Obviously, I drove the new Slate EV, which is a big deal, but Slate also announced that its $24,950 electric pickup truck will not have a range of 150 miles, but rather 205. This bump, a result of a larger battery pack (and some small improvements in overall vehicle efficiency), leads me to a question: Does this change your opinion on whether the Slate truck — a regular cab, back-to-basics pickup truck with crank windows, no radio and no paint — is going to be competitive?
Two weeks ago The Autopian published exclusive photos of a prototype Ford Universal EV truck out testing in Long Beach. The images of the small four-door pickup that Ford claims will have a range of 300 miles and cost $30,000 got everyone talking about Slate, since it’s the other company with well-publicized plans to offer an inexpensive EV truck.
All this chatter led me to write the article “How Cheap Does The Slate Truck Have To Be To Be Competitive?” With that story having 249 comments and counting, it’s clear that people have opinions about the Jeff Bezos-backed (ish) EV startup, which is why it was such a big deal when, last week, The Autopian received a tip from someone who noticed an apparent error on Slate’s website. In the source code for the Slate’s “how to pre-order” page was this:
“26102SLATE_EXPLODED-HERO_v013_1400x800.mp4\”,\”contentType\”:\”video/mp4\”}}}]}},\”headline\”:\”THE MOST AFFORDABLE NEW \\\\nPICKUP TRUCK IN AMERICA.*\”,\”body\”:\”The Slate Truck has all the essentials for the CONFIDENTIAL price of $24,950 (reminder: we’re all still under NDA and prohibited from sharing this).**\”,\”cta\”:{\”metadata\”:
After giving Slate a courtesy heads-up, we wrote “The Slate Truck Will Cost $24,950 According To An Apparent Website Mistake.” In that story, we admitted that we had no clue if that leaked price was a legitimate mistake or Slate was playing some kind of game to perhaps surprise the world with a lower price later. It turns out, the answer appears to be “neither.”
Slate invited me to its headquarters on Monday, and though the company wouldn’t admit that it had something to do with that leak, I know a smirk when I see one. And what’s more, it turns out, the leaked price was real. Here’s a very cool display Slate had on hand at the Monday media event:
So yes, the $24,950 leaked price is legit, and while many of you likely already wrote your opinions of that price in the comments of our price-leak story, there was one crucial piece we were all missing: The actual range.
When Slate announced its truck about 15 months ago, it said the vehicle would come with a standard 52.7 kWh battery that would offer 150 miles of range or an upgraded 84.3 kWh battery, which would crank range up to 240 miles. Due largely to lopsided demand for the battery upgrade (which made justifying the added complexity of a two-battery option a challenge), Slate decided to offer a single, 65 kWh (63 kWh usable) LFP battery pack. Range for that pack? 205 miles. Top charging speed? 120 kW, or 20% to 80% in about 30 minutes.
Does this new range change the calculus for you?
On one hand, Slate initially promised this truck would be under $20,000. Then the tax credit went away, highlighting the risks of marketing around a volatile, highly political incentive. Still, even without the incentive, the truck was expected to be somewhere around $27,500. Now the price sans incentive is $24,950, and instead of the range being 150 miles, it’s expected to be 205. So, in a way, Slate is over-delivering.
But is it enough? If you compare it to other cars on the market, there are some vulnerabilities. The four-door, power window and radio-equipped Chevy Bolt costs $29,000, and it has the same battery size as the Slate. With its more efficient vehicle shape, it manages a range of 259 miles.
The Hyundai Venue is a gas car, but it’s got four doors, power windows, alloy wheels and standard wireless Apple Carplay/Android Auto — all for the low price of $22,650.
If you consider that, in order to seat more than two passengers, a Slate buyer has to choose the $29,950 SUV version (the hard top costs $5,000 on top of the base Slate truck), the financial cases become challenging to make. The Slate SUV costs about a grand more than the Bolt and $7,000 more than that Venue, and yet it’s not as well equipped as either.
But are these fair comparisons? The slate is a completely different animal than the Bolt and Hyundai Venue. Between its looks and its modularity, it’s just a much more fun proposition, and given how irrational car buying is, doesn’t that matter? Not to mention, for those who don’t need a second row or who need a 5ft truck bed, there’s no other game in town at this price point, gas or electric.
What do you think? Is the 205-mile, $24,950 Slate truck going to be competitive in the marketplace? What will be its biggest hurdles in reaching the company’s maximum production capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year?
[Edit: I just learned that the $24,950 price does not include destination fees, which Slate has yet to announce. So keep that in mind. -DT].
Top graphic image: The Autopian
For me it is completely practical. I keep my current electric car charged to 150 miles of range and never have a problem in day to day use. I take a 130 mile road trip multiple times a year. Even with easy charging at the destination, 150 miles was cutting it way too close. 200 gives enough margin for cold, headwinds, speeding, etc. All it needs is a bed topper (or the SUV kit minus the seats and other passenger stuff) to replace my 14 year old Transit Connect (which, by the way has been great).
PTC means this is a non-starter especially in the northern states. This means it’s a second car not the primary or only. We get too much complaints on range when temps drop below freezing.
Couple that with LFP and you get a slower charging when temps go low which means niche.
If you absolutely NEED just a simple truck, and it NEEDS to be electric, and it NEEDS to be brand new, then, sure, this is a deal! But you could get a well equipped barely used truck for less. The closest apples to apples comparison would be to the upcoming small Ford EV truck.
That small Ford EV pickup is expected to cost about $30k. For a Slate to fit 4, you need to spend $30k. But then you also lose the truck bed part of it. AND you lose range (I think the Ford is targeting 300 miles). For the same price, the Ford will also give you a radio. AND speakers. AND a dealer repair network. AND paint instead of a wrap that you’ll have to replace every few years.
The customization options are cool, but that’s about it. At this price, it’s simply not a great value for what you’re getting.
I’ve been excited in theory about this thing since it’s announcement but, in reality, there are a few too many compromises IMHO.
And if in 2026 it is $25k, imagine this thing in 5 years… it will be $35K. That won’t cut it.
My prediction on the biggest turnoff to most buyers- by all accounts this thing is noisy.
I thought these were cool. I still kind of do.
But I don’t think I’m the target audience. And that’s okay. I’d need the SUV add-on right off the bat – since I have two elementary-aged kids that I drive to school regularly. Rear-wheel-drive isn’t the greatest idea since it snows here occasionally and the road department SUCKS. Etc. I got up to $32k-ish on the I built on their site because I’d also want stereo speakers and such, because come on now.
I think it’d make more sense for me to just get a Bolt or something.
If you can wait a tiny bit longer, the upcoming small Ford EV pickup gives you all that… plus paint instead of a vinyl wrap (average lifetime of a wrap is about 3 years). Plus a reliable and robust repair network. Plus longer range (expected to be about 300 miles). And all for an expected $2k LESS than the Slate you built.
Yeah, it’s just not a great value.
I think the big game changer here is not the battery size per se, but the chemistry:
LFP batteries don’t mind being charged to 100% and run down to nearly 0%, so compared to NMC the real regularly usable battery size has increased significantly.
The more I read about this the more I think they should have gone with a body shape that will have broader appeal. Yes, utes are popular in the US, but not two-door/two-seat variants. Compounded by the fact that standard the ute body shape doesn’t lend itself particularly well to EVs due to poor aerodynamics, and you have a car pitching to a niche-within-a-niche, which goes against their whole designed for volume ethos.
Sticking with the barebones ethos and boxy styling but instead offering a compact 4-door, 4-seat SUV costing maybe US$28k I think would have been the sweet spot. It would appeal to more buyers and have allowed for better aerodynamics and therefore a range closer to 400km/250mi. That range being the bare minimum expected these days for cars in that price bracket.
I just looked up sales of the Maverick and, last year, they sold a record 155k units. That’s a more useful truck in a form that far larger numbers of people want that comes in hybrid or ICE, FWD or AWD, sells at dealerships pretty much everyone has ready access to, seats up to 5 with a bed that’s insignificantly smaller (I’m sure someone will come on and claim that 5′ bed length fits some exact odd application that a 4’6″ cannot handle, but I’ll head you off with: your unusual requirement does not make for 150k annual sales), has far more standard equipment, comes from an established company with a warranty that doesn’t rely on a patchwork of randomly associated mechanics, and will likely have higher resale value to make up for a higher price. Turn the Slate into an SUV and the competition gets even harder. At those sales numbers, the Maverick is considered a huge success and has other OEMs looking to add their own competitors to the market, to which Ford also has a BEV truck on the way. Slate thinks there’s a market for their vehicle that can hit numbers that rival the Maverick’s that were achieved in an essentially uncontested market? That’s straight up delusional—they’re in the automotive business, not big tech!
Do you get free delivery if you have Amazon Prime? It’s only 120 miles to my house.
So it’s RWD but what’s the differential like? Is it completely open or some kind or limited slip? Otherwise why offer a factory lift without at least more than an open diff’s traction?
No.
Ultimately, you either have adequate range, or you don’t. 150 wasn’t adequate, 205 still isn’t.
The loss of a higher range option is also a mistake. Buyers all over the world have proven they will pay more for range.
How many times have automakers dropped low range entry level models due to poor sales? It’s a tale as old as the original 40kwh Tesla Model S.
Even considering all of this, the range is not nearly the biggest issue with this truck.
How long is your commute? Mine is 12 miles each way. Plug it in to a normal 120v outlet when I get home and I’ll have those 24 miles easily back before the next morning’s commute. Even 150 would handle nearly everywhere I drive. If I have to go on a long road trip, I can rent a vehicle. I often do already anyway instead of putting all the wear and tear on my own.
Not sure why so many folks think they need 500+ mile ranges.
But who wants to finance a vehicle and then have to rent one for a road trip? If I’m making payments on a car already, it damn well better be able to take me where I wanna go. I don’t want to have to leave it at home and pay Enterprise more money just to use one of theirs.
I feel like this would make a great first car for kids. Can’t go too fast too quickly. Can’t go too far. Can still run all the errands for the family. Want to make sure they don’t sneakily take their friends? Take the seats out. Add them back when they are legally allowed (feel like my state had a rule on non family passengers). They can also use their own money to customize it, or figure out how to build it themselves.
I’ve been hyped for the slate truck since it was announced and the extra range is a nice bonus.
My wife commutes 9 miles round trip and mine is 20 miles, the short trips are hard on an ICE car. It’s just far enough that an ebike in Arizona is miserable. We both love stripped down basic vehicles and have been hesitant to jump into something new and tech laden. This is pretty much our ideal commuter.
With limited range and no AWD (at launch), these will be a hit.
In the South.
Our first Mach E with the standard range battery, no heat pump and AWD only got 160 miles of range in NJ during the winter months. I wouldn’t expect this cool little truck to realistically do any better.
Furthermore, if Ford can somehow resist the temptation to overprice their new EV truck, that might wipe the slate clean (ahem).
I finally came around to the Slate. The 205 range and remembering it has a frunk convinced me. The cost of accessories is a non-issue to me because I don’t want any of them. For a second car I reckon it’s just right as the Blank. Most importantly, the car is asking me to drive it.
Competitive to anyone else? Who knows. Competitive for me? Heck yeah.
My basic use cases are:
“Is an EV” is also a strong consideration, because I see zero reason for me to replace my current gas-powered car with another one at this point, provided that price and range on offer are reasonable.
Moreover, I don’t care about infotainment – I’m already using my phone to navigate and for music, so why would I want to have a whole duplicate system built into the car? I’d rather have the car itself be offline anyway.
I don’t think I could’ve made 150 miles of range work for me – 20% (30 miles) just doesn’t seem like enough margin – and at $25k I was very much thinking that I’d need to see what it would cost to get longer range (plus other accessories). At 205 miles and $25k, it’s a serious contender. Low-$30k’s after I option it sure, but that’s kind of what I expected given $25k base.
I’m not going to pretend that other cars don’t necessarily offer a better “price/stuff” ratio. But equally, the Slate seems like it checks all of my boxes without attaching anything I don’t want on top, and it’s kinda cool besides.
The range definitely makes it more competitive, but I still don’t think it’s competitive enough. When I clicked the SUV add-on and it jumped to almost $30k, I just closed the tab. $30k for a barebones, low-mileage SUV just doesn’t work out, especially considering how cheap used EVs are.
11 years ago, I figure I was the target for this truck (I got a Frontier at the time). But my life was a bit different then. I paid more in 2015 than a similarly equipped Slate would run me now. The thing that would have prevented me getting one if it existed in 2015 is charging. My house at the time would have needed some notable upgrades to charge at home and there would have been nothing nearby to use.
this thing just gives off soviet bloc vibes to me. i am definitely not the target market
No, comrade Bezos is literally rich enough to buy one at retail for every human on the planet, (!) I’m sure yours will arrive soon Sohn Vater!
I looked at the Mach-e recently and found from an instinctive perspective, that 250 was my floor, given that it seemed that stated range was never actual range, particularly when I live somewhere where I’ll run the a/c compressor 10 months out of the year. 205 is better than the earlier version and, at this price, maybe people will be fine with it.
Yes, imho that really changes the conversation.
That means two things:
1. The efficiency isn’t as bad as I first feared.
2. Winter range is likely to fall into “still good enough” territory rather than “marginal on some days” with the prior 150 mile range.
That 65 Kwh battery pack is roughly the same size as the one in my electric Kona, which gets around 260 miles of range. I think the lower range/efficiency for the Slate makes sense due to the aerodynamic compromises of a truck shaped vehicle.
In a two-car family, it might make a good second car.
EVs rapidly become a first car. If you have an ice and an ev, and you can level 2 charge at home on those sweet low residential utility rates, you’ll grab the keys to the ev for every local trip. Every time. … Slate blank slate penalty box trucklet may not be “nice enough “ to be your primary vehicle.
I was thinking more of the limited seating. The other car would be big enough for the whole family. The Slate would be for one or two people commuting and running errands.
My ID4 has a range of 205 miles. It’s been plenty for 99% of the driving we do with it. I think these will sell.
And those ID4s are sales leaders.
I think the answer is yes.
205 is WAY better, and I think 150 would have been a hard no for a lot of folks.
250 is probably a more realistic “short range” battery option today.
I’m glad they bumped the base range, but I’ll probably wait until there’s a larger capacity pack option. I like the stripped down and tinker-friendly nature of the beast, but it was already a stretch for a two door. Maybe they’ll do well enough we can get a hatchback based on the same design philosophy in a few years?
That’s basically what the slanted back top is, but was the most expensive option compared to even the square back and definitely the base truck. +$5k for the square hatch and seats, +2k for losing space with style on the slanted back roof option etc so $7k over the base truck just to look a little bit less like a cargo van