In April the world got a jaw drop surprise that another new EV startup is on the horizon. Great, another one but this one is different. Slate introduced themselves to the world with a new compact, ultra low cost, simple to the core EV pickup truck platform that promises to be cheap and infinitely customizable.
The Michigan based company backed by big players like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is already well underway with a factory in Warsaw Indiana that tooling up and a fleet of pre-production trucks already in final testing. There’s also a front facing fully fun and informative website where you can learn all about it and reserve one now.
The truck itself is what the world has been wanting for decades. It’s a small single cab, bare bones, down to basics and cheap. Slate tells us the new compact EV pickup will cost under $20,000 after federal tax credits which means actually MSRP would be somewhere around $27,000 give or take for a base model.
And that’s the strategy, they are all base models. They are all built in one trim grade, in one color, and in one configuration. The single and only option will be an expanded battery pack. All the customizations you have at your fingertips are accessories that can be added before it’s delivered or anytime after you buy it – including the SUV kit.
Yeah, a DIY SUV upgrade kit. See where this is going now? It’s it IKEA furniture of trucks where you can have them put it together for you or order your own kits over time including pre-cut vinyl wraps to color it up any way you want.
The Slate truck itself starts with a basic EV powertrain of a single 201 horsepower motor for rear-wheel drive. It has a DeDion rear axle which means a twist beam and a MacPherson strut front suspension that can be ordered lowered, standard height or with a lift kit.
It’s base range is 150 miles with the standard 52.7 kWh batter underneath the floor. The 84.3 kWh upgraded battery gets you to a 240 mile range. Curb weight is about 3,600 pounds with standard battery and it’s silhouette is about the same as a Ford Maverick only about 23-inches shorter on count of its single cab.
How is it so cheap? Well start with it’s composite plastic exterior panels which come in only color and hang on a steel space frame. No paint shop to build, maintain, or spend on product for. Then have a look inside. There’s crank windows, manual seats, knobs for the HVAC system, and plastic floors.
What’s the standard infotainment system? Your phone. Accessories like Bluetooth speakers can be added to play your tunes because there is no audio system to add weight, cost and complexity. You wanted basic brother, you got it. If you really need a big screen, they offer a tablet holder for you to hang your own tablet, download the Slate app and then you can pretend you have a real infotainment system.
With over 100 accessories currently shown on t heir website for building and fun, the truck promises to be indeed a blank slate for buyers to start cheap or walk away fully built, either when they take delivery or build it up over time. Love it.
There are no leather seats, self driving autonomous crap we never asked for from carmakers, or any of the high-end tech that makes modern cars too expensive and that’s so going to break later down the road.
There are safety features though like a targeted 5 start crash rating, air-bags all around, forward emergency braking, and rear-view camera that displays on the center instrument cluster. That may sound generous, but lets be real it’s required by law.
You can reserve your place in line to order a Slate now on the website with a refundable $50 bucks. First production said to start in late 2026. Ordering, specing out and most likely an order deposit for your own truck will come much later down the road closer to production time.
Will it actually happen? Well startups are always a fickle thing. Sometimes they happen, sometimes they don’t. For me $50 bucks was reasonable gamble to get my name in line because I just love the idea of this thing and want one. With people like Jeff Bezos online as a backer, I think the odds are good I’m not going to lose my $50.
In the meantime I’ve got a year and a half to two years to play around with the configurator and decide how I want to order mine.
