EV truck startup Telo has partnered with EV carmaker hopeful Aptera to make use of Aptera’s photo voltaic panels on the roof of Telo vans.The plan ought to be good for each, however neither firm has offered a single car but.Telo says Aptera’s photo voltaic panels generate as much as 200 watts every at peak daylight, delivering 1-2 watt-hours per day based mostly on location and season.
Telo, a Silicon Valley startup that claims it’s going to make that ultra-cute MT1 four-door pickup truck, has partnered with Aptera, the Southern California startup that has been promising to make the sunflower-seed-shaped two-seater Aptera electrical automotive for one thing like 20 years.
“Telo Vans—maker of the world’s best electrical pickup truck—has partnered with Aptera, the chief in solar-powered EV expertise, to introduce built-in photo voltaic panel choices for the Telo MT1,” Telo stated in a launch yesterday.
“This modern function empowers patrons to pick out as much as three photo voltaic panel kits, enabling charging on the go and enhancing vitality independence, even in distant areas.”
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Aptera enthused with its personal launch.
“Aptera is proud to companion with Telo Vans to supply our cutting-edge photo voltaic expertise for his or her electrical mini vans. As our first automotive companion, Telo helps us understand our imaginative and prescient of constructing each journey powered by the solar.”
Be happy to be skeptical, or to be a real believer. There are good individuals on either side.
Telo first launched photos of its oh-so-cute little MT1 in June of 2023. The factor was as cute as a Canoo however with only a few extra design thrives.
At 152 inches, the MT1 is—or may very well be, sometime—as lengthy total as a Mini, Telo stated, with a 60-inch pickup mattress and seating for “5 adults.” It even lists a 0-60 mph time of 4 seconds.
On high of that Telo truck is the place the Aptera photo voltaic panels will park. Aptera is known for making—or for planning to make—what it calls a “solar-powered car.” With panels on the roof of the Aptera you possibly can go “as much as” 40 miles a day on photo voltaic alone.
No corresponding vary claims have been launched on the Telo MT1 with Aptera panels, however the startup listed some specifics. Telo says Aptera’s photo voltaic panels generate as much as 200 watts every at peak daylight, delivering 1-2 watt-hours per day based mostly on location and season.
With out photo voltaic panels, Telo has stated its electrical truck guarantees over 350 miles of vary.
“Utilizing a glass-glass configuration ensures optimum effectivity and sturdiness,” Telo added. “Telo automobiles devour simply 200-300 Wh/mi, considerably lowering vitality wants and lengthening vary with photo voltaic choices. Preferrred for adventurers and each day drivers alike, this expertise enhances Telo’s sustainability and delivers freedom from the grid.”
The photo voltaic paneling will are available in three configurations on the Telos:
On high of the cabAs a tonneau cowl for the pickup bedOn high of a contractor’s rack over the mattress
“Our distinctive curved photo voltaic cell design makes it the proper software to propel automotive utility additional than ever earlier than,” stated Aptera co-founder and co-CEO Steve Fambro. “Along with Telo, we’re harnessing the facility of the solar to make life off the grid a actuality for everybody by placing the solar to work for them.”
On the telo.com web site you possibly can reserve an MT1 for simply $152, although we’re guessing photo voltaic panels can be further. Beginning sticker value for a single-motor, 300-hp, 2WD truck is $32,040 on the primary web page of the web site, however that’s after the $7,500 federal tax credit score, which could not be round for very lengthy. With out the credit score, it begins at $41,520. A dual-motor, 500-hp, 4WD truck is listed at $46,019.
That is one more startup with one more promising electrical car that many individuals would like to see succeed. Right here’s hoping it does.
Do you consider in Telo? Tell us under.
Mark Vaughn grew up in a Ford household and spent many hours holding a bother gentle over a straight-six miraculously fed by a single-barrel carburetor whereas his father cursed the Blue Oval, all its merchandise and everybody who ever labored there. This was his introduction to goal automotive criticism. He began writing for Metropolis Information Service in Los Angeles, then moved to Europe and have become editor of a automotive journal known as, creatively, Auto. He determined Auto ought to cowl Method 1, sports activities prototypes and touring automobiles—nobody stopped him! From there he interviewed with Autoweek on the 1989 Frankfurt motor present and has been with us ever since.
