I actually bought a cheap electric pickup on Alibaba. This is what appears

Some readers may recall that I bought a cheap electric mini truck on Alibaba a few months ago. I know this because I’ve been receiving emails almost every day since then asking if my Chinese electric pickup truck (some humorously refer to it as my F-50) has arrived. Well, now I can finally answer, “Yes!” and share with you what I got.
I first discovered this truck while browsing Alibaba looking for a weekly nugget for my weekly Alibaba Weird Electric Cars of the Week column.
I found an electric truck for $2000 and it looked perfect except the ratio was about 2:3. It only goes 25 mph. And only one engine with a power of 3 kW. And you have to pay extra for batteries, shipping, etc.
But aside from all those little issues, this truck looks silly, but it’s cool. It is a little small but charming. So I started negotiations with a trading company (a small company called ChangLi, which also supplies some US importers).
I was able to equip the truck with a hydraulic folding platform, air conditioning and a huge (for this small truck) Li-Ion 6 kWh battery.
These upgrades cost me about $1,500 on top of the base price, plus I have to pay an incredible $2,200 for shipping, but at least my truck is on its way to pick me up.
The shipping process seems to take a long time. At first everything went well, and a few weeks after the payment, my truck was headed to the port. It sat for a few more weeks until it was turned into a container and loaded onto a ship, and then, six weeks later, the ship arrived in Miami. The only problem is that my truck is no longer on it. Where it went, no one knows, I spent days calling trucking companies, logistics companies, my customs broker and Chinese trading companies. Nobody can explain it.
Finally, the Chinese trading company learned from the shipper on their side that my container was unloaded in Korea and loaded onto a second container ship – the water in the port was not deep enough.
Long story short, the truck finally arrived in Miami, but then got stuck in customs for a few more weeks. Once it finally popped out the other side of customs, I paid another $500 to a guy I found on Craigslist who used a larger flatbed truck to take a box truck to my parents’ property in Florida, where Will would make a new home. for truck.
The cage in which he was transported was dented, but the truck miraculously survived. There I unpacked the truck and gladly loaded the grinder in advance. Ultimately, the unboxing was successful, and during my first test ride, I noticed a few glitches in the video (of course, my father and wife, who were there to watch the show unfold, soon volunteered to test it).
After a long trip around the world, I was simply amazed at how well this truck was in. I think preparing for a wrecked truck helps lower my expectations, which is why I was shocked when the truck was almost completely dented.
It’s not particularly powerful, although the 3kW motor and 5.4kW peak controller give it enough power at low speeds to haul it around my parents’ house. The top speed is only 25 mph (40 km/h), but I still rarely accelerate to this speed on uneven ground around the fields – more on that later.
The trash bed is great and I put it to good use collecting yard waste on the ground and hauling it back to the landfill.
The truck itself is somewhat well made. It features all-metal body panels, power windows with key fob, and a complete locking lighting package including signal lights, headlights, spotlights, taillights, reversing lights and more. There’s also a reversing camera, steel shelves and bed frames, powerful chargers, washer fluid wipers, and even a fairly powerful air conditioner (tested in hot and humid Florida).
The whole thing might need a better rust treatment, as I’ve noticed a bit of rust in a few places after months of long sea travel.
It’s definitely not a golf cart – it’s a fully enclosed vehicle, albeit a slower one. I ride mostly off-road and due to the rough suspension I rarely get close to the 25 mph (40 km/h) top speed, although I did do some road driving to test speed and it was almost exactly the promised 25 mph. hour. /Hour.
Unfortunately, these Changli cars and trucks are not road legal and almost all local electric vehicles (NEV) or low speed vehicles (LSV) are not made in China.
The thing is, these 25 mph electric vehicles fall into the category of Federally Approved Vehicles (LSV) and, believe it or not, federal motor vehicle safety standards actually apply.
I used to think that as long as NEVs and LSVs can go up to 25 mph and have turn signals, seat belts, etc., they might be legal on the road. Unfortunately, it is not. It’s harder than that.
These cars actually have to meet a long list of requirements, including the use of DOT parts, in order to be legal on the road. The glass must be made in a DOT registered glass factory, the rearview camera must be made in a DOT registered factory, etc. It is not enough to drive 25 mph with your seat belt on and your headlights on.
Even if the cars have all the required DOT components, factories making them in China must register with the NHTSA in order for the cars to legally drive on the roads in the United States. So while there are already several US companies importing these cars into the US, some of them falsely claim that these cars are legal because they go 25 mph, unfortunately we can’t actually register or get these cars . these cars drive on the roads. Both manufacturing these products in the United States and setting up a DOT compliant factory in China that can be registered with the NHTSA will require significant effort. Maybe that explains why the 25 mph 4-seat Polaris GEM needs a $15,000 lead-acid battery and has no doors or windows!
You will often see them for around $2,000 on Alibaba and other Chinese shopping sites. The real cost is actually much higher. As I mentioned, I had to add $1,000 for the big battery right away, $500 for upgrades of my choice, and $2,200 for ocean shipping.
On the US side, I had to add another $1,000 or so in customs and brokerage fees, as well as some arrival fees. I ended up paying $7,000 for the whole set and a bunch of stuff. This is definitely more payout than I expected. When I placed the order, I was hoping to avoid a $6,000 loss.
While some may find the final price extortionate, consider other options. Today, a crappy lead-acid golf cart costs about $6,000. Unfinished costs $8,000. Very good in the range of $10-12000. However, all you have is a golf cart. It’s not fenced, which means you’ll get wet. There is no air conditioning. There are no janitors. The door was not locked. No windows (electric or otherwise). There are no adjustable bucket seats. There is no infotainment system. There are no hatches. No hydraulic dump truck bed, etc.
So while some may consider this a glorified golf cart (and I have to admit there is some truth to that), it is both cheaper and more practical than a golf cart.
Even though the truck is illegal, I’m fine. I didn’t buy it for that purpose, and of course it doesn’t have any safety equipment to make me feel comfortable using it in traffic.
Instead, it’s a work truck. I will use it (or more likely my parents will use it more than me) as a farm truck on their property. In my first few days of use, it proved to be very suitable for the task. We used it on the ground to pick up fallen limbs and debris, haul crates and gear around the property and just enjoy the ride!
It certainly outperforms gas UTVs because I never have to top it up or choke on the exhaust. The same goes for buying an old fuel truck – I prefer my fun little electric car that does everything I need on the spot.
At this point, I’m excited to start modifying the truck. This is already a good base, although it still needs to be worked on. The suspension is not very good and I’m not sure what I can do there. Some softer springs might be a good start.
But I will also be working on some other additions. The truck could use a good rust treatment, so that’s another area to start.
I am also thinking about installing a small solar panel on top of the cab. Even relatively low power panels such as 50W panels can be quite efficient. Assuming a truck has an efficiency of 100 Wh/mile, even a few miles of daily use around the house can be fully offset by passive solar charging.
I tested it with the Jackery 1500 solar generator and found that I could get a constant charge from the sun using a 400W solar panel, although this would require dragging the unit and panel or setting up a semi-permanent setup somewhere nearby.
I would also like to add some stands to the lift platform so my parents can lift their trash cans and carry them down the driveway like a country road to the public road to pick up the trash.
I decided to stick a racing stripe on it to squeeze a few extra miles an hour out of it.
I also have a few other interesting mods on my list. A bike ramp, a ham radio, and maybe an AC inverter so I can charge things like power tools directly from a truck’s 6 kWh battery. If you have any ideas I am also open to suggestions. Meet me in the comments section!
I will be sure to update in the future so you know how my mini truck performs over time. In the meantime, meet you on the (dirty) road!
Mika Toll is a personal electric vehicle enthusiast, battery lover, and author of the #1 selling Amazon books DIY Lithium Batteries, DIY Solar Energy, The Complete DIY Electric Bicycle Guide, and The Electric Bicycle Manifesto.
The e-bikes that make up Mika’s current daily riders are 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.