Telo Trucks raises $20 million to push compact EV pickup
The funding round was led by Telo’s cofounder Yves Béhar and Tesla cofounder Marc Tarpenning, with support from other investors including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, E12 Ventures, and Nova Threshold. It follows an earlier $6 million seed round and a previous $2m pre-seed round, led by Neo and GoAhead Ventures respectively.
The sum itself, $20 million, is a relatively modest amount for an EV startup looking to grow quickly. However, Telo CEO Jason Marks says he wants Telo to reach unit profitability with lower production volumes, rather than chasing scale early. Marks told Reuters: “The graveyard of electric vehicles from the last 20 years almost all spent billions of dollars chasing high-volume production. What we’re doing is bringing a unique product to market that doesn’t exist right now and stepping our way into volume the way Tesla did with the Roadster and Model S.”
The California-based startup says current preorders for its MT1 truck, which have come from a range of construction firms, delivery companies, city authorities and others represents over $600 million in potential revenue. Marks added: “If we can deliver just over half of the 12,000 reservations, we can hit unit profitability. Our strategy is about getting to profitability at low volumes, not chasing 150,000 units a year.”
The MT1 itself is an unusual compact electric pickup truck, with Telo touting that it “delivers the capabilities of a full-size crew cab work truck in the footprint of a 2-door MINI Cooper”. It runs on a 380 kW dual-motor AWD with a starting price of $49,999. And, it’s certainly compact: clocking in at 152 inches long, it can accommodate between five and eight passengers and features a 60 inch-long truck bed. It’s powered by a 106 kWh battery pack, which offers a range of up to 350 miles. The total payload capacity is 1,600 pounds, while the towing capacity is only 6,600 pounds, roughly half of what the R1T can pull.
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