Telo MT1: The Tiny EV Truck That Now Tows 8,000 Pounds

Telo just raised the tow rating on its pint-sized MT1 electric pickup from 6,600 to 8,000 pounds — and that puts a 152-inch truck roughly on par with a base Ford F-150. The startup says months of real-world towing convinced it that the little MT1 can safely pull far more than a truck that size looks like it should. The new rating, announced by co-founder and CTO Forest North in a video this week, is aimed squarely at a growing wave of electric trailers that weigh in around 6,000 to 8,000 pounds.

Why a Tiny Truck Can Tow Like a Full-Size One

The physics, North argues, favor electric. A four-wheel-drive EV truck with strong regenerative braking can regen down a long grade almost indefinitely instead of cooking its brakes — a real advantage on the steep 11-mile Davis Dam grade that SAE's J2807 towing standard uses to stress-test vehicles. And because the MT1 makes 500 hp from dual motors with instant torque, the heat soak under load that forces gas trucks to shed energy on long climbs barely changes the equation.

Packaging helps too. The MT1's hitch sits close to the rear axle, so trailer tongue weight doesn't lift the front end the way it would on a longer truck. Despite its footprint, the MT1 isn't light: it's over 4,000 pounds, riding a steel chassis with a crossmember tying the hitch to the frame. Small, in Telo's telling, is a structural advantage — the same strength takes less mass than it would on a full-size truck.

North was blunt about the limits. For long hauls, a big diesel truck is still going to be better for the near term. The MT1's pitch is shorter trips, where a compact, easy-to-park truck that tows well beats a full-size rig for daily convenience.

The Numbers Behind the Telo MT1

The Telo MT1 is about as small as a modern pickup gets: 152 inches long — roughly the size of an electric Mini Cooper — with a 60-to-96-inch bed and seating for five. The dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup is rated at 500 hp, with a 77 kWh standard pack good for 260 miles or a 106 kWh long-range pack rated at 350-plus miles. Telo starts it at $41,520 and is targeting first deliveries in late 2026.

Charging keeps pace with the specs: Telo confirmed 400 kW sustained charging in June on a dual 800V/400V architecture. The company also demonstrated the concept in July, when an MT1 pulled Pebble's 5,800-pound Flow electric travel trailer, whose active propulsion system cuts the effective load on the tow vehicle.

What the Higher Rating Means for EV Truck Buyers

The jump from 6,600 to 8,000 pounds is aimed at powered trailers — the electric RVs and campers with their own batteries and motors that increasingly land in that weight band. A base 2025 F-150 tows about 8,400 pounds, so the MT1 now claims roughly full-size capability in a package nearly four feet shorter and thousands of pounds lighter. No full-size electric truck comes close on footprint or on the $41,520 starting price.

The caveats are real. Tow ratings tend to get conservative once liability and warranty teams get involved, and the bigger question is whether Telo reaches volume production at all — the company has raised roughly $20 million, including a Series A led by Tesla co-founder Marc Tarpenning, and it's still working through federal requirements. The prototype work is impressive; the production truck still has to prove it can do everything the pre-production one promises.

For buyers, the takeaway is that EV towing physics are real — and a truck the size of a Mini can now pull like a full-size rig, at least for trips that fit its range. If you're weighing an electric truck for trailer duty, our EV towing explainer walks through the range, payload, and charging realities, and Ford's $30,000 electric pickup shows how hot the affordable-truck segment has gotten.