Somebody at KILOW seems to have watched a full-size pickup arrive at a farmers market, leave with a single crate of tomatoes, and done the math. La Bagnole is a two-seat electric utility quadricycle with a wooden cargo bed and exactly the sort of face you want to see poking around the corner on market day. At barely nine feet long, it looks like the pickup’s kid came along to help.
The French-built runabout makes a pretty specific offer. Two people get seats up front. The crates ride out back. You can pick a version that runs up to 45 km/h, or one that stretches to 80 km/h. Those numbers tell you more about where it belongs than any heroic photograph of a vehicle balanced on a boulder ever could. Think village streets, errands around a property, or the road between a shop and its customers.
A truck bed you can reach across
Look at La Bagnole from the side and try to find a wasted inch. The windshield rises almost straight up from the stubby nose. The seats sit just ahead of the cargo area, and the wheels stick out at the corners like somebody drew the tires first and squeezed in the vehicle afterward. The whole thing measures roughly 2.81 meters long and 1.50 meters wide. A passenger in the other seat is definitely going to hear you singing.
The bed is where this little pickup earns its keep. KILOW lists up to 650 liters of cargo space and a load of 150 kilograms, about 331 pounds. Volume and weight are two very different shopping lists. A heap of empty produce crates can take up the whole bed and still be easy to unload. Bags of gravel can reach the weight limit while leaving you with a lovely uninterrupted view out the back.
One of KILOW’s photos shows a person lowering a crate into the back, and it explains the appeal better than a diagram. Stand alongside, reach over, set it down. Fresh berries can have their own corner. So can the muddy boots you would otherwise put on the passenger floor and remember three warm days later. A separate place for the messy stuff feels like a luxury when you usually do these jobs in a hatchback.
Which La Bagnole fits the route?
Start with the road home. If your regular loop goes through a little town and ends back at the same outlet, the standard version has a clear job. If the miles add up through repeated deliveries, KILOW offers a bigger battery at the same modest top speed. Drivers whose route calls for a faster version have a third choice. The configurator gives each combination its own figures.
| Configuration | Battery | Listed range | Top speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 6 kWh | 70 km (43 miles) | 45 km/h (28 mph) |
| Longer-range 45 | 12 kWh | 164 km (102 miles) | 45 km/h (28 mph) |
| 80 km/h version | 12 kWh | 164 km (102 miles) | 80 km/h (50 mph) |
Say the bakery is ten kilometers away and you have promised to make three round trips. You have just put sixty kilometers on the day’s list, even though you never once went very far from home. That is a much better argument for the larger pack than a vague ambition to take up adventuring. Those ranges are manufacturer figures, so leave some room in the day’s arithmetic for conditions, cargo and detours. Especially the detour back to the bakery for the bread you went there for.
- For bulky deliveries, work out how the crates fit and what they weigh when full.
- For a regular commute, consider the speed of the roads between home and work along with the distance.
- For an open-air summer runabout, look at the removable roof and door choices before settling on a build.
- For overnight trips, the optional Quechua rooftop tent calls for the matching roof bars.
Wood, windows and a very short options meeting that could last all afternoon
The little cargo box introduces a decision seldom encountered at a car dealership. How do you feel about varnish? KILOW offers resin-bonded wood fiber for people who want a finish they can leave alone. The optional okoume marine plywood needs periodic varnishing. It has the charm of a small boat, right down to the part where someone in the family has acquired a small boat chore.
Choosing bodywork also changes how you use the cabin. The roof attaches with screws and comes off, and transparent removable doors are available with the roof kit. In the turquoise version, you can see the outline of the seat through the side. From across a parking lot the effect is closer to a pair of people sitting in a picture frame than the usual wall of tinted glass.
There are real decisions hiding among the fun ones. Steel or aluminum wheels largely come down to taste for someone running errands around town. An open bed or a covered cargo setup is another matter if you deliver things that turn to pulp in the rain. Pick the jobs first and the paint second. Admittedly, this advice is much easier to follow before you have seen the turquoise one.
Underneath that cheerful body sits a steel chassis with galvanized steel wishbones, four disc brakes and a pair of brushless motors. The cabin keeps the driver close to the mechanical business of getting around. KILOW’s interior photograph shows a slim dashboard, a wheel and a generous view through the windshield. You can see why a quick trip along the back road might become the errand everyone suddenly volunteers to do.
La Bagnole at a glance
- Two seats and a separate rear load area in a French-made electric quadricycle.
- Approximately 9.2 feet long and 4.9 feet wide, with a listed weight of 357 kg.
- Maximum cargo figures of 650 liters and 150 kg.
- Three configurations covering two top speeds and two battery sizes.
- Removable roof, transparent doors and different cargo finishes available as options.
KILOW lists La Bagnole from €10,800 including tax, before options. Its ordering process calls for a €290 deposit. The roof, doors, bed treatments and camping gear shown across the different builds can change the total, so the little truck in your favorite photograph is worth comparing with the one in your configuration. The exact same shade of turquoise can be hauling a rather different shopping bill.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Useful cargo space in a remarkably short vehicle | Dense loads can reach the weight limit well before the bed looks full |
| Longer-range battery offered even on the slower version | Base configuration has a listed 70 km range |
| Removable bodywork suits different seasons | Roof and door kit adds to the base price |
| Wooden finishes give the bed character | Okoume plywood needs periodic varnishing |
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This Tiny Electric Utility Quadricycle Hauls 331 Pounds in a Wooden Bed
At a glance
