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Cheap Electric Mini Truck


RPM

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I actually own a Suzuki Carry 4x4 that has a 660cc 3 banger, it's rated at 1/2 ton and the bed is just big enough for 1 pallet (when I remove the stripper pole). Mine is a LOT faster than this. But for around $7K that's a pretty cool off road work vehicle.

changli-truck-header.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1600

I actually bought a cheap electric pickup truck from Alibaba. Here’s what showed up.

Unboxing_and_Testing_My_Chinese_2000_ELE

How much did it cost, all in?
You often see these things listed at $2,000 or so on Alibaba and other Chinese shopping sites. The true cost is actually much higher. As I mentioned, right off the bat I had to add $1,000 for the big battery, $500 for the upgrades I chose, and $2,200 for sea shipping.

On the US side, I had to add in another $1,000 or so in duties and broker fees, plus some arrival charges. Ultimately I wound up north of $7,000 for the whole kit and caboodle. That’s definitely more than I was anticipating spending. Back when I made the order I had hoped to get away with $6,000 in damage.

While some people might call the final price a rip-off, consider the alternative. A crappy golf cart with flooded lead acid batteries starts at around $6,000 today. A halfway decent one is $8k. The really nice ones land in the $10-12k range. And even then, all you have is a golf cart. It’s not enclosed, meaning you get rained on. There’s no air conditioning. No wipers. No locking doors. No windows (electric or otherwise). No adjustable bucket seats. No infotainment system. No sun roof. No truck bed with hydraulic dump, etc.

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Have they started making electric side-by-sides yet?

How viable are electric UTVs? Are the batteries too heavy/large for them or could they work? I don't really know.

If I had some property to fart around on an all electric 4x4 Gator or RZR with a bed would be pretty cool.

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1 hour ago, Snake Diggity said:

Looks awesome for the price except looking at the quality of weld etc that thing won’t last 2 years before it starts needing constant repair.

Plus there is a 0.0 chance you can get a part for it.

So unless you have access/connections with a very creative machine shop you will be the proud owner of a electric boat anchor.

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2 hours ago, woohorn said:

Are they street legal? Looks awesome!

I'm curious how you'd get a title for them - I'm assuming they aren't crash-tested or anything, and aren't street legal.

Because if you could just order any little vehicle and pay a few thousand to have it shipped over and start driving it around, there's a bunch of small Japanese vehicles I'd love to consider.

Plus, didn't Bill Gates have some insane Porsche or something that was not street legal because it hadn't been crash-tested and put through whatever the safety standards are?

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59 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I'm curious how you'd get a title for them - I'm assuming they aren't crash-tested or anything, and aren't street legal.

Because if you could just order any little vehicle and pay a few thousand to have it shipped over and start driving it around, there's a bunch of small Japanese vehicles I'd love to consider.

Plus, didn't Bill Gates have some insane Porsche or something that was not street legal because it hadn't been crash-tested and put through whatever the safety standards are?

959.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche_959

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Have they started making electric side-by-sides yet?
How viable are electric UTVs? Are the batteries too heavy/large for them or could they work? I don't really know.
If I had some property to fart around on an all electric 4x4 Gator or RZR with a bed would be pretty cool.

Polaris makes an electric Ranger that gets pretty good reviews. It’s a regular full sized Ranger


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I read that article when it came out.  Also added in to the cost of that is all of the time he had to put in to it.  I can't imagine the cluster-fuck of phone calls to and from China, then trying to locate it after it shipped, then arrangement more shipping to get it close to you.  

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