TELO, an electrical truck startup primarily based in Silicon Valley that’s designing a tiny electrical truck for the US market, has launched a configurator for its autos, 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 advised 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 inconceivable, however there’s a whole lot of wasted house in automobile designs as of late, particularly vehicles the place automakers take into account an infinite entrance hood as an necessary 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 will probably be capable of supply 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, however 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 bought 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 subsequent few months,” so this isn’t the whole lot but, however 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 taking into consideration the federal EV tax credit score.
That’s nonetheless definitely a bit of change, however it’s lower than different EV vehicles on the highway right this moment, and it’s fairly a bit beneath expectations – which is sweet, as a result of $50k did really feel slightly excessive provided that one good thing about a smaller automobile must be cheaper price (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 “commonplace” 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 further price hooked up to those paint choices (…but).
The renders reveal some small design updates that TELO has been teasing not too long ago, largely for aerodynamic causes so as 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 a substitute of alongside the B-pillar. Whereas it was a particular characteristic, it does appear slightly 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 observe for its first buyer deliveries to start out on the late finish of 2025 – however we’ll must see in the event that they’re capable of 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 may view the TELO configurator right here, the place you may also make a $152 refundable reservation for a TELO truck. If you have already got a preorder, you’ll be able to 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 ft longer than the TELO.
I’ve written lots about how we have to knock it off with these ridiculous huge autos in America (and the way the federal government is lastly doing one thing about it).
So TELO provides a extremely compelling argument right here, a automobile that’s succesful however isn’t inconceivable to park, isn’t extreme by way of materials inputs, and doesn’t contribute to the ever-rising plague of pedestrian deaths from outsized autos.
The one factor to uninteresting that pleasure is that, whereas it is promising a truck that isn’t extreme in dimension, it was nonetheless slightly 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 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 “larger quantity, higher automobile” illness, and to some extent you might want to cater to that, however given TELO already represents an announcement to counter that perspective, I’d wish to see the corporate go all-in in that route.
Particularly since among the finest features I can see for this automobile could be for intra-city use. Small companies that want a truck however don’t want a enormous truck, or that may profit from having one thing extra parkable for city environments, gained’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 an identical or greater 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 fuel model), however beat them on value as they’ve introduced, there’s definitely a market there.
So, whereas it is a comparatively small replace right this moment, it’s nonetheless fairly thrilling to see TELO shifting ahead, and shifting in the correct route.
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