minitruck

From the land of lifted trucks comes something a bit more reserved, the AYRO Vanish electric mini-truck. The sub-13 ft. (3.9) mini-truck with a bigger bed than many full-size pickup trucks hails from AYRO’s factory in Round Rock, Texas. And now the small electric utility truck is embarking on a statewide tour to prove its mettle. The design looks like a modern twist on a classic kei truck, using a cab-over design with a long and modular flatbed in the rear. And while the Vanish may be smaller…

The AYRO Vanish has grabbed headlines over the past year as it rolls ever closer to production at AYRO’s Texas factory. Now the electric mini-truck’s final step ahead of manufacturing has begun as the Vanish starts street-legal homologation. The AYRO Vanish is an electric utility vehicle that is designed to fit into the low-speed vehicle (LSV) federal designation. The mini-truck uses a lightweight architecture to limit the entire vehicle weight and maximize the allowable payload. The…

I love my wife, but I’ve got a whole section of my heart fully reserved for electric mini-trucks. They live rent free in my mind and I consider them to be one of the coolest innovations that trucks have seen in the last several decades. As American cars and trucks continue to become more bloated, turning themselves into lifestyle vehicles instead of work tools, electric mini-trucks have been picking up the slack. I own a Chinese electric mini-truck and it has seen more real work usage than…

We’ve been eagerly following the AYRO Vanish since late last year, when the electric mobility company unveiled the mini-truck platform and touted its final assembly in AYRO’s Texas facility. Finally reaching a critical milestone, AYRO has just announced that the multi-use platform is now available for pre-order. We’ve watched the Vanish roll closer and closer to production throughout early 2023, which would make it the first commercially available electric mini-truck assembled in the US.…

There’s been a lot of fuss about the supposed “$14,000 GM electric mini-truck” recently, but you probably shouldn’t get too worked up about it. That’s not to say that electric mini-trucks aren’t an exciting new field. I’m a proud owner of one and I love the thing. Mini-trucks, and especially electric mini-trucks, are incredibly useful and highly efficient machines. Though the best part about these fun little utility vehicles is likely their low prices compared to pricier electric pickup…

As many of my regular readers will know, nearly two years ago I set out on a saga to buy an electric mini-truck from China. Now that it’s been with me for over 18 months, I’ve had the chance to put in a number of awesome upgrades to turn the truck into a true workhorse. If you want to hear the long version of how I bought the truck, you can find that in my original article. I recently posted a video showing off how the truck has held up during its first year and a half of near-daily work on…

The Round Rock, Texas-based EV company AYRO has begun exhibiting its AYRO Vanish utility vehicle ahead of its full-scale production commencement. Previously only seen in computer rendering images, we’re now getting our first look at the actual, in-the-flesh AYRO Vanish. The Vanish is intended for utility work with a modular design including flatbed, box truck, and other configurations that allow for various commercial transportation uses. As a sub 4-meter (13 feet) mini-truck, it’s…

It’s back! The electric mini-truck that keeps on giving has another fun trick up its sleeve. With a bit of DIY magic, I was able to outfit my Chinese mini-truck with a solar panel that can trickle charge it from the sun. If you’re aren’t familiar with this unassuming little mini-truck, then here’s the background: I found it on Alibaba back in 2021 and paid the Chinese vendor it came from $2,000 to make it mine. It went through a long saga of being shipped to the US, which cost slightly more…

The AYRO Vanish utility LSV has just been unveiled, launching the company’s new roadmap of electric Low Speed Vehicles assembled in the US. LSVs, or Low Speed Vehicles, are a federally recognized class of vehicles that fall into a regulatory class somewhere between motorcycles and cars. Similar to L6e or L7e quadricycles in Europe, LSVs in the US are four-wheeled car-like vehicles that aren’t technically cars. Instead, they exist in their own distinct class of vehicles with fewer safety and manufacturing…

Last year I found an awesome-looking electric mini-truck on a Chinese shopping website and decided I simply had to have it. With a $2,000 sticker price, I figured it was risky, but that I wouldn’t lose the farm if the transaction went tires up. And so I embarked on one of the weirdest vehicle purchases of my life. China’s little electric vehicles I’ve spent years watching the Chinese electric vehicle industry develop. I’m not talking about the Tesla imitators and other mainstream Chinese EVs. I’m talking about the…