Friend of the site Derek reached out to me the other day to show me a picture of a peculiar and hard-to-identify delivery van tooling around some California streets, and he was curious about what it was. I was pretty baffled, too; I suspected it was some manner of electric delivery van, likely based on some mass-market van that we don’t normally have in America. In those senses, I was right: this is an electric delivery van, and it’s based on a little Chinese van. It’s a Mullen ONE electric cargo van, and it seems like a pretty useful vehicle.
But, oy, that face! Yeesh.
Now, I’ll be honest, I didn’t identify the van; our writer Antti did. The Mullen ONE is based on the Wuling Rongguang, also known as the Chevrolet N300, Chevrolet Move, Wuling EV50, Wuling PLN, BYD V3, and the BAW Xiaohema in various markets. The EV50 and V3 are both electric vans with specs quite similar to the Mullen ONE, so I suspect they are largely the same vehicles.
The Mullen One stands out from this crowd, though, thanks to its unique face. Here’s what the Chery and BYD versions look like, for example, with most of the other ones quite similar:
Not a bad looking little van. The BYD version has a pretty significantly different front hood and lights and bumper assembly to give it a bit more aggressive look, but they’re both decent looking for what they are, I think. Then we have the Mullen ONE:
I think the hood and headlamps are the same as used on the BYD, but that grille area and incredibly beefy front bumper seem unique.
And looking at it, it’s hard not to be reminded of this:
@best_eva_ “Bart smiled at her with his lower teeth” #bartsimpson #thesimpsons #trend #best_eva_
That is, of course, Bart Simpson making a grotesque underbite face from the early Simpsons episode Bart the Genius, season one, episode two. I think the similarity of look is kind of uncanny, and if you told me that this image of Bart was pinned at the center of Bollinger/Mullen’s designers’ mood board, I’d believe you.
Finding this image of Bart led me down a strange rabbit hole, into the world of online literary criticism, of all things. It seems this image of Bart pulling this grotesque face is used as a sort of mascot for a meme referencing a line in a romance novel where someone is said to “smile with their lower teeth,” which is objectively a baffling thing to do. Especially in a flirty context.
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But let’s get back to this Mullen ONE. It’s allegedly the first electric Class One commercial vehicle (as in light duty, under 6,000 pounds GVWR) to be in use in America, and it seems to be a pretty useful last-mile delivery vehicle.
The specs are pretty decent; 110 miles is good for a local delivery van, and the 80 horsepower motor should be more than enough for most urban-type settings. It’s small and maneuverable and, starting at $27,000 or so, is pretty affordable.
I suspect that giant underbite is a way to get the van to meet American crash safety standards? It has to be something like that, look at that battering ram. Really, I respect it in all its black-rubber-coated brutality. It’s unashamed of its purpose, it’s a big-ass bumper designed to take abuse. Who cares if it’s pretty? I’d rather have this tough, ugly face on my dense-city delivery van than something delicate and lovely.
I haven’t seen these around here yet, but it seems like they are coming; Bollinger, what seems to be the parent company of Mullen and the company that once tried to use me and my invention of the “headgate” in a lawsuit against defunct EV-maker Canoo, has a deal to deliver at least 50 of these vans to one of the largest car dealer networks in the Carolinas.
That’s where I am! Maybe I will see one of these on the road! I better warn my family and friends to be ready; seeing one of these unexpected would likely be quite a shock.
Top graphic images: Derek Powell; 20th Century Fox
Clearly inspired by the Daimler SP250 Dart.
When the RAM ProMaster was introduced, people said it was ugly. Businesses buy them anyhow. It’s a commercial vehicle; if it does what it’s supposed to do with a low TCO, it will sell.
It’s not ugly. It’s awesome. Hell yeah an EV van or any new van for 27k IDGAF what it looks like 😀
Now they just need to make a passenger version!
I’d rather see this on the road than a CyberDumpsterFire.
I’ve been trying to “smile with my lower teeth” and it just… I can feel that it looks weird. I guess you get used to a lower standard of writing when you’re reading romance. My gf reads a lot of them and they are… Not good.
Misogynists, incels, and 40 year-old virgins often fearfully opine that women have teeth in theIr privates. In that scenario, “smiling with her lower teeth” could be a metaphor implying a welcoming (albeit scary) display by a female.
It fairly screams that it’s a cheap and dirty way to make a 1985-95 era van design compliant with 2020s crash standards.
It definitely has to be for the cheapest and easiest way to meet crash standards – there were some tiny Chang’an vans imported here in the 2000s that had a similar kludge,with an AMC Matadoresque protuberance added to the front bumper (in that case, I’m not actually sure those particular vans were sold as road legal, but, if they weren’t, then why the crash safety modification?)
I still think the face of the Dodge Promaster is jarringly ugly. Cheap to produce and repair, no doubt, but wow is that thing homely.
This one isn’t that much worse. I’d hope there’s an actual 5 (or 10) mph bumper under there.
As a former fleet manager, that front bumper is truly beautiful.
Are you sure it’s a front bumper? I’m kinda thinking it’s a repurposed rear bumper, though from what I’m not sure.
Definitely looks like a cast member in “All My Circuits.”
“Is he objecting or backing up?”
“Looks like both.”
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It’s like I’m looking in the mirror man!
Never really thought about it, but yeah, I guess I am a 20th Century Fox. Thanks, Jason!
I dunno, the angry face Jeeps that scream “I’m a snowflake” are still worse.
My first thought too – this guy just looks stern, like he’s focused on work and not your vehicular shenanigans, rather than the much worse antisocial rage face as sported by various Stellantis products.
Man, ol’ Matt Groening and Fox really did a number on us, didn’t they?