America's smallest electric truck turns heads

The Telo MT1 looks like a Japanese kei truck with a nearly cab-over design, super-short nose, and four doors. It draws stares on roads around San Carlos, California.

Compact but surprisingly spacious inside

The interior is spacious with firm but stable seats. The low center of gravity from the battery pack beneath the floor provides a firm but stable ride on bumpy roads.

Telo accelerates like a full-size EV

The production version will accelerate zero to sixty miles per hour in an estimated four seconds. The truck rockets from a standstill like any other electric vehicle on the market.

Same size as a Mini Cooper, far more practical

The Telo is the same size as a two-door Mini Cooper but offers a tow rating of eight thousand pounds, a full-size ninety-six-inch bed, and hidden storage features.

Big trucks are killing people, cofounder says

Forrest North, Telo cofounder and CTO, argues that current big trucks kill roughly five thousand people per year. He hopes the MT1 shows how useful a small pickup truck can be.

“I hope that our truck shows how amazing and fun and useful, especially useful, a small pickup truck can be, because the current big trucks are literally killing us.”

Founders wanted a truck, not a motorcycle

Jason Marks and Forrest North started Telo in twenty twenty-two with designer Yves Behar. They initially pitched electric motorcycles but pivoted after investors and street polls favored a tiny truck.

Nearly ninety percent chose truck over motorcycle

Telo polled about two hundred people on the street and found that nearly ninety percent would rather have the truck. The next week, they pivoted from motorcycle to truck.

Founders' backgrounds in EVs and design

Marks previously worked on automotive safety at National Instruments. North is a former battery engineer at Tesla and founder of Mission Motors, an early electric motorcycle company.

Battery packs offer up to three hundred fifty miles

At launch, the MT1 comes with a seventy-seven kilowatt-hour battery or a larger one hundred six kilowatt-hour pack delivering up to three hundred fifty miles of range.

Dual architecture charges on Tesla and new stations

The battery has both eight hundred volt and four hundred volt architecture. The four hundred volt setup charges on Tesla's V three Supercharger network while eight hundred volt accesses new high-powered stations.

Telo builds batteries in-house for quality control

Telo manufactures battery packs in-house with each cell individually fused so a single failure won't cascade. Latest cells deliver roughly twenty percent more energy than those sourced a year ago.

Hidden tunnel storage under the truck bed

Telo developed a monster tunnel beneath the front of the truck bed, accessible from either side and large enough for a pair of roll-aboard carry-on suitcases to slide in endwise.

New front end took four years to develop

Telo solved crash safety for a compact truck with a completely new front end and innovative front hinge pillar developed over nearly four years and hundreds of thousands of simulated crashes.

AI makes virtual crash testing affordable for startups

Telo uses AI to run virtual crash tests around the clock, averaging roughly one test per hour. Full crash testing will start next year before customer deliveries begin.

Base price forty-one thousand five hundred twenty dollars

The MT1 comes in single-motor and dual-motor layouts with add-ons like solar tonneau covers. Reservations are open for a refundable one hundred fifty-two dollars with base price forty-one thousand five hundred twenty dollars.

Over fourteen thousand reservations already placed

Telo has received just over fourteen thousand reservations with seventy percent configuring all-wheel drive versions with the longer-range battery pack. Around twenty percent are first-time car buyers.

Deliveries expected in twenty twenty-seven

Telo plans to get vehicles into customers' hands sometime in twenty twenty-seven, depending on validation timelines. The MT1 still must pass EPA and California air quality certification before production.