELO went one other path, specializing in a truck with most utility and minimal footprint – and says it is going to be in a position to provide utility on par with right this moment’s mid-size pickup vehicles just like the Toyota Tacoma, however in a package deal that’s solely 152 inches lengthy.
Within the interim, TELO has constructed a driveable chassis and been hiring some new expertise from elsewhere within the automotive trade, nevertheless it’s nonetheless very a lot a tiny startup. The corporate has collected round 3,700 preorders as of right this moment, at $152 a pop – the identical because the truck’s whole size in inches.
However right this moment we’ve acquired information on an exterior design replace and one step nearer to manufacturing – an precise configurator, and with costs connected as properly.
The TELO configurator is fairly naked bones, with solely 3 selectable choices. TELO says that it’ll add extra choices and equipment “over the subsequent few months,” so this isn’t every thing but, nevertheless it’s a begin.
Most significantly although, the bottom worth, which TELO beforehand mentioned can be “underneath $50k,” is fairly a bit underneath $50k, at $41,520 to begin. Even higher, that’s underneath $35k to begin after bearing in mind the federal EV tax credit score.
That’s nonetheless definitely a piece of change, nevertheless it’s lower than different EV vehicles on the highway right this moment, and it’s fairly a bit underneath expectations – which is nice, as a result of $50k did really feel a bit of excessive on condition that one good thing about a smaller automobile must be lower cost (much less stuff required to construct it, much less battery wanted to push it round, and so forth).
Then there are alternatives – a 300hp single motor or 500hp twin motor drivetrain, with the latter costing $46,019 base – a $4,499 premium.
There’s additionally a 260mi “customary” or 350mi+ “lengthy vary” battery choice, with the latter costing an additional $3,980 {dollars}. Battery sizes are 79kWh for the smaller model, and 106kWh for the bigger one.
The configurator additionally has 8 shade choices, although these are all simply renders. There’s no extra value connected to those paint choices (…but).
The renders reveal some small design updates that TELO has been teasing lately, largely for aerodynamic causes with a view to optimize its effectivity.
TELO says it modified the realm across the wheel entry/exit, some small modifications on the entrance, and a barely extra rounded roofline all to enhance aerodynamics with out a lot change within the automobile’s form. The corporate used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software program from AirShaper to assist in these design modifications – less expensive than renting time at one of many world’s few wind tunnels.
And essentially the most notable change, to our eyes, is relocation of the truck’s “divot” on the facet to close the entrance wheel properly as an alternative of alongside the B-pillar. Whereas it was a particular function, it does appear a bit of extra pure in its new place.
We haven’t but seen a bodily prototype with these new design updates, and we think about issues may change extra earlier than manufacturing. TELO says it’s nonetheless on monitor for its first buyer deliveries to begin on the late finish of 2025 – however we’ll must see in the event that they’re in a position to keep on with that timeline or not, as timelines have a tendency to slide within the EV startup realm. It intends to ramp into bigger contract manufacturing following these first buyer deliveries.
You may view the TELO configurator right here, the place you can too make a $152 refundable reservation for a TELO truck. If you have already got a preorder, you may seek for your preorder and add a configuration to your order, although as talked about above, there’ll most likely be extra choices to configure as time goes on.
Electrek’s Take
We’re fairly enthusiastic about what TELO represents, because the US market merely doesn’t have any small vehicles, and even the “compact” vehicles which can be on the market are nonetheless huge – for instance, the “compact” Tacoma is a full 5 ft longer than the TELO.
I’ve written quite a bit about how we have to knock it off with these ridiculous huge automobiles in America (and the way the federal government is lastly doing one thing about it).
So TELO provides a very compelling argument right here, a automobile that’s succesful however isn’t unattainable to park, isn’t extreme by way of materials inputs, and doesn’t contribute to the ever-rising plague of pedestrian deaths from outsized automobiles.
The one factor to uninteresting that pleasure is that, whereas it is promising a truck that isn’t extreme in dimension, it was nonetheless a bit of extreme in different methods. We initially solely heard a couple of 106kWh battery choice, which is across the dimension as in hulking 3-row electrical SUVs popping out as of late, and a $50k base worth didn’t put it under the worth vary of different EV vehicles on the market.
So the supply of a smaller battery and a a lot decrease base worth solely makes this all of the extra compelling. Sure, People do have “greater quantity, higher automotive” illness, and to some extent it’s essential to cater to that, however given TELO already represents an announcement to counter that angle, I’d prefer to see the corporate go all-in in that path.
Particularly since the most effective capabilities I can see for this automobile can be for intra-city use. Small companies that want a truck however don’t want a enormous truck, or that might profit from having one thing extra parkable for city environments, gained’t want 350 miles of vary. There are many small vehicles like this accessible in the remainder of the world, and companies in Europe and Japan make nice use of them.
If TELO can hit the same or larger degree of intra-city utility as for instance the Ford E-Transit (with an 89kWh battery, 159 mile vary and $51k base worth – the identical because the gasoline model), however beat them on worth as they’ve introduced, there’s definitely a market there.
So, whereas this can be a comparatively small replace right this moment, it’s nonetheless fairly thrilling to see TELO transferring ahead, and transferring in the suitable path.
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