Hands on and first ride in TELO’s tiny electric truck that’s as big as a Mini
TELO gave us an exclusive opportunity to get up close and personal with a pre-production version of its tiny electric truck, slated to ship its first units later this year.
We first learned about TELO back in 2023, when the company announced it was planning to build an electric truck the size of a Mini but with a bed the size of a Hummer’s.
it sounds impossible, but there’s a lot of wasted space in vehicle designs these days, especially trucks where automakers consider an enormous front hood as an important part of design (despite the inherent deadliness of this design decision).
TELO went another direction, focusing on a truck with maximum utility and minimum footprint – and says it will be able to offer utility on par with today’s mid-size pickup trucks like the Toyota Tacoma, but in a package that’s only 152 inches long (for comparison, tiny Japanese kei cars are 134 inches long maximum).
Now, less than two years later, TELO has completed its first full pre-production driveable vehicle, and we were invited out to have a look and take a ride. Previously, TELO had only made a design mule and a go kart-like chassis, but now it’s got something that actually looks like a real car (and includes the recent design/aero changes from when the truck got its configurator and $41k base price).
The design changes are mainly aerodynamic, including a more rounded roofline and moving the “pill” design element near the front wheel well, where it now helps airflow around the exposed front wheel, reducing turbulence. TELO says it was able to improve aerodynamics significantly through the use of CFD aerodynamic optimization software, saving on expensive wind tunnel time.
But we also got a first look at some features we hadn’t seen before.
For example, the mid-gate. The bed is normally 62 inches long and 49 inches wide (between the wheel arches, so you can fit a sheet of plywood), but when folding down the rear seats, that gets extended even further. The bed is also covered with L-tracks all around, making it easy to tie down gear.
That said, we’ve seen a lot of truck prototypes that promise a mid-gate, and then they don’t end up on the production vehicle. So we’ll put an asterisk on that feature for now.
And note: that bed is half a foot longer than the bed of a Rivian R1T and the same size as a Hummer EV’s bed, despite TELO being nothing close to the size of those trucks.
Another neat storage feature is one that seems to have been cribbed from Rivian’s “gear tunnel,” a long, lockable storage space underneath the bed and the passenger compartment which is useful for dirty gear that you don’t want to bring inside the cab, but don’t want to leave in the bed. TELO has a similar (but smaller) space, which it dubs the “monster tunnel” – because, like a monster, it’s… under the bed (hiyoooooo!).
On the interior, there isn’t exactly a lot of space, but there’s enough for normal-sized people – and even abnormally-sized ones. One of the journalists in attendance was 6’10”, and he said “I fit fine.”
Both front and rear seats had plenty of headroom and good foot room, owing to the floating seat design which allows rear seat passengers to put their feet under the front seat.
The knee room was perhaps a slight limitation, especially on rear seat ingress, as the door aperture is taller and more narrow than most. Same with the driver seat, my knees could have had a little more room, but we didn’t get a chance to fiddle with seat and steering wheel adjustments, so this is probably a solvable problem.
And while we didn’t sit inside the truck for long, it’s certainly no less comfortable than other working vehicles we’ve tried (step vans, box trucks and so on) despite being a fraction of the overall size.
The cockpit area includes a wide center touchscreen and several gauges in the driver instrument cluster, though none of this was anywhere near final. Some were static screens, some could be interacted with via remote, but the touchscreen wasn’t working yet.
Then, I got the chance to be the first journalist to ever take a ride in TELO’s pre-production vehicle.
It was just a quick ride around the block in the industrial part of town, but it proved that this isn’t just a design project.
TELO says the truck will have options for either a 300hp single motor or 500hp dual motor configuration. While the truck we rode in had two motors, they were limited to 40% of power for the time being. So the truck got around fine, but nothing exceptional.
The next question is whether a tiny truck even needs 500hp to begin with, but that can wait for another day – perhaps until we’re able to put it to payload/towing tests. TELO says it has a payload capacity of 1,600lbs and towing capacity of 6,600lbs.
TELO also could branch out into offering some sort of off-road package, and pointed out its nearly 90º approach angle, given that the front tires go all the way up to the very front of the vehicle.
And here you can hear the wonderful quiet of electric mobility… before any sort of dumb noisemakers get added and spoil the fun:
Despite being small, the truck is still rather hefty with a 4,400lb curb weight, regardless of battery option (the larger option uses newer, denser cells to pack more energy in a similar weight). This is still thousands of pounds less than other electric trucks (~6-7k lbs), but (understandably) quite a bit more than the Mini SE (~3,200lbs), and even not far off from the Toyota Tacoma (~4,500lb) to which TELO compares itself.
Speaking of that comparison – the TELO truck is a full five feet shorter than the “compact” Toyota Tacoma or four feet shorter than the Maverick, to say nothing of other enormous vehicles in the US. TELO gave us a live demo of what the truck looks like next to both a Mini Cooper SE and a full size RAM 2500 pickup.
This really underlines how much of our space we’ve given up for something that doesn’t really offer a whole lot more utility (that you probably won’t use anyway). And how many of our lives we’re giving up for those pedestrian-murdering truck front ends.
Because, as trucks and SUVs keep getting larger, and automakers keep pushing more and more people into them, and emissions and pedestrian deaths keep rising, the US desperately needs more small vehicles – and needs a company that will actually try to sell them, instead of ignoring they exist and pushing people towards bigger.
So we here at Electrek are quite excited for what this TELO truck represents – finally, the advent of a reasonably sized utility vehicle. They’re available in Europe, they’re available in Japan… but this would be the first available here, at least in a very long time.
TELO offers a really compelling argument here: a vehicle that’s capable but isn’t impossible to park, isn’t excessive in terms of material inputs, and doesn’t contribute to the ever-rising plague of pedestrian deaths from oversized vehicles. If you occasionally want a truck for truck things, but otherwise want an efficient vehicle that actually fits places, this seems like a good option.
And TELO’s $41k base price and 260 miles of range compare favorably to the most popular commercial EV: Ford’s E-Transit, with an 89kWh battery, 159 mile range and $51k base price (which is now the same as the gas version). That’s a much larger vehicle, but for a company that doesn’t need that much space but still wants to do intra-city deliveries, tradesman work, etc., this could be a great option
All in all, despite TELO not being all that old of a company (or that large – it only has 11 employees to date, with one cofounder being Forrest North, an early Tesla employee, and the board including Marc Tarpenning, a Tesla founder), it has produced a pretty neat vehicle which seemed pretty well put together – at least for the few minutes we got to ride in it.
It’s an important milestone given that TELO says it will ship its first vehicles by the end of this year. That’s a very close timeline – though it’s only expecting to ship maybe 100 cars this year, and will do so through contract manufacturing, which keeps startup costs low.
You may remember another EV startup that used contract manufacturing – Fisker. That didn’t go so well, but one thing Fisker did do was come out almost on time (it was unveiled in 2020 with a 2022 release date, and the first Ocean was delivered in May 2023 – a pretty tight timeline, as far as car manufacturing goes). So, hopefully TELO doesn’t let its timeline slip too much here.
I still think it’s optimistic that this truck will ship this year, because there is still a lot to be done before this truck is production ready. But TELO is at least not overstating its volume ambitions. It only expects to ship in very limited numbers at first, and will scale manufactuirng later through its contract manufacturing process. Though it hasn’t yet announced a volume production partner, it says it’s in discussions with several different well-known manufacturers, and we’ll learn more about which one they’re working with once ink hits paper.
You can view the TELO configurator here, where you can also make a $152 refundable reservation (the same as the length of the vehicle in inches). TELO says it has 5,000 reservations already – up 1,300 from the last time we checked in December.
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Seventeen state attorneys general and DC are fighting a Trump executive order that froze permits and funding for all onshore and offshore wind projects on January 20.
The coalition is asking a federal judge to declare the executive order illegal and prevent the Trump administration from obstructing wind energy development. It was filed in federal court in Massachusetts.
New York attorney general Letitia James is leading the coalition. James said, “This arbitrary and unnecessary directive threatens the loss of thousands of good-paying jobs and billions in investments, and it is delaying our transition away from the fossil fuels that harm our health and our planet.”
Federal agencies have stopped issuing permits for wind projects across the board and even pulled the plug on the fully approved Empire Wind in New York, which was already under construction. Developer Equinor, majority owned by the Norwegian government, went through a seven-year permitting process and is considering separate legal actions.
Massachusetts attorney general Andrea Joy Campbell said that Trump’s “attempts to stop homegrown wind energy development directly contradict his claims that there is a growing need for reliable domestic energy.”
The coalition argues that the action violates the Administrative Procedure Act and other federal laws because the Trump administration, “among other things, provides no reasoned explanation for categorically and indefinitely halting all wind energy development.”
Trump’s executive order puts billions of dollars in state investments at risk, jeopardizing everything from wind industry infrastructure to supply chains and workforce training that’s already well underway.
The coalition consists of attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington.
Read more: Trump admin halts $5 billion NY offshore wind project mid-build
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Professional salespeople love to talk about “the steps of the sale,” a tried-and-true process that guides every customer from curiosity to closed. But when it comes to electric cars, that old-school hustle can fall flat, leaving dealers struggling with how to fit them into their familiar playbook. But what if I told you, dear dealer, that there’s a whole category of vehicles on existing dealer lots that need to be approached in exactly the same way as an EV to score a successful sale that you’re already familiar with?
That category: Heavy-duty tow trucks. Here’s how selling one is a lot like selling the other.
That’s right, greenpeas – selling a tow-rated pickup truck to someone who’s buying it primarily to haul a trailer, boat, or RV is a delicate thing that requires salespeople (and sales managers) to approach their customers with a lot more patience and empathy, and a lot less, “what can I do to get you to drive this home, today?” And, as we go through the whys and hows, I think you’ll agree that all the heavy truck selling wisdom we’re going to cover today will help you sell more electric cars, more often, and for more money.
1. Discovery is where the deal gets done
When it comes to heavy-duty tow vehicles, most smart dealers understand that their customer probably has a better understanding of their individual needs than they do – but it’s still a good idea to go over that understanding during the discovery phase of the sale.
Has the customer factored in the weight of the trailer and the weight of everyone and everything else inside it? What about the weight of water, tools, or animals? Do they fully understand the concepts of GVWR and GCWR, and the difference between trailer weight and tongue weight? Will they have enough range, when fully loaded, on their standard fuel tank or will they need an aux. tank? What about the future – are they thinking about upgrading their RV or hauling bigger loads longer distances?
In other words, the customer has to trust that the vehicle they’re about to buy from you will meet their needs and fit into their lives today, while also meeting their needs in the foreseeable future. That’s what it looks like in a truck, but now apply that to an EV.
Has the customer mapped out the routes they take every day to make sure they can make the drive? That might sound ridiculous to you and me, but what if they’re depending on a single DC fast charger out on a rural stretch of highway to get the EV to meet their needs? What if they think 200 miles of range is 200 miles of range, but they like to drive 80+ mph (on Chicago’s I-290, that’s a minimum safe travel speed), do they understand that speed impacts range as much as weather?
Tools like Chargeway are great for helping dealers explain EV charging speeds, the impacts of speed and topography on range, and – especially in this era of NACS adapters – where buyers of used or off-lease EVs can charge up and get back on the road.
In either case, the salespeople who take the time in discovery to understand their customers’ needs and become consultative partners will make a sale, the ones who rush through the process won’t, and the ones who sell their customers the wrong thing will make a problem (if not an expensive lawsuit) for the dealership.
2. Options really do matter
When you’re selling a conventional ICE-powered crossover to a typical suburbanite, moving your customer up or down a trim level doesn’t typically impact their use case. Sure, they might have to keep their foot planted a little longer to get up to highway speeds or learn to live with cloth when they really wanted leather or vinyl vegan leather, but they’ll still be able to get five-to-seven adults from point A to point B with the same general effectiveness.
That’s not true when it comes to trucks that are going to get put to work. There, the difference between one axle ration and another can have a huge impact on driver comfort, towing capabilities, and fuel economy – and going from a one-ton truck that’s just outside the customer’s budget to a half-ton that you happen to have on the lot could get someone seriously hurt or killed.
On an EV, the difference might not be so dramatic, but the difference between a Nissan LEAF SV Plus with a 212 mile range and a Nissan LEAF S with 149 miles of range? That could mean the difference between getting to grandma’s house in three hours or five – that’s assuming your customer could even find a CHAdeMO port in the first place!
It may be tempting to switch the customer to a vehicle you have on the lot (especially if that vehicle happens to be an aged unit with a fat spiff on it), but the long-term pain isn’t worth the short-term gain on this one.
3. Information is your friend
This might feel like a duplicate of the discovery phase, but think of it as a member of the “measure twice, cut once” advice genre. That is to say that, sure – the customer thinks that new 5th wheel RV they have on order weighs 11,000 lbs., but does it? Did they add any options of features (see no. 2) that make it heavier? Get the information from the RV manufacturer or dealer and confirm as much as you can. That extra work will help keep your customer safe and build trust.
Similarly, you’ll want to verify your assumptions when it comes to EVs. Is that once-a-month 300 mile drive really 300 miles, or is it 330? Is there more than one charging option available on their preferred route? Is the customer able to make their trip without changing the way your they drive? Are they willing to change up where they stop, or for how long?
When it comes to EVs, especially used ones that came onto your lot as part of a trade deal that you may not be intimately familiar with, I cannot stress how much route planning apps like Chargeway or A Better Route Planner can help salespeople answer questions about electric vehicles confidently and correctly, generate trust, and drive referrals.
4. Aftersales support is critical
Successful salespeople follow up – not just with prospects who are still shopping, but with customers who have already bought. And, just as RVers know other RVers, RV salespeople who get positive feedback about a local dealer who takes the time to make sure their customers get the right truck know RV customers who might need a right truck of their own.
Yes, those RV salespeople might expect a $100 bird dog bonus to send their customers your way, but the money on its own isn’t enough. They have to know they can trust you with their customers, and you build that trust in steps 1-3, above.
It doesn’t take a genius
If there’s one company that absolutely gets it when it comes to helping customers discover whether or not an EV can fit into the way they live, work, and drive today it’s BMW. Their take on the Apple Genius Bar helps consumers set reasonable expectations, understand charging speeds, and build customer loyalty – that’s why they’ve snatched the top spot in the J.D. Power U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Ownership Study for the last few years.
The reason BMW is consistently pulling ahead? It seems to come down to education. “First-time EV buyers are receiving minimal education or training,” explains Brent Gruber, executive director of the EV practice at J.D. Power. “Dealer and manufacturer representatives play the crucial role of front-line educators, but when it comes to EVs, the specific education needed to shorten the learning curve just isn’t happening often enough. The shortfall in buyer education is something we’re seeing with all brands.”
And, if you’re still not quite convinced that you need to learn how to sell EVs to be successful on the sales floor, think again.
Overall, 94% of BEV owners are likely to consider purchasing another BEV for their next vehicle, a rate that is also matched by first-time buyers. Manufacturers should take note of the strong consumer commitment to EVs as the high rate of repurchase intent offers the ability to generate brand loyal customers if the experience is a positive one. In fact, during the past several years, the BEV repurchase intent percentage has fluctuated very little, ranging between 94-97%. This year’s study also finds that only 12% of BEV owners are likely to consider replacing their EV with an internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered vehicle during their next purchase.
Listen to an EV convert who has desked an awful lot of car deals, greenpeas – if you treat every EV customer the same way that crusty old fleet rep treats his truck buyers, you’re going to sell a whole lot of EVs. And, if you’re a brave enough little toaster to follow up and ask for that referral, you’ll find that EV buyers know other EV buyers.
Happy hunting.
Original content from Electrek.
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Tesla’s Cybertruck inventory has skyrocketed to a new record high of more than 10,000 units. The vehicle program is in crisis.
We reported at the beginning of April that Tesla ended the first quarter of 2025 with at least 2,400 Cybertrucks in new inventory available in the US.
There’s no exact way to track Tesla’s inventory in the US, but there are ways to track Tesla’s Cybertruck listings. Sometimes, Tesla may have many vehicles with the exact same configuration at the same location and it will only publish a single listing for it.
Therefore, Tesla might have been sitting on more Cybertruck inventory.
A month later, the number of listings in the US has skyrocketed to over 10,000 Cybertrucks, according to Tesla-Info.com:
This surge could be due to an actual net increase in Cybertruck inventory, but Tesla is also heavily discounting the trucks at varying rates, creating several different prices and, therefore, more listings.
At an average sale price of $78,000, Tesla could have almost $800 million worth of Cybertrucks.
Due to low demand, Tesla appears to have significantly slowed down Cybertruck production in recent months. Therefore, this surge is likely more about Tesla discounting the vehicles, exposing the broader US inventory, than an actual major increase in inventory due to more production.
Many of the Cybertrucks in inventory were built in 2024, so they are already at least four months old. Tesla still has ‘Foundation Series’ Cybertrucks in inventory, which it stopped producing in October 2024—more than seven months ago.
Tesla recently launched the Cybertruck RWD, but it has given up on making it with a smaller battery pack and instead removed many important features.
Electrek’s Take
This is about as bad as it gets. Over 10,000 units account for about two quarters of Tesla’s Cybertruck sales.
It already looks like Tesla has slowed Cybertruck production down to a crawl, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it pauses it soon. The hard part for Tesla is to admit defeat.
The Cybertruck RWD using the same battery pack as the AWD was already a sort of admission that Tesla found the vehicle program to be too small to be worth being produced with two battery pack sizes. The automaker did the same with Model S/X when the program’s volumes shrank following the launches of Model 3 and Model Y.
It looks like under the current circumstances, Tesla will have issues selling more than 20,000 Cybertrucks per year in the US despite having planned production for 250,000 units.
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