Last year, I found a great electric mini truck on a Chinese shopping site and decided I had to own it. At $2,000 I thought it was risky, but I wouldn’t lose the farm if the deal fell through. So I embarked on one of the strangest car purchases of my life.
I have spent years watching the development of the electric vehicle industry in China. I’m not talking about Tesla copycats and other popular Chinese electric vehicles. I’m talking about the wacky, weird, funny mini electric car industry that is completely dominated by China.
Not only do I write a funny, tongue-in-cheek column every weekend tracking down the dumbest mini EVs, I sometimes even get involved myself by buying EVs that I can’t resist or can hide from myself. wife.
First, this cute little thing becomes an electric truck that breaks the Internet. Millions of Electrek readers have flipped through the page to hear about this experience. The video has been watched by millions more. I’m not quite sure what it is. Maybe it’s the size of a mini-truck (it’s a little under 5:8, or 11 feet long compared to Rivian’s 18 feet). Maybe it’s an affordable price because I can buy a full garage for the price of an F150 Lightning. But everyone seems to love this little electric truck, including the neighbors!
I have since given the truck to my parents for use on their ranch in Florida. There he performs a variety of functions, from garbage collection to landscaping work. Come on the right day and you will see my dad riding a wagon with his grandchildren in the back. 25 mph (40 km/h) was not a problem for my parents’ use of an SUV.
I wish I could tell you how many miles we’ve driven the truck since then, but it doesn’t actually have an odometer. But, judging by the wear and tear, it has less mileage than it really is. That’s because this truck surprised us all with such good performance!
Granted, it’s only been less than a year, but judging by the comments, most people didn’t expect this truck to last that long. But not only did it last, it worked better than ever.
The hydraulic blade at the rear has proven very useful for spreading mulch and topsoil, and it only seems to get better with time.
The hydraulic ram reset feature is great, I use it all the time. But I think their hydraulic cylinders are too big.
While it has enough lift, it often gets stuck during descent if there isn’t enough weight on the bed to hold it up.
You have to get out of bed a little to lower the battering ram again. This is because there is not enough mass to push the hydraulic fluid out of the piston by gravity alone. The ram wears out over time, and now it goes down almost as well as it goes up.
I still don’t know what the load capacity is, but I have about 500-700 pounds of dirt in my bed and he can lift it up just as easily as a 40 pound bag of topsoil. Thus, everything points to the fact that its carrying capacity is more than the bed can accommodate.
Another day of using my funny Chinese electric mini pickup truck at the ranch. Today’s #electric truck job: some raised beds. I wrote about the whole experience of getting the truck on @ElectrekCo https://t.co/or1tfyKuJo pic.twitter.com/lM6Fuanfwc.
I don’t know exactly what range it has either, although I bought the largest 6 kWh battery that came out of the factory. Fun fact: The price of this $2,000 truck jumped after raising the maximum battery price by another $1,000, shipping to $2,000, plus US fees (more on that here).
We typically charge a truck every few weeks and theoretically have a range of around 50 miles (80 kilometers) or more.
But since the truck is used exclusively off-road around the hotel, it doesn’t travel that far and range has never been an issue.
He died once when my dad’s battery ran out, but he just walked up to him with his Jackery 1500 portable power station. He charged it within minutes and was able to drive it back to the house.
I also found that I could use the same portable power station and a set of four solar panels to charge a mini truck so it could be used as a solar generator.
This is a cool feature as many electric vehicle chargers can be too powerful for small portable power stations. The Jackery 1500 can easily run a 1 kW car charger (although not for very long). But even small power plants can run with the roughly 500-600W charger that came with my truck.
By running the solar panels at the same time as the truck charger, I can replenish solar power almost as fast as a solar generator can power a truck. It basically lasts all day in the sun.
The truck system also works well. With the LED lighting, everything works fine, as it did the day it arrived, except that my dad accidentally broke the mount for one of the spotlights. When he drove the car under a tree, it scraped him off and he swears he always cleans up, but this time the branches are a little lower. But don’t worry – a little repair to the body of the flashlight will make it as good as new.
The air conditioner still worked fine, although it was so loud that we didn’t use it very often. The car breathes well when you open the power windows, and the sunroof helps cool more air entering the cabin. But air conditioning is a great thing during hot and humid summers in Florida. The smaller cab of the mini truck also means it cools down quickly. I left the A/C on for about 30 minutes while I parked, just to see if there were any issues with running time. When I returned, I found that the entire windshield was covered with thick condensation. So yes, it’s getting cold.
The suspension is still stiff, but this is probably due to the fact that the components have been overloaded again. The springs weigh about 400 pounds, too stiff for such a small truck. I bought some replacement 125lb springs and am looking forward to seeing how much it improves the ride over bumps.
I also opted for larger tires for the truck, hoping to improve its off-road capability. Standard tires are designed for the street. They do well in sandy soil and tall grass around the estate, but are not ideal. New tires should be a big improvement.
One of the most common questions I get from people is if this mini truck is actually road legal. Unfortunately no. Many people think that I can pat the orange triangle on the back and ride off into the sunset. This, of course, is good, but it still does not work. But actually it is not.
The vehicle class closest to it is the low speed vehicle (LSV). This is a federally regulated vehicle class for these types of slow moving, usually small vehicles traveling at 25 miles per hour (40 km/h).
But a common misconception is that a vehicle only needs a 25 mph speed limit and seat belts to be a legal LSV. There is still a lot to be done. All safety equipment must come from a DOT certified factory. Automobile assembly plants must be registered with the NHTSA. There are necessary equipment such as a rearview camera (my truck has one), a noise generator to alert pedestrians (my truck doesn’t have one) and a few other components. Again, these must all come from DOT-certified factories. It is not enough to wear a seat belt with a DOT sticker sewn on.
So as much as I wish I could use the truck on the road, it’s actually not possible. Nearly zero vehicles that meet the legal requirements of LSV are currently imported into China, and in fact many claim they do not meet those requirements at all. Hopefully this will change soon as I think there is a real market for these small and cheap electric vehicles to be used in neighborhoods and cities. But at the same time, they are still very effective off-road, the way I use mine.
I have already mentioned the new tires and springs that I will be installing soon. But I also plan to install 50W solar panels on the roof. I think it’s the perfect size for a cab roof and doesn’t stick like a funny hat. I can connect it to a DC boost controller and charge the battery directly. The truck is quite efficient because it is not very fast and consumes about 40-50 watt hours per mile. So for every hour that I enjoy full sun, I can charge a mile or so. Less than five miles or so of daily use around the property means there is little to no need to plug the truck into a charger.
I also really need to put a mattress on the truck. Every time I cover my bed I feel bad thinking about liquid paint. I’m thinking of using a truck bed roll mat that I can use myself. Any color suggestions?
In fact, if you have any other good upgrade ideas for me, please post them in the comments section below. And don’t say “put a paintball turret in the back and turn it into a vehicle” I want to do that already.
Every week I get tons of emails from people looking to buy one of these electric mini trucks. I understand. They are fantastic. Note, however, that bringing one of these to the US is not an easy task.
I can only import my SUV as its use on public roads is prohibited. It’s legal, but still complicated and has pitfalls. I have heard of other people trying to import these Chinese trucks and being stopped by customs and border guards because the trucks seemed to be destined for the road.
Even if you don’t run into this problem, there will be significant costs along the way. Freight, port fees, loading and unloading fees, customs clearance fees, etc.
There are companies that will import goods for you, even if they explicitly offer no guarantees and just do the logistics – at a very good markup.
Some of my readers have also taken an interest in Alibaba and have shared with me their stories of importing electric mini-jeeps or other strange four-wheeled electric vehicles. Looking at their adventures, it’s not for the faint of heart.
For now, I plan to keep using my electric mini truck, go out of my way to do day to day duties and see what it can do.
I am sure that over time it will fail, like any machine. When this happens, the fix may require some ingenuity and skill. This is the other side of buying a car without the support of a local dealer. But before people lived like that – when something broke, they fixed it. So I don’t worry too much about it. I also have a degree in mechanical engineering and years of experience as a battery engineer, so come on world!
If anyone has any questions about trucks that I haven’t answered, feel free to ask them in the comments section below! Make sure you do it quickly because the Electrek comment section closes like a steel trap in 48 hours!
Mika Toll is a personal electric vehicle enthusiast, battery lover, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of DIY Lithium Batteries, DIY Solar Powered, The Complete DIY Electric Bicycle Guide, and The Electric Bicycle Manifesto.
Mika’s current daily e-bikes include the $999 Lectric XP 2.0, $1,095 Ride1Up Roadster V2, $1,199 Rad Power Bikes RadMission, and $3,299 Priority Current. But these days it’s a constantly changing list.
Post time: Jun-27-2023