TELO MT1 electric mini truck seems almost impossibly practical and adorable ^↺

TELO Trucks is a startup that aims to shirk the tradition of oversized American pickup trucks by introducing an electric pickup truck with the length of a MINI Cooper and a bed capable of fitting a standard four- by eight-foot plywood sheet. The MT1 achieves this feat by fully leveraging the flexibility of an electric drive train. Instead of a long, traditional hood that's wasted on frunk space, TELO repositions the driver and front passenger further forward — in a similar position as in a commercial van.

The way the TELO MT1 re-arranges things gives it a standard five-seater crew cab and a sizeable bed in a footprint of just 152 inches (~3860) in length and 73 inches (~1854 mm) in width. The story doesn't end there, though. While TELO pitches the MT1 primarily as an electric pickup truck, it also advertises the ability to cover the truck bed and install a third row of seats, turning into an SUV-minivan hybrid, and allowing it to carry a total of eight passengers with a decent amount of space remaining behind the third row for luggage.

TELO claims the MT1 will deliver up to 350 miles of range and 500 hp from its dual-motor AWD powertrain, which will almost definitely present a significant challenge — the similarly-sized 2024 MINI Cooper is expected to deliver 248 miles of range from a 214-hp FWD drivetrain. According to TELO, the first batch of electric pickup trucks will leave the production line by 2025, so it will be a while before results — if any — materialise.

A small, practical EV with an AWD drivetrain and a long range would be a breath of fresh air in an automotive industry with cars and trucks ballooning to downright dangerous heights, but it won't come cheap. While it's no US$100,000 Rivian, the TELO will retail for US$49,999, and should qualify for federal EV tax credits if those are still around by the time it launches.

Ultimately, it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see the TELO electric pickup truck launch with significantly altered specifications, a much higher price, or some other compromise, but we'll have to wait and see. To be fair, the company's executive team has some serious real-world design and engineering experience, so it wouldn't be surprising to see TELO pull this off, either.

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