California automaker Telo Trucks has unveiled a prototype of its compact MT1 electric pickup truck, which has a reconfigurable bed and cabin that can seat up to eight people.
The first vehicle being developed by Telo Trucks, which was co-founded by designer Yves Béhar, the MT1 truck has four doors and a length of 152 inches (3.86 metres), making it about as long as a Mini Cooper.
The standard configuration allows for four to five people to sit in the cabin with 60 inches (1.5 metres) devoted to the truck bed. This bed can be covered to create seating for up to eight people, while the bed can also be expanded into the cabin via sliding doors under the rear-view window.
The truck designed to use either one or two electric engines, with the dual-engine configuration providing 500 horsepower, four-wheel-drive and a payload of 1,700 lbs (771 kilograms).
At a full charge, the 106 kilowatt hour battery provides a 350-mile range, ideal, according to the company, for getting around the city or the basic transport of materials.
It can hit 60 miles per hour in less than four seconds.
“We designed the future of utility transportation by maximizing every inch to provide comfort without compromising performance or capability,” said Swiss designer Yves Béhar, who co-founded the company with Jason Marks and Forrest North.
“Telo brings more features, space, and practicality than any other vehicle on the road today,” he continued.
The electric motors allowed for the expansion of the cab into the hood, creating more space for the back-seat passengers, who will have the same legroom as those in the front.
It also gives the vehicle a profile reminiscent of the Japanese mini truck, a common typology for brands in that country since the late 1950s.
The absence of the driveshaft necessary for combustion vehicles also allowed the team to develop a storage space underneath the bed, accessed from behind the rear doors, which it calls the Monster Tunnel, because it “hides under the bed”.
A panel in the bed can be taken off to access the tunnel from the top, and this feature doubles as a foot-well for passengers in the optional third row of seating, which must be professionally installed.
For the interiors, the team focused on sustainable materials, utilising a biodegradable cork for the surfaces on the doors, dashboard and console, while “sustainable” fabric was used for the upholstery.
The slim vertical highlights on the snubbed hood of the car were described by Béhar as “pill-like”, a shape repeated elsewhere in the design, including in the handles and the vents on the side.
On the release of the initial designs, Béhar told Dezeen that the truck was designed to counter the “aggressive” profile and features of common market pickup trucks.
“Clearly, the look of pickup trucks has traditionally been aggressive, oversized, with a very large front grille,” he said. “A number of articles have come out about how dangerous that is, but it also really only speaks to one type of customer.”
The model was produced with prototype manufacturer Aria, but Telo has said that it hopes to contract production out to existing manufacturers rather than building its own facilities, which would require large amounts of capital.
According to the company, it has already received over 5,000 pre-orders for the electric vehicle, and is charging only $152 – its length in inches – to reserve it. The going rate for the model is projected to be around $34,000.
Béhar runs industrial design firm Fuseproject in San Francisco. Other projects by FuseProjects include a proposal for a “friendly” body for an in-progress AI-driven robot and the design for the “world’s first” solid-state portable charging station.
The imagery is courtesy of Telo Trucks.
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