Anyone under the age of 40 has likely piloted a Cozy Coupe. The iconic red-and-yellow plaything made by Little Tikes famously became the undisputed best-selling car on the planet by 1991, when it was revealed that it had sold over 500,000 units in that year alone. Its charming simplicity and accessibility have meant continued success in the decade since.
With a giant hole in the floor meant for kids to stick their feet through and propel the Cozy Coupe, the mini-car has always technically been human-powered. But for years, Little Tikes has offered a fueling station accessory to connect to the car’s onboard gas cap, alluding to the idea that if the Cozy Coupe had a powertrain, it would use gasoline.
For the first time in nearly 50 years, that’s changing. Little Tikes has just introduced a new electric charging station as an accessory for the Cozy Coupe, meaning that, in the imaginary world of Cozy Coupe propulsion, the car is now available as an EV.
It’s called the Cozy E-Charging Station, and it’s a standalone piece that you can buy separately from the Cozy Coupe. It features a plug that slots neatly into the Coupe’s standard fuel door, meaning you don’t have to make any modifications to the car to accept electric power (I truly wish it were that easy for real cars). And thanks to a set of three AA batteries, the station can even power on and flash lights and sounds towards the user.
There’s even more news for commercial users running job sites in their backyards. Little Tikes says the E-Charging Station is compatible with any Cozy Coupe-style vehicle it sells, which means it should make converting vehicles like the Cozy Truck and Cozy Ice Cream Truck to electric power a breeze.
The company also says using the charger “raises environmental awareness,” which I’m not totally sold on, seeing as how the action of plugging it in is the same as using the longstanding “Cozy Pumper,” the name of the fuel pump accessory, and the car remains foot-powered no matter which accessory you pair it to. In the world of role-playing, I guess it makes some sense. If your kid sees you plugging the family Mustang Mach-E into a charger rather than filling it up at a gas station, they might be a bit confused about filling up their toy car with gasoline.
Weirdly, this isn’t the first time that Little Tikes has introduced the Cozy Coupe to electric power. As The Bishop pointed out back in 2024, the company also sells a floating, inflatable boat version of the Cozy Coupe that comes equipped with two electric motors and a remote control, so parents can lead them around the pool. The remote can also mount to the dash for in-cabin control, if you’re the type of parent to trust your kid with that sort of power.
Whether this means Little Tikes will eventually start selling motorized versions of the original Cozy Coupe isn’t clear—it’s never done that since the product’s inception, and it would likely make the toy more expensive and complex. With EV demand for real cars flattening out, I wouldn’t be surprised if Little Tikes puts that idea on the back burner for now.
Top graphic images: Little Tykes; Redbubble
One of The Bishop’s previous articles:
https://www.theautopian.com/could-a-floating-cozy-coupe-help-normalize-the-idea-of-amphibious-vehicles/
They think toddlers are gonna sit still for two hours while it charges?
Sorry, but Matt’s article kicks this article’s ass!
https://www.theautopian.com/citing-flagging-demand-for-evs-little-tikes-reintroduces-v8-to-the-cozy-coupe/
The part about the subscription for juice box holders is priceless.
These are all powered by biomass fuels anyway.
The emissions are terrible too
Pretty sure I’ve shared this on the site before, but I didn’t get to have a Cozy Coupe, because Dad didn’t like the way the plastic faded in the sun. He didn’t tell me this, of course…his excuse to me was that he wanted to find one with pedals. (There were no Cozy Coupes with pedals, and the fancy metal pedal cars were out of the question.)
One day many years later, when I was driving what would eventually become my Jeep, Dad looked over at me and said “Hey, we finally found you one with pedals.”
One now wonders – will Cyclops also be offering an electric option?
Selling my Little Tikes stock ahead of the inevitable $1.2B writedown of their electrification efforts.
My Cozy Coupe ran on sticks (broken into pieces and put into the gas cap) and sometimes mud.
I mean, I just don’t understand the point of it. They have ACTUAL electric cars for kids. They’re called power wheels. Other than the “Oh, I see you got your kid the cozy couple with the gas pump, what are you, some kind of monster? I got mine the one with that’s electric.” comments. Then you have to explain what pretend means to that person, and we all know that’s not going to go well.
You just know Fox News is going to have a freakout the first time one of these catches fire after being hit by a big wheel. As if the regular Cozy Coupes never catch fire
That is completely adorable!
I had an electric Jaaaaag as a kid. I think it came from Monkey Wards. Yes, I am getting old.
Mine was pedal powered, but yeah I had a red E-type as a kid in the early 80s.
Mine was proper BRG, and mid-70s. I actually asked for the pedal version I think, and was shocked to get the fancy electric one. I was probably 6-7. Getting that for Christmas is one of my earlier memories. A lot of my early memories revolve around car stuff. I can remember earlier than that getting one of those driving games where a round platter like a 3d record spun and you drove a little car over hill and dale. A gearhead at a very tender age.
I outgrew it and it passed to my next younger cousin I think. Being the oldest cousin I always got the new shiny. 🙂
They still sell the gas pump model why is everyone making such a fuss. Its just a new product offering to keep up with the times. Little kid sees dad plug in his car and wants to do it too? Must every minor aspect to life be so mired in political lensing and millennial meltdowns…
Using the power of imagination, I also charge my gas-powered car at charging stations!
Oh, great. I can hear it now. “Dad, the charger won’t accept payment through the app or my card!” or “Dad, this 110 isn’t doing shit, the coupe has been plugged in for six hours and I’ve only got 3% charge!”
So it didn’t change anything other than making an accessory available to switch the pretend fuel source from gasoline/ fuels to electricity while contributing to future pollution to virtue signal on the playground? Lol that’s hilarious because the vehicle still runs on bio fuels based on whatever the child ate that day.
So you can pretend to fuel like Doc Brown in bttf with plutonium. This sucker is nuclear. No it’s electrical but I needed a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts to make time travel possible
Just don’t toy time travel back to the 1950s where plutonium is hard to get. But not as hard as gasoline in the 1850s, though apparently judging by the coda of the final film, you can actually get the parts for time travel tech then I guess.
“I’m sure that in 1985, chicken nuggets are available in every corner drugstore, but in 1955, they’re a little hard to come by.”
My son had the dinosaur version which was a hybrid. It’s the best one, in my opinion.
No mention of Paykin’s Suzuki Swift that was cut down to be an actual Cozy Coupe with an ICE engine?
For anyone interested… here’s the first video of that conversion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSmCTkQ07Mk
I just really want to see the Autopia cars at Disneyland electrified. Following a bunch of lawn mower motors with poor gas pedal response isn’t very fun.
Next, the Cosy Cummins Coupe version with the smoke machine option, letting you roll coal on the lib neighbor’s kid with the EV Coupe?
“The Cozy-Dozer”
Unfortunately the kids’ feet no longer touch the ground.
Not if you drop the rear in a Carolina squat.
Did they also removed apple carplay? cof cof GM
Like Fred Flintstone driving around with bald feet!
Not my Lamborfeeties!
The Ford Plantar Fasciitis
Fastest time around the Nurburgringworm
Should I have another sip? Naahh, skip it
“Cozy Pumper” was my nickname in college.
Per Rule 34, there’s someone out there with a Cosy Coupe kink.
Just wait till the voyeur model drops, the Nosey Coupe.
The perfect way to travel with your peeps.
When I saw the title I thought they actually made the Cozy Coupe battery powered so kids wouldn’t have to pedal with their feet any more which I was going to say doesn’t that defeat the purpose of it? Haha