Awesomely Weird Alibaba EV of the Week: An electric car with a teeny tiny truck bed
There’s no denying that a pickup truck offers serious utility. Who wouldn’t want a cargo bed that you can chuck a 2×4 into from across the yard? But not everyone needs the excessive size of a typical truck, and thus I can appreciate the beauty of the good ol’ Chevy El Camino and Ford Ranchero. It’s a car that pretends to be a truck.
But what if you want a car that only has a weeeee little bit of a cargo bed? Oh, and you want it to be electric. And cheap as all get out. Well then you’ll want to head over to Alibaba and check out the odd little four-wheeler I’ve found for this week’s Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week.
The car appears to be known as the “JST” on its product page, where it is referred to as an SUV.
Unless the S stands for silly, then I’m not sure that classifier is quite correct.
The 3.2 m (10′ 6″) long car looks more like hatchback, except that it doesn’t have a hatch – or really a back either. There’s a cargo bed like a pickup truck, but it’s barely a foot long.
It’s more like an oversized glovebox mounted on the rear of the car, as if the car was designed to carry exactly one bag of dog food and that’s it.
The JST car is as small as it is oddly designed, but that’s what I love about it. It looks more like a Hotwheels fantasy car than a car you can actually buy from China for $7,200.
But let’s not laugh prematurely. Just because the car is weirdly proportioned doesn’t mean it lacks utility.
The cargo bed is short but fully-featured, including an actual tailgate.
The bed is only taller than it is long until you drop down the tailgate. That makes it perfect for carrying longer things, like 2 ft long 2×4’s instead of one footers.
Or you could use it for tailgating the big game if you have very few friends. Perhaps some socially distant tailgating, where everyone gets their own personal tiny car-truck.
I could also see the two-seater JST car as a perfect little grocery getter for a couple, provided they tend not to eat very much.
And keep in mind this isn’t just a small, weird little car-truck. It’s a small, weird little electric car-truck.
That means you can ride easy knowing you’re not burning dinosaur oil. In fact, the little 7 kWh battery is as small as that of a light electric motorcycle and could even be charged using solar power, if you were so inclined.
The only problem is trying to stack a pile of solar panels in the rear bed may prove too much for this tiny hauler.
At least it’d have the power to haul them, sort of. The 5 kW (6.7 hp) motor is probably just fine for the 680 kg (1,500 lb) vehicle. Normally I’d worry about overloading the car by overfilling the bed, but the JST comes with a convenient anti-overload feature. There simply isn’t enough space in the bed for anything too heavy.
It also ensures you won’t go too wild at the wheel either, with a top speed of just 60 km/h (37 mph). With a slight downhill and a prayer you might break into the 40’s of mph, but don’t expect to get anywhere too quickly.
That’s fine by me though. With a car that looks this good, I’d rather roll low and slow to give the people what the want: A nice long look at the future of automotive excellence.
Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.
The past 12 months have been the gift that’s kept on giving when it comes to newly-coined words and phrases entering our lexicon.
But how well do you know the terminology that’s been all over socials in 2024? Can you sort your brats from your clean girls?
Test your knowledge with our quiz below and let us know how you do!
Entertainment
Dayle Haddon: Former Sports Illustrated model dies of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning
Dayle Haddon – the actor, activist and former Sports Illustrated model – has died from what authorities believe was carbon monoxide poisoning.
Authorities found the 76-year-old dead in a second-floor bedroom on Friday morning after emergency dispatchers were notified about a person unconscious at the house in Solebury Township, Pennsylvania.
A 76-year-old man, later identified as Walter J Blucas, of Erie, is in a critical condition.
Responders detected a high level of carbon monoxide in the property.
Investigators believe the leak was caused by “a faulty flue and exhaust pipe on a gas heating system”.
As a model, Haddon appeared on the covers of Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Esquire in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the 1973 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.
She also appeared in about two dozen films from the 1970s to 1990s, including 1994’s Bullets Over Broadway, starring John Cusack.
Haddon (left) with Angela Merkel and Christine Lagarde (right) during a meeting of the Gender Equality Advisory Council. Pic: AP
Haddon left modelling after giving birth to her daughter, Ryan, in the mid-1970s, but then had to re-enter the workforce after her husband’s 1991 death.
This time, she found the modelling industry far less friendly: “They said to me, ‘At 38, you’re not viable’,” Haddon told The New York Times in 2003.
Read more on Sky News:
Olivia Hussey, star of 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, dies at 73
Working for an advertising agency, she began reaching out to cosmetic companies, telling them there was a growing market to sell beauty products to aging baby boomers.
She eventually landed a contract with Clairol, followed by Estee Lauder and then L’Oreal, for which she promoted the company’s anti-aging products for more than a decade.
She also hosted beauty segments for CBS’s The Early Show.
In 2008, Haddon founded WomenOne, an organisation aimed at advancing educational opportunities for girls and women in marginalised communities, including in Rwanda, Haiti and Jordan.
Read more on Sky News:
Andrew Garfield on baking cookies and his mum’s perfume
Disabled musicians demand greater inclusivity
Haddon’s daughter, Ryan, said in a social media post that her mother was “everyone’s greatest champion. An inspiration to many”.
“A pure heart. A rich inner life. Touching so many lives. A life well lived. Rest in Light, Mom,” she said.
Actress Olivia Hussey, best known for playing Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 production of Romeo and Juliet, has died aged 73.
She died peacefully at her home in California, surrounded by her loved ones on Friday, according to a post shared on her official Instagram account.
The message, posted with a sunset photo of Hussey in her youth, paid tribute to “a remarkable person whose warmth, wisdom, and pure kindness touched the lives of all who knew her”.
It went on: “Olivia lived a life full of passion, love, and dedication to the arts, spirituality, and kindness towards animals”.
Calling her a “truly special soul”, her family said while her “immense loss” was grieved, they would also “celebrate Olivia’s enduring impact on our lives and the industry”.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1951 to an Argentinian father and English mother, Hussey returned to London aged seven with her mother and studied at the Italia Conti Academy drama school.
Spotted by Italian director Zeffirelli in a stage show of The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie opposite Vanessa Redgrave, Hussey’s performance as Juliet aged just 15 made her a star and won her a Golden Globe.
Sixteen-year-old actor Leonard Whiting played her Romeo, with the pair going on to sue Paramount Pictures in 2022 for sexual abuse due to the Oscar-nominated movie’s nude scene.
(L-R) Franco Zeffirelli, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting in 1968. Pic: AP/Eustache Cardenas
The case was dismissed by a judge the following year.
Hussey would work with Zeffirelli again, playing the Virgin Mary in the 1977 TV miniseries Jesus Of Nazareth.
Appearances in horrors including Black Christmas and Psycho prequel Psycho IV: The Beginning established Hussey as a scream queen over the years.
Other notable appearances included Hercule Poirot movie Death On The Nile and Mother Teresa biography Madre Teresa.
Read more:
Andrew Garfield on baking cookies and his mum’s perfume
Disabled musicians demand greater inclusivity
Hussey was reunited with Whiting in the 2015 British film Social Suicide, which was loosely based on Shakespeare‘s Romeo and Juliet.
Her daughter, actress India Eisley, played her on-screen daughter in the movie.
It was Hussey’s final screen role, according to IMDB.
Hussey leaves behind three children, Alex, Max, and India, her husband of 35 years David Glen Eisley, and grandson, Greyson.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway