Telo Trucks wants to upend the supersized status quo set by Ford, Chevy and the rest with a small-but-mighty electric pickup. Now it says it has the money to get closer to production.
On Tuesday, Telo said that it closed a $20 million Series A funding round, led by Yves Behar (one of its cofounders) and Marc Tarpenning, a Tesla cofounder.
The California-based startup says the new investment will enable it to get to “production readiness” and “pass all federal requirements to get the Telo MT1 on the road.” Telo unveiled the MT1 pickup in 2023 and recently completed two pre-production prototypes.
The low-cost and tiny MT1 is a very different kind of electric pickup from the likes of the Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T. It’s almost like an updated version of the imported Japanese kei trucks that have popped up across the country. It’s designed for weekend warriors who live in urban environments and want some pickup capability—a market that is indeed underserved today.
The MT1 is just 152 inches long, about the size of a two-door Mini Cooper. But thanks to a novel design and stubby front end, it still seats five and has a five-foot bed. It’s chock-full of interesting features, including a Rivian-like cargo tunnel that runs width-wise behind the rear seats and a folding midgate that allows for surfboard storage.
Telo’s electric truck includes a feature that looks a lot like Rivian’s Gear Tunnel.
Telo says the MT1 will go into production in late 2025 and will cost $41,520. That’s not exactly chump change, but it’s also far less than the going price for an electric truck these days. And it’s below average for new cars in general.
The company says it has racked up some 12,000 preorders, indicating that its vision has resonated with some people. But even in the best of times standing up an EV startup is nearly impossible. And now, the end of EV tax credits can make that road even tougher. Fisker, Lordstown, Canoo, Nikola and Proterra all went belly-up in the last two years.
Telo has an intriguing product that it says it can get to market on a tight budget. We’ll see if it can pull that off.
Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
