TELO, an electric truck startup based in SIlicon Valley, now has a drivable chassis of its tiny electric truck, which it still expects to start delivering in late 2025.
TELO is a startup cofounded by Jason Marks, who led ADAS/Autonomous drive test programs at National Instruments, and EV industry veteran Forrest North, an early Tesla Roadster engineer, cofounder of Mission Motors and former COO of Recargo/Plugshare.
We first heard about the tiny TELO truck back in June, when the company showed us renderings and a design prototype, along with specs and their future plans. Since then, Designer Yves Behar has joined the company as Chief Creative Officer and as an official co-founder alongside Marks and North.
As a quick recap, the design intent of the TELO truck is to bring a tiny electric truck to the American market that is the same overall length as a Mini, but with a usable 60″ bed – the same as a base model Tacoma or the giant Hummer EV “supertruck.”
TELO plans to offer a 106kWh battery, 350 mile range, 20 minute charge time from 20-80%, 500 horsepower, a 0-60 time of around 4 seconds, and seating for five adults. All in a package that’s just 152 inches long, a full five feet shorter than the best-selling compact pickup in America (the Toyota Tacoma).
The truck will supposedly be available for $50k before incentives, and may have lower option levels available in the future for presumably lower prices. And TELO wants it to be available by the end of 2025, and mass-contract-manufactured in 2026.
On the way there, the company is taking fully refundable reservations for $152 upfront – the same as the length of the vehicle in inches. The company says it has over 2,000 reservations at this early stage.
But other steps on the way there include the building of prototypes. When we talked to TELO in June, it said it wanted to have a running prototype by the end of summer. That timeline came and went, but a month and a half later (hey, that’s less of a delay than Tesla time), TELO has now sent out a video of a barebones prototype having a drive around.
The video shows a few interesting things. One, it shows how the rear seats will be able to fold down to fit 4×8 sheets of plywood, and the additional storage space behind the second row of seats which will function as a “gear tunnel” or potentially even the footwell for a third row of seats.
Then, it demonstrate five adults (and one dog, in the “bed”) sitting on the seats while the chassis makes its way up and down a suburban street.
Of course, this is very early with no body attached, so nobody can make any claims about how comfortable it will be once the truck is built up into its final form. But, it shows that the company is making some progress regardless, and only slightly behind the timelines it set out for itself earlier this year.
If you’re interested in getting a TELO, the company is taking pre-orders today at its website, telotrucks.com. Pre-orders are $152 – just like the 152-inch length of the truck. You can also join TELO’s Discord server where it will solicit feedback on development. And if you want to learn more about the truck, read our original article on it from June.
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