Atlis XT Prototype Pickup: First Look at the New Boxy Version
A fully electric truck with some outlandish claims…that you can reserve now!
More details are emerging on the redesigned Atlis XT prototype pickup, Atlis Motor Vehicles' fully electric truck. It's not a small thing like the Pickman, and it's not even a fullsize thing like the Rivian R1T or the Ford Lightning. It's a rather large electric thing, more akin to consumer HD trucks, quite angular with absolutely no bubble-like softness to be found anywhere. Its abrupt, cardboard-simplistic angles and almost post-apocalyptic presence remind us of the Bollinger, another fully electric truck that may or may not ever hit the streets.
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In terms of trucks that have existed, the Atlis XT looks like a medium-duty mashup, with the window shape of, say, a mid-2000s Chevy Kodiak (GMC Topkick) and the front end of, say, a 2015 Ford F-550 Super Duty—as rendered in 8-bit graphics.
Basically, the Atlis XT is tailored to the work truck crowd, and therefore it doesn't claim to be small, smooth, or docile. The simple, boxy lines and masculine stance will polarize potential clientele into two groups—those wholovethe look of this draft, and those whohatewhat they hope is a very,veryrough draft. The XT prototype looks way less like the initial Atlis mules and more like a cousin of the wedge-shaped Tesla Cybertruck, but on steroids.
The Atlis XT is built on the Atlis XP platform, which has no association with the Windows operating system of the same name. Atlis will also sell as a plug-and-play stand-alone modular electric chassis (or "skateboard") for builders looking for medium- to heavy-duty Class 2B to Class 6 platforms for box trucks, dump trucks, delivery vehicles, RVs, and other heavy duty applications.
The XT's minimum wheelbase is 144 inches, and the truck is available with single or dual rear wheels. Many of the XT truck's statistics are attributed to the XP platform, so that the XT is Atlis's vehicular application of the XP platform.
Atlis claims the XT produces over 600 hp and 12,000 lb-ft of (funny business) torque. It touts a top speed of 120 mph and a zero-to-60 time of 5.0 seconds. The rig has 12.0 inches of ground clearance, 10.0 inches of wheel travel, and a track width of 70.75 inches. It can be configured with a 6.5- or 8-foot-long bed—although it's totally adaptable to service bodies and flatbeds. The shortest wheelbase is 144 inches, with the longest being 176 inches, right on par with the Ford Super Duty, which ranges between 142 and 176 inches. The trucks can seat between three and six passengers.
Atlis is all about developing battery technology designed for the automotive industry. The Atlis XT is all-wheel-drive with four independent traction motors, meaning there's a motor at each wheel, as in the Rivian R1T. The automaker claims a 1-million-mile life span on its 250-kWh battery and that it can be fully charged (from no charge at all) in 15 minutes using its own 1.5 MW charger—but it also has conventional CCS 2.0 charging capability (pictured).
Depending on the version, the XT has a 300-, 400-, or 500-mile driving range per charge. Four-wheel independent steering and braking come courtesy of the electrical propulsion wizardry.
The Atlix XT can tow up to 35,000 pounds using a gooseneck or 5th wheel, and it claims a 5,000-pound payload capacity. Those numbers are right up there with the Big 3's conventional heavy-duty rigs, so we'll have to see how that plays out in real-world situations. We are skeptical, to say the least.
