Likely a victim of the Trump administration’s anti-EV and anti-clean energy policies, California startup EdisonFuture appears to be calling it quits before it could ever launch a production version of its proposed electric delivery pickup trucks and vans. Parent company Hamilton Group LLC, which also owns Solar4America, has loaded all of its remaining inventory into Bidspotter.com as part of a “Solar MFG facility closure, inventory and support” auction. Among a sea of solar controllers, panels, and duck-curve flattening batteries lies a pristine sliding-door pickup-truck-looking delivery van wearing the EdisonFuture badge. You should definitely buy it.
Bidspotter
This machine would have been known as an “EF1-V” in company parlance, and was allegedly on track to make production in 2025. With the optional dual-motor setup, EF claimed this truck would make 690 horsepower, tow 8,000 pounds of material, and deliver over 400 miles of all-electric range. Edison’s plan was to deliver vehicles with large solar panels — hence the connection to Solar4America — which could add up to 35 miles of range to the battery per sunny day, reports The Autopian.
Unfortunately none of that ever came to pass and the prototype vehicle languishes in a warehouse in Sacramento, California waiting for its big debut. It’s a van based on a truck platform, so it’s kind of like the automotive equivalent of a sphinx or griffin. If you want to be the only person in the world with an EdisonFuture EF1-V in your driveway, however, you’ll have to answer the truck/van combo’s riddles three. Unlike a sphinx or griffin, answering these riddles won’t net you untold riches, however, just a cool truck/van thing.
Riddle me this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPAF8d1mrQY
Riddle the first, how do you get it to run? This truck is currently in a state of non-operation, though it isn’t clear whether the vehicle never ran in the first place, or if it was running at one point but has become inoperative. Maybe you can get it to move with your own motor controller and battery stack? Riddle the second, how do you get it titled? According to the auction platform, this vehicle comes with no title, which is a non-starter in California. There are some sketchy state title offices that might figure out a way to get it road legal with a bill of sale and some funny business, but that’s part of the riddle. Riddle the third, what the heck do you do with it once it’s running and titled? That one is completely up to you.
As of this writing the machine, which likely cost millions in custom production to assemble, has been bid up to just $3,300. There are a few days to go on the auction, but you could really get yourself a bargain with this one if you bid right. It could be the cheapest electric van in the world. Maybe a YouTuber will buy it.
Bidspotter
My take is that this truck/van has a very neat look to it. If you are a tinkerer with the gift of fab, you might be able to get this thing working and driving under its own power, and you could have a cool truck that actually looks good instead of that rolling ego stroke Cybertruck. If your company needs a delivery vehicle to stand out and be different, this might be the one for you. Or you could load your kid’s gokart in the back to haul to the track and be the coolest karting dad in the paddock. It’s your call, really.
