Finally, a company who thinks modern day pickup trucks are entirely too big and expensive and has a plan to doing something about it. On this episode of The InEVitable, we chat with two of the three founders of Telo (rhymes with hello) Trucks, CEO Jason Marks and CTO Forrest North.
Located in San Carlos, California, just south of San Francisco, Telo Trucks is an EV startup that sees “white space” in the small truck sector. How small? Mini, actually. Per the Telo Trucks website, its flagship vehicle, the MT1 urban adventure vehicle (UAV), will have a footprint no bigger than a modern Mini-Cooper, while delivering the capability of a Toyota Tacoma.
For context, a 2025 Mini Cooper is about 153 x 69 x 56 inches in its smallest configuration, while the Telo MT1 is roughly 152 x 73 x 66 inches respectively. In comparison, that’s some 65- inches shorter, 6-inches narrower, and 12-inches shorter than the first EV truck to market, the Rivian R1T.
And even wilder, Marks and North claim the MT1 will have a 5-foot long bed, which is 6-inches longer than Rivian R1T’s and yes, on par with a Tacoma’s 5-foot shortbed. The Telo MT1 also claims seats for five passengers, all-wheel drive via a two-motor, 500 horsepower powertrain, 350-miles of range, and 0-60 mph in 4-seconds, all for a starting price less than $50,000. To save you some Googling, the Tesla Cybertruck’s dimensions are a whopping 224 x 80 x 69 inches roughly, which includes a 6-foot bed, but only 325 miles of range, for a base price of $79,990.
Surely, you’re thinking, the Telo MT1 can’t be a real vehicle—this must be some kind of limited production kit-car that skirts the gauntlet of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) via low production volume or some other chicanery, but no—we interrogated Marks and North for over an hour and found they had an answer for everything, including how a vehicle this small will meet all the FMVSS requirements and come to market sometime in 2026, below the current average EV transaction price.
Sound too good be true? Well, the three founders, including Chief Creative Officer Yves Behar (whom we didn’t get to talk to), all have considerable experience gained from leadership roles at various automotive, tech, EV, and consumer goods companies. CCO Behar has worked with brands as varied as Herman Miller, Samsung, L’Oreal, Puma, and Prada. CEO Marks is an ADAS/Autonomy expert with patents in lidar, and was Chief Business Development Manager at National Instruments. North was an early employee at Tesla (before the launch of Roadster) and went on to found Mission Motors, one of the first EV motorcycle makers. He also founded the EV charging app Plugshare, before selling it to Recargo (who own the EVgo charging network).
If there was a team that could pull a mini-truck to upend the status quo of electrified, bro-dozer trucks, maybe it’s these guys? Decide for yourself by listening to the pod or watching the vod (here or on YouTube). Then, if you’re feeling it, leave us a 5-star recommendation. Have a question? Fire it in via our Instagrams (@jonnylieberman and @lohdown) or shoot us a note at motortrend@motortrend.com. Thanks.
