No, you shouldn’t get too excited about GM’s $14,000 electric mini-truck. Here’s why
There’s been a lot of fuss about the supposed “$14,000 GM electric mini-truck” recently, but you probably shouldn’t get too worked up about it.
That’s not to say that electric mini-trucks aren’t an exciting new field. I’m a proud owner of one and I love the thing. Mini-trucks, and especially electric mini-trucks, are incredibly useful and highly efficient machines. Though the best part about these fun little utility vehicles is likely their low prices compared to pricier electric pickup trucks.
The most recent model making headlines, the GM-backed Baojun Yep EV, even offers some fairly respectable performance numbers. Despite being smaller than a tiny Fiat 500 subcompact city car, it features a 50 kw (67 horsepower) electric motor, a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph) and a city range of nearly 300 km (188 miles) per charge.
Obviously it’s not meant to tow a Boston Whaler down the highway. But for around-the-town jobs it’d be plenty.
Just don’t start taking out your checkbook when you hear about many of the new mini e-truck models swirling around in the news. That’s because you can’t have one. Here’s why.
Most of the time these stories are misleading for a few reasons. Take the US $14,000 GM mini-truck above, for example. First of all, it’s not a GM model. And second of all, it doesn’t cost US $14,000. The entire premise is a lie.
That vehicle, the Baojun Yep EV, is technically “GM-backed” thanks to a joint venture between General Motors and the two state-owned Chinese automotive companies SAIC Motor and Liuzhou Wuling Motors. But GM is a minority owner in the deal. It’s less of a GM vehicle and more a partially paid for by GM vehicle.
Next, it doesn’t really cost US $14,000. First of all, no one knows what the price tag will be for the Baojun Yepp EV truck when it eventually launches. It is based on a similar SUV-format vehicle that itself has only been estimated to launch at 100,000 Chinese Yuan later this summer.
Sure, ¥100,000 is approximately equal to US $14,000 at current exchange rates. But that doesn’t make this a US $14,000 vehicle. As anyone who reads my long-running weekly column Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week will already know, Chinese vehicle prices don’t translate very well into US prices.
The only way you could buy one of these vehicles for approximately US $14k is if you did it in China. Which is what I did, once. A couple summers ago I paid a Chinese factory US $2,000 for a much lower spec (5 horsepower, 25 mph) electric mini-truck.
By the time it was all said and done, I had paid an additional US $6,000 or so in freight charges, import duties, US taxes and tariffs, US customs fees, trucking and other expenses to get it into my family’s driveway in Florida.
I did the same thing with a five-seater electric boat. I paid the factory in China US $1,080 but wound up with around a US $4,500 lighter bank account by the time the boat slipped into a Florida pond.
And that was for a private import. Imagine if I was a company trying to turn a profit on these things. That US $2,000 Chinese mini-truck could easily turn into a US $12,000 or more mini-truck, stateside. And that’s a comparatively low-spec vehicle.
The same goes for other popular electric microcars from China. We often hear about the “$5,000 Wuling Mini EV” electric micro-car, which is a vehicle that frequently gets tossed around my comment section whenever I write about an electric bike that costs over US $5,000.
But don’t be fooled into thinking that’s a US $5,000 car. It’s not. It’s a ¥30,000 car.
Sure, if you flew to China with five grand in your pocket, converted it to Chinese Yuan at the airport, and then walked into a Wuling dealership, you could probably drive out a few hours later in a shiny new micro-car. But you aren’t going to do that, are you?
Instead, you would need an enterprising importer to bring a literal boatload of them to the US (or wherever you live), somehow get them homologated for federal motor vehicle safety standards, then sell one to you. If you got out of that transaction for under US $15,000, you’d be extremely lucky (consider that a new golf cart in North America can easily US $10,000). And you’d still have a tiny 25 mph (de-regulated to US LSV laws) Chinese car for the price of a cheap highway capable vehicle in the US.
This isn’t to say that electric mini-trucks don’t exist in the US. There are street legal electric mini-truck manufacturers like the Texas-based startup AYRO, though they’re still getting rolling with upcoming production. Plus, the starting prices are closer to $25,000, which is a bit higher than those domestic market Chinese electric mini-trucks.
There are also a few more or less scrupulous importers of Chinese electric mini-trucks, though almost none are street legal, even if the shadier importers claim them to be.
But for the most start, the few real options are the pricier models from real US manufacturers.
Maybe things will change. As electric mini-trucks grow in popularity, perhaps more companies will enter the fray and prices will come down. Or perhaps Chinese models will actually be homologated and imported to the US at reasonable prices. Either would be great news considering the ballooning size of US trucks and SUVs that contribute to climbing road deaths, greater emissions and increased road wear. But for now, there’s no point in getting excited over misleading claims of cheap electric trucks. They simply don’t exist yet, unfortunately.
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Following approval from Transport Canada, EV startup Workhorse will be bringing the W56 and W750 model electric delivery vans to commercial truck dealers in Canada as early as this spring.
Workhorse first showed its W56 medium-duty electric truck at Indiana’s Work Truck Week in 2023, and has sold the trucks to logistics and delivery companies like FedEx and Pride Group – which ordered more than six thousand of the electric vans in 2021, and continues to expand its fleet.
“This is a major step forward for Workhorse,” says Josh Anderson, Workhorse’s chief technology officer in a press statement. “Pre-clearance from Transport Canada opens up a large new market for our products throughout Canada, including with fleets that operate across borders in North America.”
As part of the approval process, Workhorse completed its registration as a foreign manufacturer under Transport Canada’s Appendix G clearance program. Transport Canada confirmed the vans’ compliance with Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS) for both vehicles – but it remains to be seen if and how the latest tariff-driven trade war between the Trump Administration’s US and Canada will impact Workhorse’s plans to expand throughout North America.
Despite that uncertainty, Workhorse execs remain upbeat. “We’re excited that our electric step vans can now reach Canadian roads and highways, providing reliable, zero-emission solutions that customers can depend on,” added Anderson.
Canadian pricing has yet to be announced.
Electrek’s Take
There’s no other way to say it: the Trump/Musk co-presidency is disrupting a lot of companies’ plans – and that’s especially true across North American borders. But in all this chaos and turmoil there undoubtedly lies opportunity, and it will be interesting to see who ends up on top.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Workhorse, via Electric Autonomy Canada.
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![Liebherr developing giant, 140-ton Segway-style autonomous haulers [video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/03/operational-area-earth-moving-copy.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
The new Liebherr S1 Vision 140-ton hauler is unlike any heavy haul truck currently on the market – primarily because the giant, self-propelled, single-axle autonomous bucket doesn’t look anything like any truck you’ve ever seen.
Liebherr says its latest heavy equipment concept was born from a desire to rethink truck design with a focus only on core functions. The resulting S1 Vision is primarily just a single axle with two powerful electric motors sending power to a pair of massive airless tires designed carry loads up to 131 tonnes (just over 140 tons).
The design enables rapid maintenance, as important components easily accessible for quick servicing. Wear parts can be replaced efficiently, and the electric drive significantly reduces maintenance work. This helps to minimise downtimes and increases operational efficiency.
LIEBHERR
Because of its versatility, durability, and ability to perform zero-turn maneuvers that other equipment simply can’t, the Liebherr S1 Vision can be adapted for various applications, including earthmoving, mining, and even agriculture. There’s also a nonzero chance of this technology finding applications supporting other on-site equipment through charging or fuel delivery.
The S1 accomplishes that trick safely with the help of an automatic load leveling system that ensures maximum stability, even on bumpy or rough terrain. The company says this technology significantly reduces the risk of tipping while providing smooth and secure operation across various environments.
Liebherr will show the S1 Vision at this year’s bauma equipment exhibition in Munich, Germany. The design has already been nominated for the bauma Innovation Award in the Mechanical Engineering category – and my money’s on it winning.
Electrek’s Take
This is such goofy, stupid fun that if it was wheelbarrow-sized I’d have three of them. I can’t imagine the insanity of watching one of these things roll across a job site with 100 tons of granite in the bucket – and will have nightmares about the kind of damage it could do if it flipped out like a poorly made Chinese hoverboard clone whipping a toddler across a living room … which, in fairness, would probably get a billion views on Instagram or TikTok or whatever.
I can’t wait.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Liebherr.
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The HD arm of Hyundai has just released the first official images of the new, battery-electric HX19e mini excavator – the first ever production electric excavator from the global South Korean manufacturer.
The HX19e will be the first all-electric asset to enter series production at Hyundai Construction Equipment, with manufacturing set to begin this April.
The new HX19e will be offered with either a 32 kWh or 40 kWh li-ion battery pack – which, according to Hyundai, is nearly double the capacity offered by its nearest competitor (pretty sure that’s not correct –Ed.). The 40kWh battery allows for up to 6 hours and 40 minutes of continuous operation between charges, with a break time top-up on delivering full shift usability.
Those batteries send power to a 13 kW (17.5 hp) electric motor that drives an open-center hydraulic system. Hyundai claims the system delivers job site performance that is at least equal to, if not better than, that of its diesel-powered HX19A mini excavator.
To that end, the Hyundai XH19e offers the same 16 kN bucket breakout force and a slightly higher 9.4 kN (just over 2100 lb-ft) dipper arm breakout force. The maximum digging depth is 7.6 feet, and the maximum digging reach is 12.9 feet. Hyundai will offer the new electric excavator with just four selectable options:
- enclosed cab vs. open canopy
- 32 or 40 kWh battery capacity
All HX19es will ship with a high standard specification that includes safety valves on the main boom, dipper arm, and dozer blade hydraulic cylinders, as well as two-way auxiliary hydraulic piping allows the machine to be used with a range of commercially available implements. The hydraulics needed to operate a quick coupler, LED booms lights, rotating beacons, an MP3 radio with USB connectivity, and an operator’s seat with mechanical suspension are also standard.
Like its counterparts at Volvo CE, the new Hyundai excavator uses automotive-style charging ports to take advantage of existing infrastructure at fleet depots and public charging stations. More detailed specifications, dimensions, and pricing should be announced by bauma.
Electrek’s Take
The ability to operate indoors, underground, or in environments like zoos and hospitals were keeping noise levels down is of critical importance to the success of an operation makes electric equipment assets like these coming from Hyundai a must-have for fleet operators and construction crews that hope to remain competitive in the face of ever-increasing noise regulations. The fact that these are cleaner, safer, and cheaper to operate is just icing on that cake.
SOURCE | IMAGES: HD Hyundai; via Construction Index, Equipment World.
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