Slate is an anagram of Tesla.
Chances are, you’ve heard people complain about the cost of vehicles, and specifically trucks. Well, here is Slate Auto, producing a sub-$20,000 (with government EV Tax credit) no-frills EV truck that’s smaller than most of the trucks on the road.
The truck is essentially modular, to a certain extent. You can, with accessories, turn it into an SUV. It comes without paint, rocking the plastic panels reminiscent of a Saturn, meaning it can be wrapped in whatever color you want. It has no screens; hell, it doesn’t even have a stereo. It is quite literally the diametric opposite of the Cybertruck.
So, the main thing here is customizability. That’s nice. But you may notice that there is a fairly sizeable amount of negativity for the Slate truck online. Why?
Well let’s start with the battery. By default, the battery gives 150 miles in range, with an option to upgrade to a larger pack that offers 240 miles of range. The problem is that the person that says they want a bare-bones, no-frills truck doesn’t want an EV in the first place, they want a truck designed like they were roughly 30 years ago. And even if they did want an EV, that ~$20,000 can buy you a better EV than this, with both more range and more features on the base model.
See, one of the worst things the Obama administration did (you know, aside from all the drone strikes) was mess with the car market. The soul crushing disaster that was Cash for Clunkers aside (the effects of which are still felt by anyone looking for an entry-level vehicle), the other major thing they did was alter the emissions and safety standards for trucks specifically. This is the reason why you see people bemoan the size of modern trucks, to say nothing of their massively inflated cost. They are that size to meet ridiculous environmental and safety standards, as well as the then-updated CAFE standards.
The one thing that Slate really does right here is sidestep all of that by being an EV. That said, it would probably be better if we revised those standards so that we can have smaller, affordable, and no less fuel-efficient trucks on the road again. Kei trucks aren’t exactly the solution (and they are dubiously legal in much of North America), but they do accomplish almost everything the Slate truck does at a much lower cost. Just some fuel for thought.
Long story short, I expect to see an Aging Wheels video on this thing at some point in the future. It’s right up that man’s alley. He made a video where he pulled stuck cars out of the snow with an electric Rivian truck.
Regardless, there is currently no hard number as to the cost of the Slate truck. You can put down a refundable $50 reservation for it on the official site. But other than that, things have been kept nebulous. Especially considering the truck launches in late 2026.
And it probably will release. Slate is backed by a number of heavy financial hitters, most notably Jeff Bezos. That said, all the venture capital in the world can’t force something to be successful; if they don’t sell enough, they will go belly up, just like many other startup automakers.
Source: TechCrunch
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