\nEV startup Telo bets America is ready for a dreamy little pickup<\/br>
\n2023-06-15 22:12:50<\/br><\/p>\n
Most trucks today are headed in the wrong direction, metaphorically speaking. They\u2019re far too big and heavy, with shrinking beds and expanding cabins that reflect their turn from a classic workhorse into a status symbol-meets-family car.<\/p>\n
This is my take, but I\u2019m not just here to blab about aesthetics and my weird love<\/a> of teeny-tiny cars. Huge vehicles are uniquely deadly<\/a> for pedestrians and cyclists and counterproductive to decarbonization<\/a> work. They demand more raw materials and ultimately bigger batteries<\/a>, and they stir fears that compact cars can\u2019t hack it alongside them on roads today. In other words, they\u2019re bad for people and the planet.<\/p>\n The switch to electric vehicles offers an opportunity to shake things up, sizewise. Yet in the U.S., most automakers won\u2019t risk it, and there\u2019s a financial basis for that. Trucks like the F-150 and Silverado are more popular than ever<\/a>, giving little incentive for companies to carve out a new path. Still, a young startup called Telo Trucks<\/a> is taking an alternate route anyway. It\u2019s betting that lots of Americans actually want a petite pickup \u2014 one with the \u201cfootprint of a two-door Mini Cooper\u201d and the \u201csame interior and bed space as a Toyota Tacoma,\u201d Telo CEO Jason Marks told TechCrunch. Do you believe him?<\/p>\n Marks argues there\u2019s an untapped market of city dwellers who could use a cargo utility vehicle \u2014 gardeners, surfers, snowboarders, hikers and so on \u2014 \u201cbut they can\u2019t have a big truck because it\u2019s way too big for the city.\u201d That\u2019s who Telo is targeting, at least on the consumer side. The company kicked off preorders \u2014 really, paid reservations \u2014 for its first vehicle this week, charging folks $152 for the chance to one day buy a 152-inch truck that\u2019s slated to cost $50,000 at launch before government incentives.<\/p>\n So far, there\u2019s interest: Telo \u201creceived more than 500 preorders within the first 12 hours of the launch,\u201d a representative for the company told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n Last week, Telo showcased a full-size model of the vehicle at its office in San Francisco. In theory, the truck it highlighted will seat five adults and go from 0 to 60 mph in four seconds. It\u2019s also supposed to pack a 350-mile range. Renders of the truck are sleek as heck, too \u2014 with hardly any hood, texture on the front that evokes a handsome, stubbly chin and a goofy swipe across the doors for airflow. Just imagine loading surfboards into this puppy.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Telo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to Marks, Telo is now working toward getting its first prototype on the road by year\u2019s end. In the following years, the plan (as I understand it) is to navigate some government red tape, hand-build some vehicles and then work with contract manufacturers to make mini trucks en masse. But remember: EV startups usually launch with cool ideas (see: Arrival<\/a> and Canoo<\/a>). Delivering these vehicles to lots of drivers while turning a profit? That\u2019s a lot rarer in this business.<\/p>\n Telo has lots of work ahead of it no matter how much demand there is for pint-sized pickups.<\/p>\n Before Telo, Marks worked on autonomous driving and driver-assistance features at National Instruments, while co-founder Forrest North worked on Tesla\u2019s Roadster team. \u201cFunny story is that one of those vehicles that I worked on is now in space, which is so random and weird,\u201d North told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n The pair met through a mutual friend and later realized they were \u201cboth pole vaulters at the same high school in Washington state, but 10 years apart from each other,\u201d Marks said. \u201cAnd if you\u2019ve never met a pole vaulter, we\u2019re all the same kind of crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n Marks originally wanted to build an electric motorcycle, but the co-founders said they pivoted to focus on a mini truck about a year ago after sharing ideas with friends and interviewing 100 people on the street in San Francisco. \u201cInvestment and a lot more interest\u201d followed the pivot, Marks said.<\/p>\n Telo co-founders Forrest North and Jason Marks stand beside head of design Yves Behar. Image Credits:<\/strong> Telo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Telo tells TechCrunch that it has raised $1.4 million so far at a $10 million post-money valuation. GoAhead Ventures led the startup\u2019s pre-seed round, while Underdog Labs, WorkPlay Ventures, industrial designer Yves Behar and other angel investors also chipped in. Curiously, a representative for the startup said the co-founders first linked up with GoAhead at the gym before going through the firm\u2019s \u201cvideo pitch process.\u201d [I\u2019m not sure how gym banter led to funding teeny trucks, but I guess that\u2019s just San Francisco for ya.]<\/p>\n As for Yves Behar, the prominent designer known for his work with Jawbone<\/a>, XO laptop<\/a> and Jimmyjane<\/a>\u00a0also joined Telo as its head of design. Behar is prolific, and through his firm<\/a> he\u2019s worked on some really neat projects as well as some stinkers \u2014 such as the Vessyl smart cup<\/a> and\u00a0Juicero juicer<\/a>. Anyhow, Behar kindly shared his take on the li\u2019l truck in a call with TechCrunch last week.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a pickup truck without that aggressive look, and I believe that this urban customer will really like both the design signature, as well as the more fluid, we\u2019d say, aesthetic that we have on the truck,\u201d said Behar. [This man is really speaking my language.]<\/p>\n The head of design added that the vehicle is \u201creally meant as an expression of what an EV can do and what users are looking for, which is a family vehicle that\u2019s highly functional, in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n Marks argues Telo has some \u201cdistinct advantages\u201d because it\u2019s getting started today instead of a decade or so ago. \u201cContract manufacturing is a big one but also the supply chain,\u201d Marks said. \u201cI know that everyone\u2019s talking about how bad the supply chain is, but the truth of the matter is that we can buy a motor off the shelf that fits into our packaging requirements, and it comes with software pre-populated.\u201d<\/p>\n Marks says this wasn\u2019t something Tesla could do 10 years ago. The Elon Musk-led company instead had to develop \u201cmotors from scratch in order to get them even close to the requirements that they need to be in. Same with, you know, most of the other products \u2014 inverter, battery management system, but a lot of those are largely close to the commoditization stage,\u201d according to Marks.<\/p>\n The CEO said that these changes make it so Telo can limit costs and \u201cfocus on just the parts of the vehicle that we are really bringing to the table around the safety, the batteries and the packaging.\u201d Telo is primarily showcasing the packaging right now, but in a statement it said its \u201cpatent-pending battery packs\u201d are \u201csmaller and lighter than any other electric vehicle battery on the market.\u201d<\/p>\n Crucially, decarbonizing transportation isn\u2019t just about making things smaller or all-electric \u2014 those are just two pieces of a greater puzzle. Large EV trucks still pump less carbon pollution<\/a> into the atmosphere than their gas-powered counterparts, so maybe they\u2019re not worth writing off entirely. Public transit is also vastly more efficient and better for the environment than personal cars, trucks and SUVs<\/a> of virtually any size.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n <\/br><\/br><\/br><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-surfingdoor-open.jpg?resize=1140%2C855&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nThe backstory<\/h2>\n
![\"Telo](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/leadership.jpg?resize=1140%2C675&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n\u201cDistinct advantages\u201d<\/h2>\n