TooT: Lebanon’s Ultra-Light Electric Vehicle
What Is TooT?
TooT is Lebanon’s first ultra-light electric vehicle (EV), purpose-built for short & medium distance mobility, on private land & public roads. It navigates narrow roads & avoids congestions.
Compact, safe, & affordable, TooT is our answer to Lebanon’s transport crisis, combining the stability of a car & the simplicity/economy of an e-bike.
Application:
* recreational resorts
* agricultural premises
* university campuses
* city touring
* municipality patrolling
* rental in city centres
* leasing
* working community
* car sharing in a building or a building compound, ..
The project is launched with a 2 passenger version, where the rear passenger seat can be replaced by a cargo space of 400-Litre, which makes it useful by:
* delivery services
* courier services
* catering businesses
* technical maintenance
* street vendors
Basic technical specifications:
Tech Specs Snapshot (for tech-savvy backers)
* Autonomy range: 100 km on flat roads, 65 km on hilly roads (expandable)
* Max Speed: 45 km/h
* Dimensions: L 2.1 m x W 95 cm x H 1.4 m
* Weight: 110 kg
* 2 gearless brushless motors (1 kW each)
* Charging: Standard 220V EU plug (2 hours for a full charge)
* Safety: Roll cage frame, seat belts, safe sodium-ion battery, 3 types of brakes (hand brake, regenerative brake on rear wheels to recharge the battery, hydraulic brakes on front wheels)
* Battery capacity: 2 kWh
Charging:
TooT is supplied with a charger that can be plugged to any regular 220 V
Charging time: less than 2 hours.
The charging cost is:
* 0 if you have access to a solar photovoltaic system.
* Otherwise, less than 0.3 USD (30 cents) from EDL.
TooT can be supplied with a one or two 550 W solar photovoltaic panel(s) & a DC charger that can fill its battery in 2 or 4 hours.
TooT’s sodium-ion battery is 98% recyclable.
Unlike Lithium-Ion batteries, TooT’s sodium-ion battery is fire-safe & temperature insensitive & maintains its full capacity between -20 C & 40 degrees Celsius, which makes it ideal for winter use in the Lebanese mountains, especially in a 4-wheel-drive version.
The energy required to build it is also substantially lower than that of Lithium-Ion batteries since it does not use a critical metal such as Lithium or Cobalt whose extraction is very energy & water consuming. It only uses Manganese which is not a critical metal.
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Who We Are
Phoenus is one of the very few designers & manufacturers of leisure & mobility equipment for children & adults in the Middle East.
It was founded in 2008 by Nicolas Abouchaar, after an engineering career (in manufacturing, design & Techwatch fields) in the automotive industry in France, Germany & the UK.
Nicolas is a graduate of the AUB & the Imperial College - London & the author of a few patents in the mobility & climate control fields.
What triggered the creation of Phoenus is a patent that what sold in 2007 to the Behr/Mahle group, a German automotive supplier.
TooT is the 6th product line of Phoenus.
Our remarkably robust yet very light products draw your attention by their minimalist designs, where elegant & ecological materials such as stainless steel & Plywood are used.
Our product range covers children tricycles (Triclus range available in 3 versions), children balance bikes (Twiclus, EN71 certified), sledges, adult tricycles, cargo tricycles, pedal-driven carousels (Octopus), & leisure electric trains (Trenus).
We also cover a range of outdoor games, geodesic domes, camping pods, & wooden cabins.
They all enjoy a guarantee of 3 to 5 years.
The main drive behind our designs is the quality & amount of raw material we use.
In particular, the scrap rate of our wooden products is exceptionally low thanks to very intricate designs.
The robustness of our products, which is achieved through a robust design & precise manufacturing techniques (CNC cutting, high-precision CNC machining, & laser cutting), allows us to compete with Danish, Dutch & German manufacturers long installed in the highly demanding market of schools, rental, & recreational resorts.
We concentrate our activities on “community” customers where our products are shared by many users, such as schools, kindergartens, NGOs, resorts, & rental shops.
TooT is our flagship innovation for adults.
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Our Mission
Although Phoenus is not yet officially a social enterprise, our main mission is to democratise access to sustainable mobility in Lebanon & the region in order to empower individuals & small businesses by:
* Reducing substantially the investment necessary to buy a conventional car;
* Reducing daily transportation costs;
* Reducing maintenance costs;
* Offering safe & stable alternatives to motorcycles;
* Fighting air & noise pollution with zero-emission design;
* Localising production to create jobs & retain value in Lebanon.
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Why TooT Matters Now
Lebanon’s mobility crisis is not improving:
* the on-going banking crisis prevents most of us from buying a conventional car;
* public transportation is not well developed, especially in rural areas;
* a car’s running & maintenance cost are not affordable for many of us;
* motorcycles which dominate low-cost transport can be dangerous;
* keeping private premises such as agricultural land, university/school campuses, & resorts free of pollution is crucial.
TooT is engineered, manufactured & assembled in Lebanon, & designed to thrive in our infrastructure. We are validating the concept with early partners through pilot programs & market research. Now, we’re ready to scale.
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What We’ve Achieved So Far
* 3 Functional MVPs (Minimum Viable Product) fully built & tested;
* a Pilot program at Taanayel Resort;
* Public test drives of TooT at Power-X exhibition in May 2025, organised by Berytech. Dr. Nizar Hani, Lebanon’s Minister of Agriculture, was one of our guests;
* Partnership signed with an Egyptian agricultural group in order to develop an light electric vehicle for farmers;
* Business Acceleration support from SmartESA & Berytech's Clyntech program.
We’ve proven that TooT works. Now it’s time to build & deliver our first production-ready batch.
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Why We’re Raising $110,000
This crowd funding campaign will allow us to:
Use of Funds | Allocation
* Tools & light machines | $14,000
* Vehicle Homologation (EU & Lebanon) | $11,000
* Production of First 25 Units | $62,000
* Marketing, Branding & Website Integration | $12,000
* Logistics | $3,000
* Further testing | $8,000
Your contribution will directly fund the first Lebanese-made fleet of TooTs, making mobility safer, greener, & more accessible.
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Our Impact Goals
By launching TooT, we aim to:
* Offer an affordable mobility alternative especially for underserved communities;
* Replace dangerous motorcycles & 3-wheelers with safer 4-wheeled EVs;
* Create jobs in design, assembly, & support services;
* We contribute to straightening out the trade balance of Lebanon;
* Inspire a local manufacturing renaissance;
* Strengthen an emerging positive image of Lebanon;
* Reduce transportation emission;
* duplicate the production of TooT in neighbouring countries, especially that its manufacturing requires a very low investment since no dedicated tools or machines are required.
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How You Can Help
* Contribute any amount. Every dollar goes directly toward the $110,000 production and homologation plan listed above.
* Pre-order a TooT for 2900 USD +VAT.
* Sponsor a TooT by contributing in any amount. You can set your priority to agricultural projects, street vendors, maintenance craftsmen (plumber, electrician ..), or university students.
* Share our campaign with friends, journalists, & institutions.
* Reach out if you’re a partner, investor, or distributor.
Every contribution is a support to our socio-economic solidarity.
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Media & Testimonials
* Seen on PodHubBeirut (Instagram reel)
* Seen at PowerX Summit (Instagram reel)
* “We want TooT in every village in Lebanon.” – Early test rider
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What’s Next
* Complete crowd funding: December 2025;
* Tooling & manufacturing kick-off: January 2026;
* First batch rollout: Q1 2026;
* EU homologation: Q2 2026;
* Expansion to Egypt: Q1 2027.
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Follow Us
* Website: Phoenus dot com
* Instagram: @phoenus_lb
* YouTube: @phoenus
