With our spy shots of Ford’s Universal EV pickup hitting the market sometime next year, with an expected price of $30,000 and an expected range of 300 miles, all eyes are on Slate, which plans to announce pricing on June 24th.
Slate is having loads of media at an event leading up to that June 24th embargo, not just to capture content with the new truck, but specifically to learn the price; Slate has “hear the price” in its invitation’s subject line. This leads me to think the price is going to be good. At least, that’s wishful thinking.
All we’ve really heard for the longest time is that the price will be in the “mid 20s,” and prior to that we heard it would start around $20,000 with incentives that are no longer here due to changes in the U.S. presidential administration. Since then, Ford announced its EV truck, which in base form is undoubtedly going to be way better equipped than the Slate, which comes standard with crank windows, manual locks, manual seats, and no radio.
I love the idea of a back-to-basics truck, not just because it’s less likely to break and easier to fix oneself, but because in theory, a back-to-basics truck should be dirt cheap. At least, if you’re a legacy automaker with skills and factories and economies of scale.
And so that leads me to a question I don’t have the answer to: How cheap does a 150-mile, crank-window equipped electric two-door pickup truck have to be to be successful? It’s something a number of Slate enthusiasts are asking themselves around the internet.
I’m going to define “success” as a volume of 100,000 units annually. Is that definition based on anything other than my own personal delineator for “high volume”? Not it’s not, and the true definition of success is sustainability for the company. But let’s just roll with that number.
For me the number I’d like to see — though I don’t know if it’ll yield 100,000 sales — is $25,000. This is mostly just a gut thing, not driven just by the Slate’s lack of basic amenities, but primarily driven by the fact that it has only two doors. That, at least these days, tends to be a volume-killer. But cool and cheap is a hard combo to resist. Then again, at $25 grand you can buy a pretty well outfitted Chevy Trax…
The two-door thing is going to be tricky, and I do like the look of the Ford truck, but car purchases are often irrational, and if the Slate is the cooler vehicle of the two, and if it can undercut the Ford significantly, maybe it stands a chance. Maybe they can both succeed; I’m not entirely sure the two are vying for exactly the same customer.
What do you think?
Ok I joined just to comment.
As long as Chinese EVs are banned, we must make do.
I think Slate, depending on price, has a huge market for late boomers, genjones, and the next generation.
I’m 61, retired, living on a farm 30 miles from any town with a Home Depot. I own a BMW 2021 x3 suv.
Furniture, large plants, plywood, and other farm/hobby things don’t fit. Always have to ask a friend to borrow a truck. I’ve been looking at used gas but even they can be expensive.
Who needs electric windows? Didn’t grow up with them. And who wants to drown driving into water?
A radio? I can play my phone. Waze gives audio updates of police and hazards. 2-doors? There’s just me and my , husband when home so who cares?
I LOVE the idea of a simple damn truck like my late father’s 1971 El Camino. And I’m environmentally and money conscious — EVs have been much cheaper fuel wise past few months.
So if you are a retiree on a farm, rural area, or even in the burbs who needs a small truck to haul shit for hobbies, gardening, moving, small business, or the like, the Slate seems a wish to good to come true.
Like back in the day when they gave tax breaks for “farm use” vehicles and people had signs identifying as such (actually saw one yesterday), the Slate sounds perfect and you can upgrade customize if you are that prissy.
Have to wait and see and compare with new Ford but I sold and need to sign up on the reservation list!!
I just saw this. The SLATE forum is all a-buzz about an update from SLATE that was visible for about 30 minutes last night, then taken down.
Says starting price is $24,950 for the basic truck with no options.
Screen capture also noted the Hp rating of the single motor has dropped to 135kW. No word on torque.
Nothing new now that they’ve removed it from the official site. May just be a trial balloon or marketing gimmick to keep people on the hook.
https://www.slateforums.com/forum/threads/looks-like-price-announced.15025/
I’ll also point out the price did not include any doc fees, taxes, and the destination charges. I wonder what SLATE’s destination charge will be?
If Ford pulls of $30k the. Slate is dead in the water.
Don’t know if anyone else posted this but: 21000. though America would rather it was 20,999 for the 150 model and 25500 for the better range trucklet
As someone who built out one of these with plenty of add-ons (and the slope style top), I’m pretty interested to see where it lands on pricing. If it’s cheap enough, I might seriously consider getting rid of my FJ for it. I don’t drive much because I work from home, so gas prices only really affect me once a month, but even so, it is a drag to see how inefficient the FJ is. An electric for my driving and roadtrips would be nice. We’ll see, but if it ends up being around 22-23k for my configuration, it’s going to be incredibly tempting.
What if they went with a lease only model? Around $200/month in 6 month increments. You own your personalization options and down the line you might be able to buy a decommissioned and refurbished one cheaply, perhaps your own, after. Remember they’re an Amazon company.
Google Search on Cheapest Lease Deals shows $199 / for 36 months is a common entry point.
The SLATE will need to be well below $199
Those all seem to require a significant down payment to reach $199/month. Any lease can be $199/month if you put enough money down.
I haven’t seen a $199/mo lease since the bottom of the great recession. Once you spread out the up front payment it’s always $450+.
I bought one of the Howard Bentley GMC Sierra “specials” written about here: https://www.theautopian.com/gmc-is-trying-to-sell-its-inventory-of-4-cylinder-trucks-and-its-resulting-in-some-extremely-cheap-brand-new-sierra-1500s/comment-page-1/?pubDate=20260424
It’s a damn good truck and can tow *almost* as well as my Ram with the 5.7- my trailer is 3500#. 20mpg with regular driving. 400+ mile range. And I got it for less than 27K. For the Slate to be competitive with that, it needs to be $19,999 or less.
I see the comparison because they are both basic, two door trucks with similar prices.
But I don’t think that’s a fair comp. I, for example, put down a $50 for funsies on the Slate because of a lot of things, but two were non-negotiable: 1) it needed to have plug-in range of at least 30 miles and 2) It had to be small enough to fit in my third stall alongside all my other stuff that fills half of it.
A Sierra, no matter how cheap, fits neither of those and so I wouldn’t shop it even if it was $20k out the door.
Well under $20,000. 150 mile range makes it a nonstarter for 90+% of the public. Compliance cars were roundly rejected by the public ten years ago.
Any successful inexpensive electric vehicle will be a very low VDE vehicle. Under 2 square meters frontal area, under 0.25 drag coefficient, under 1400kg, to get 250 miles out of 50 kWh.
$20,000 these will be wildly successful.
$25,000 big hit.
$30,000 largely overlooked, niche vehicle.
I would reduce that.
$17.5k wildly successful – because many people will need/want the rear seats and/or a topper right off the bat, whether they want it to cosplay a Wrangler or fit four passengers without getting wet.
$20k to be a hit.
$25k largely overlooked – because the new Ford EV will still eat its lunch at that price.
But there is no WAY any of these are feasible. And the tax credit wouldn’t save it anymore either, even if it still existed. Before it had that as an advantage over the Maverick. Now the Ford EV truck will get that too.
i want them to sell these at ikea
It MUST have personality. I recently off-loaded my completely practical ’23 Maverick Hybrid — in part — because it had zero personality on the road. I mean, it was well-enough put together and the little design choices were fun-ish. And it checked ALL the practicality boxes for a daily driver.
But.
It lacked soul. It was just an appliance. I wanted to love it. I joined a bunch of yay-Maverick forums and made a few mods. But I could not escape the overall MEH of the driving experience. Meh acceleration, meh handling, jittery ride, lame stereo, glitchy infotainment. Too small to be big, yet too big to be truly small.
$25K for a Slate truck seems solid enough. $15K would make it a worldbeater.
As much as I want Slate to succeed, I’m starting to come around to the fact that I don’t think it will unless the starting price is in the mid-teens. That is probably impossible to achieve.
There are just too many compromises and too many alternatives available in the mid 20’s for most people to choose the Slate over a traditional used EV or something more practical like the new Bolt/Leaf.
However, if they can carve out a niche for people who really want/need a truck and/or value repairability and customization, that might be a market they can serve at a lower volume.
It doesn’t have to be competitive, that stupid piece of shit is a ridiculously mean-spirited joke at US citizens’ expense.
It can only exist because of the absurd protectionist tariffs and import bans that the murican auto industry bought all our politicians to get so that they don’t have to compete, ever.
In a world where the US wasn’t doing everything it could to prevent Chinese vehicles from making it to the US, this would not, could not exist, because you can only pretend a featureless trash can on wheels is a vAlUe when there’s nothing to compare it to.
Correction: The Slate comes standard with power locks.
Remote keyless entry is listed as a standard feature here: https://www.slate.auto/en/specs
For me it’s not about price first. It’s can I live with it? Can I repair it anywhere at a local shop? Will the bugs and digital quirks annoy me?
I had an EV, have a charger and solar. I don’t find any of the current digital enshitification on wheels enticing at any price.
So… I used to work at Re:Build Manufacturing, which is where Slate was conceived and born. I wasn’t directly involved in the project in any way, but it’s my understanding that the original price target was about $13k.
I really want Slate to succeed.
It has to be REALLY cheap.
Like, $15k.
If you are in the market for this I bet you are also the kind of person who would cross-shop great used options.
Like used Lightings.
And definitely you would cross shop whatever little truck Ford is cooking up.
I cannot see anyone electing to pay mid-20s based on what this offers.
No matter how cool it is.
That was my gut tbh but realistically I just can’t see it, iirc even the Mitsubishi Mirage was pushing over $15K and that’s about as bare bones a car as one could get in in the USA in the last 5-10 years.
Just looked up electric ATVs.
They are pushing 15k!
But see Light Phone.
Not cheap.
Basic.
Selling every one they can make.
Wow that’s wild that electric ATVs sell for that much though suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. The light phone is pretty cool, I’ve fleetingly entertained the idea of buying one before. Sort of assumed it was too much of a niche curiosity to do well, but if they’re meeting whatever sales they need to keep the company going that’s great!
I originally put my name on the list because it was cool and would fit my needs as a daily commuter EV. That was when I was thinking the base could be ~18-19k. That’s about where I think I’ll land on budget for my next daily, but that might not even be for another 5-6 years or more.
Basically, I know I could replace my manual Mazda3 today with a used Bolt or whatever for about that price, but no existing EV less than 20k was all that interesting to me and the Slate is/was.
I took my name off the list once the EV rebate was gone because at 20k plus it’s too expensive for the compromises vs my Mazda3 (can’t really take the kids places, range is too low for long trips if my wife needs her car, etc).
Now, the situation is even more dire for the Slate due to the improved used EV landscape. I think I could get an Ioniq6 for 20k or so if I wanted to, so if I was seriously considering switching to an EV the Slate isn’t the only low-cost, interesting option.
Maybe at 15k I’d still be in.
With the flood of lease returns now starting to come in SLATE has a problem. All those Hyundai/Kia EVs (EV6, Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6, even the Kona EV) that have low miles will still have 3 or so years left on their bumper-to-bumper warranty and 8 years or so on their EV power trains. They’re no-brainers for a feature rich EVs in the low-mid 20s.
This past January we paid only $28K for a 2004 Ioniq 6 Limited AWD with only 6,000 miles on it and about 5/9 years left on the warranty. A CPO for 1/2 of the original sticker. It’s a damn fine sedan with 800v high speed charging if you need it, and the AWD, especially in sport mode, is quicker than any car I’ve ever owned (~4.5 seconds 0-60). Slate will have some serious competition not only from new EVs but all those gently used ones.
FWIW. I was also an early reservation holder for a SLATE. I’ve since gotten my $50 back.
Let’s put a rough number on EV cost savings at $1500 per year vs. ICE vehicles. So if you shop this against a Trax at ~$22k, you could pay $27k for a Slate and break even in year 4. I think Slate has to be more aggressive than that with pricing to get people to take the dive on a new brand.
The operating costs savings really depends on where you charge. For residential charge you’ll pay about 1/3 – 1/5 the cost in electricity based on an equal mpg for most EVs; assuming 4 miles/kWh average. If the EV isn’t very efficient , and I don’t think the SLATE will be very based on the box shape and lowest cost priority (< 3 miles/kWh), the payback period may be even longer.
Of course it all depends on the your specific residential electricity rates as well as the cost of a gallon of gas in your neighborhood. as well as the specific EV and gas car you’re comparing it to.
If you pay highway (robbery) costs for high speed level-3 public charging, then I don’t think there’s really any operating savings at all other than no oil changes.
Agreed! That’s why, as a niche vehicle in a niche market, and the price needs to be very compelling to get the volume and general interest up.