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
OK, can I have one with rear seats???
There’s a dealer near me with a bunch of these vans and a handful of Nikola Tre tractors on their lot. Learning about the fate of Mullen has me seriously questioning their brand choices now. Hopefully they’re still able to provide some support to whoever’s looking for a cheap little electric van by importing spare parts directly from China.
At least it has a face. I’m convinced Lucid would sell twice as many cars if they just had a noticeable face to love or hate! Instead of being something you anthropomorphize and feel passionate about, they are like cold beautiful appliances you admire… but they just don’t trigger much emotion.
And buying and owning nice cars is fundamentally an emotional experience.
I actually rather like the Lucid Air’s face. Reminds me of Geordi LaForge.
Not even close. Every single split headlight design is worse than this.
Not only is the Mullen One an ugly vehicle, Mullen Automotive is a Terrible Company run by con artists.
https://www.greeninvesting.eco/p/mullen-automotive-autopsy-of-an-ev-stock-fraud
Oh I do like that totally basic front bumper!
And the baleen whale grille.
And the name! Whadda you call a sullen mullet?
I also dig that bumper. Very function over form. The rest of it… I don’t know, feels like they went out of their way to make sure this van looked like ass. The simplicity of the bumper really clashes with whatever’s going on above it.
It’s like an AI rending of a van, based on an AI rendering of a van, based on an AI rendering of a van: No details of it goes together in any way, the more you look at it.
I wonder if it really was designed that way?
Base image, many iterations ago might have been a Toyota HiAce or a VW Transporter.
It looks both ugly and extremely pissed off about being so ugly.
Is it harder to make a vehicle with a pleasant face? Why are so many so ugly and pissed looking today? What happened to “Hi”?
They should extend it out another 10″. That way it will be useful as a park bench for passerbys to sit on. If you’re going to be this ugly, at least make yourself useful.
Under the heading of “if you can’t be handsome at least be handy”?
Used car dealer around here has 3 of these for sale. And a random Honda n600. Amongst a sea of moss covered mn12 thunderbirds and late 80s lesabres.
Glad to see that some of British Leyland’s old engineers were able to get new work at long last.
I dunno… ‘ugly’ seems a bit strong. I sort of like it. In a weird way.
It’s ugly in a way I like. As a dozen other people have mentioned, the Ram Promaster is worse and I think it’s because they’re trying to have style and failing. At least the Mullen knows what it’s about.
Also you mentioned Chery twice, but the picture has a bowtie on it so I’m not sure if you meant Chevy? I know Chery is an auto manufacturer as well, but just checking.
Yeah. The Chery references vs the bow-tie on the grill confuse me as well. Looking up Chery on Wikipedia reveals that their relationship with GM has been a bit contentious with GM accusing them of reverse engineering the Daewoo Matiz.
Of the three vehicles pictured here, the Chevy is the most handsome by far. The bumper on the Mullen makes my eyes want to stay shut.
I’ll take this over the Promaster snout. Also, not a fan of giant bumpers on company vehicles. They’re there to absorb damage, but they make it difficult to maneuver in tight spaces with the slightest nick resulting in investigations and disciplinary actions.
And drug tests, can’t forget those! Even if your van is parked with orange cones around it, if someone hits it then it’s an automatic drug test for the driver. At least for Spectrum install contractors. Gotta try and pin it on the driver of course.
They just need to start a service in which you can get that massive bumper wrapped with your company logo or an image. Free advertising space is a seller to companies!
If I were a breeder of Nothing but Bulldogs (hey there the name right there!) this would be a contender as my company vehicle.
I could also see it as a Mac truck branded delivery vehicle sporting its own bulldog.
Jason, please do some research on Mullen. This van obviously isnt coming.
Long story short, they scrapped all the trucks/vans they had at their facility in Michigan. Other vehicles they planned on selling were getting sold off by landlords. Mullen is a shit show scam.
Went and did a quick scan of their website, and yeah they only offer MY 2024 vehicles, which is not indicative of an active going concern in automotive manufacturing.
It’s the straight edges around the ‘grille’ that make this look like a backyard project. They couldn’t just make a gentle arch starting at the character line on each side?
While both are designed for utility over appearance (with appropriate compromises), I have a hard time calling this “the ugliest face in modern motoring” when the new USPS truck exists…
My thoughts exactly.
Scion iA a close relative