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 value… however don’t get too excited but, as a result of manufacturing remains 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 scale of a Mini however with a mattress the scale of a Hummer’s.
it sounds unattainable, however there’s plenty of wasted area in automobile designs nowadays, particularly vehicles the place automakers contemplate an unlimited entrance hood as an vital a part of design (regardless of the inherent deadliness of this design choice).
TELO went one other route, 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 at this time’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 at this time, at $152 a pop – the identical because the truck’s whole size in inches.
However at this time we’ve obtained information on an exterior design replace and one step nearer to manufacturing – an precise configurator, and with costs hooked up 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 following few months,” so this isn’t all the pieces but, nevertheless it’s a begin.
Most significantly although, the bottom value, which TELO beforehand mentioned could be “beneath $50k,” is fairly a bit beneath $50k, at $41,520 to start out. Even higher, that’s beneath $35k to start out 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 at this time, and it’s fairly a bit beneath expectations – which is nice, as a result of $50k did really feel just a little excessive provided 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 many others).
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 “normal” or 350mi+ “lengthy vary” battery possibility, 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 colour choices, although these are all simply renders. There’s no extra value hooked up to those paint choices (…but).
The renders reveal some small design updates that TELO has been teasing lately, largely for aerodynamic causes in an effort to optimize its effectivity.
TELO says it modified the world 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 aspect to close the entrance wheel properly as an alternative of alongside the B-pillar. Whereas it was a particular characteristic, it does appear just a little extra pure in its new place.
We haven’t but seen a bodily prototype with these new design updates, and we think about issues would possibly change extra earlier than manufacturing. TELO says it’s nonetheless on observe for its first buyer deliveries to start out on the late finish of 2025 – however we’ll need to see in the event that they’re in a position to persist 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 possibly can view the TELO configurator right here, the place you too can 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 in all probability 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 are on the market are nonetheless huge – for instance, the “compact” Tacoma is a full 5 toes longer than the TELO.
I’ve written rather a lot 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 presents a extremely 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 boring that pleasure is that, whereas it is promising a truck that isn’t extreme in measurement, it was nonetheless just a little extreme in different methods. We initially solely heard a couple of 106kWh battery possibility, which is across the measurement as in hulking 3-row electrical SUVs popping out nowadays, and a $50k base value didn’t put it beneath the worth vary of different EV vehicles on the market.
So the provision of a smaller battery and a a lot decrease base value solely makes this all of the extra compelling. Sure, Individuals do have “greater quantity, higher automotive” illness, and to some extent it’s essential to cater to that, however given TELO already represents a press release to counter that angle, I’d wish to see the corporate go all-in in that route.
Particularly since top-of-the-line capabilities I can see for this automobile could be for intra-city use. Small companies that want a truck however don’t want a large truck, or that will profit from having one thing extra parkable for city environments, received’t want 350 miles of vary. There are many small vehicles like this out there in the remainder of the world, and companies in Europe and Japan make nice use of them.
If TELO can hit the same or increased degree of intra-city utility as for instance the Ford E-Transit (with an 89kWh battery, 159 mile vary and $51k base value – the identical because the gasoline model), however beat them on value as they’ve introduced, there’s definitely a market there.
So, whereas this can be a comparatively small replace at this time, it’s nonetheless fairly thrilling to see TELO transferring ahead, and transferring in the correct route.
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