The world is excited about Slate EV pickup truck for two primary reasons: One, it looks cool. And Two — the big one — is the price. This will be the cheapest electric car for sale in the U.S., with Slate a few weeks ago announcing the MSRP of $24,950. But the one question many have had is: What about the destination fee? Well, we have it now, and it’s not nothing.
I asked Slate about this when we heard about the MSRP, but now we have the answer. From Slate (emphasis mine):
Hi from Slate. We have some more news: the destination charge for the Slate Truck is $1450. It’s the lowest among all pickup trucks in the U.S., because we believe that trucks should be affordable.
So, all in, the Slate will cost $26,400.
Does this change anything in your mind? There are still cheaper gas cars, including ones with practical features like paint, a radio, electric windows, and — critically — four doors. There are also still cheaper used EVs. But I’m unsure there’s any new car that’s more soulful for less money. Is there?
The Slate looks better than I expected for the price, and though it’s not suitable for heavy-duty ‘truck stuff’ and is more of a city car with a bed, that’s actually exactly what would work for most folks most of the time (if they’d be honest about it). However, I’m not sure about the price/value proposition.
$20K and this might be historic. Closer to $30K and it’ll find some takers, but not enough to change the world or anything.
I still love these little trucks and if not for my 30 year old small 4 banger Tacoma- which will outlast me- I’d get one.
But let’s not kid ourselves. These were never going to be $20k trucks. They were never going to be $25k trucks either and realistically by the time all of the other “Oopsies” are finally added one, we’re probably looking at $30k and then start adding it up if you start sticking on all the accessories. Now you’re talking real money. So what started out as a cheap $20k fuck it money type truck starts turning more into an expensive truck that then starts bringing the uncomfortable questions
If they threw in the hardtop and back seat it would be cheap enough for me at that price.
I took a walk around the green area in the business park for lunch while reading this article. I did ten laps and every time I walked by a white Ioniq 5, I noticed a new thoughtful design detail.
I’ll see what early Ioniq reliability looks like when my slate delivery window comes due. It definitely made me think a used Ioniq might be worth another look.especially if someone figures out how to deactivate the data harvesting by then.
Look into the ICCU issues. They didn’t stop me from getting an Ioniq 5, nor my partner from leasing the Ioniq 6. Otherwise they are very reliable. They’re also fantastic, and they 800v architecture is just amazing at DCFC – no other vehicles in this price range can touch the charging speeds.
Slate got fucked hard by Trump/Musk removing EV subsidies.
I think every pest service fleet will have them. That’s the last bastion of compact/midsized single cab short bed trucks I see. Pool guys.
Outside that……….. I’m not all that sure.
Commercial fleet operators are looking at regular cab trucks as more of a negative. There is a perception that having the glass right behind you is less safe (not arguing one way or another), drivers also want a dry place to put their personal stuff, and the cost difference between regular cab and extended cab isn’t massive. So I don’t think that we will be seeing these fly off the shelf for commercial truck companies when an extended cab tacoma, maverick hybrid, or extended cab F-150s, Rams, and GM half tons exist.
I hope I’m wrong, because I think SLATE deserves a shot. But you’d be shocked at the lack of adequate (realistic) target market research being done for vehicle programs that cost $1b+.
I think that California specifically will see a good chunk of these (incentives + weather), but outside of that, I’m not so sure.
Just a note about Market Research and its validity. When Mazda was developing the Miata, they offered a partnership to Ford. Ford turned them away, because their market research showed that people do not want RWD and don’t generally care about handling. Ford already had a vehicle in development for a small convertible. Ford released the Mercury Capri XR2. Remember those? Nobody does.
I don’t know if it’s a national thing, but those companies that spray yards for mosquitoes (Mosquito Squad is probably the biggest here). They exclusively use single cab pickups and they only operate in the warm season where they don’t have to worry about the battery range over the winter. I think Slates would be great for them.
There is also a pretty big marketing benefit for the first year, where just having your name on the side of a new and interesting vehicle generates some interest.Whether the fleet buyer is tied enough to marketing to care is unknown.,
I was in B2B sales for a long time. Early on, I was trying to sell a product to a purchaser and was talking about the labor savings. He told me “I don’t buy labor.” It’s no a holistic view of the operation, but I think the bigger the company, the more common that attitude will be. Unless the fleet guy thinks the Slates will make him look good by saving money in one way or another, they are unlikely to purchase them. Also, these guys have probably been dealing with the same people at Ford/Chevy/GMC for years and it will take a significant push to move them in any other direction.
It’s from 2020, but it’s a data point.
“For the current model year, regular cab pickups made up only 3 percent of the U.S. mix, down from 6.6 percent in 2016. Extended cabs account for 14 percent of sales in the U.S., down from 18.7 percent in 2019 and 24.4 percent in 2016.”
I do wonder how much of this is due to the fact that you can no longer get any midsize in single cab. Was it the market, or was it the fact the manufacturers killed availability in the name of simplifying design and assembly?
Obviously you can still get full-size, but I bet its mostly HD trucks.
What is soulful about this thing? How is it casting such a spell over so many people? Lifelong car nerd here, but I simply don’t get this one.
You’re not the only one, and that’s ok. Someone (I want to say Bob Lutz, but I could be completely off base) famously said that people should either love or hate a car. Basically if everyone just says “yeah it’s alright I guess”, you’ve failed to make a captivating product.
Some people (myself included) are really excited about the Slate. Other people either don’t like it, or don’t think it suits their needs. This is as it should be.
Fair take. I agree. And we’ll have to agree to disagree about the Slate.
I want way less electronic bullshit in my car (apart from the powertrain, in this case). I am also a big DIY person so customizing something like this could be fun. I’m cautiously watching Slate, I figure I’ll need a new vehicle in about two years.
I like the idea of a car where my data is not the product.
I like the idea of fixing it myself (which, IMHO, is less hassle than bringing a car to the dealership).
I like that it’s cheap, small and simple.
These are all things that we haven’t been able to say about a new vehicle in the US market for a long time.
So I may need to install my own stereo. GREAT! I was installing / upgrading stereos 30 years ago when OEM was universally garbage. At least with slate I don’t have to throw out a $1500 tape deck before installing what I want (I am cheap by nature and that always bothered me).
The only reason I haven’t placed my order is that I am awaiting news of the promised easy upgrade path to AWD. In the case of the Slate, I’m more interested in that option for performance than for off-road or snow abilities. Also, my delivery date wouldn’t be until May 2027. I don’t order anything that far in advance.
Yeah, that makes some sense. I could see where I might get pretty excited if it were ICE. Electric doesn’t work well for my (rural) use case and the range feels really limiting. As a project car, I could see it being fun.
Generically speaking, its because its really different. Everyone else seems to be making the same cars. All crossoversuvish things that look like sneakers with wheels. So I think people are just hungry for something that is ACTUALLY different.
“So, all in, the Slate will cost $26,400. Does this change anything in your mind?””
No… doesn’t change my mind. I think this will be a great 2nd vehicle for many and also very popular for fleets and used as delivery vehicles.
Now let’s consider if I would buy it. In CAD$, that’s just over $37K.
The next cheapest BEV would be the Chevy Bolt… which is around CAD$7000 more.
And honestly, I’d be more inclined to buy a used Chevy Bolt as you can get low mileage examples for about $20K
Or you can get a new 2027 Chevy Bolt that is currently being discounted and looks like would be about the same price as the Slate.
And since I don’t need a pickup truck and would rather have 4 doors and a hatch, I’d likely take a Chevy Bolt over the Slate.
But I’m not really the target audience for the Slate.
HOWEVER… my daughter who is involved with movie set design/building and is likely gonna need a vehicle that is suitable for carrying the odd bulky thing at some point… and the Slate might be perfect for her.
No, actually. This a disposable 3-D printed appliance with limited to nearly zero practical use.
…1550 payload, 2000 towing.
And it’ll outlive every other new EV’s cloud services by a decade.
They will be bankrupt 24 months from now, guarantee it. If I’m wrong I’ll buy you a beer.
Because they’re not connected vehicles, that may not matter.
Part availability, on the other hand…
A lot of it is off-the-shelf. 3D files should cover anything that’s just a shape.
I don’t drink, but I’ll accept a root beer in 24 months
haha done.
Somehow Tesla is still around despite making shitty cars that look super generic and their CEO even went out and made himself look like an ass. So I’d bet they will still be around in 2 years. I quit drinking a few years ago but if you’re out California way, you can buy me some of the green agricultural stuff instead.
🙂 sounds good my dude – or I’ll ship you something good from Michigan! n/a of course!
That’s a pretty substantial amount on a truck that “cheap”. Then you add on sales tax, and egregious EV registration taxes and fees in certain states, and it’s going to be $30k to have it legally on the road.
A simpler, far more practical EV truck for less than new cars with a myriad of problems, or used cars that’ll likely have a myriad of problems thanks to people not taking care of their cars like they should….
Uh, yeah, still a better choice.
Only issue is servicing them under any warranty, since I doubt my small town will have an authorized service center.
My suspicion is that a 200 mile range with no heat pump, the single cab configuration, the slower charging, and the lack of AWD will make it a hard sell, even at that price. Even if people don’t need longer range or AWD, they want those things.
There’s a market for them in states that still offer incentives, but I don’t know how much they’ll sell elsewhere.
I think they’re going to lose a lot of the customers who were planning on getting the large battery, some of the customers who configure and then look at the price with all the stuff they want to add, and a few of the customers who are looking at the difficulty level of some of the add-ons they want. Combined, that is all going to be a fairly big hit to their sales.
I think this vehicle is ideal for a lot of use cases. My workplace uses a fair number of pickups for onsite transportation and these would be great. Lower maintenance, cheaper to operate, and the range isn’t an issue. Local contractors and deliveries are also good use cases. If you know you’re staying within a fairly limited geographical area, you don’t need to worry about time lost while charging and you won’t have to worry about fueling up as long as you charge it each night.
I have had an EV for two years now and can confidently say that I am not worried about the range on the Slate. Even in winter, I could drive this thing round-trip to work for days without charging.
I don’t know about the business uses, but it seems like most businesses around here operate in a limited area. We don’t have painters from 100 miles away bidding on jobs. Whether this would be of any real use transporting ladders or scaffolding remains to be seen.
I also hadn’t realized that there is a significant market for the SoCal area. There are a lot of now expensive areas there that have very narrow streets. The people who live there will not do anything for themselves so weekly visits from pool guys / gardeners / caterers / cleaners are necessary (no judgement. I would love to be in that situation). These contractors are relying on old compact pickups because there has been nothing new available Plenty of these guys are making enough to buy this for their business, and it will be a lot easier to justify as a marketing expense. You don’t have to worry about it if one of your guys throws a weed trimmer into the bed too enthusiastically.
You hear that from current EV owners all the time, but people still tend to go for the longer-range EVs. I think the business market is going to be a lot bigger than the personal market for these because of that. Which is fine, but I think it’s not going to sell as well as expected.
Personally, I do think that most people don’t actually need the range they want or AWD, but those things sell. The number of people I have personally heard say that they bought [X] because they needed AWD is much higher than it should be.
But that 200 mile range will drop dramatically in the winter without a heat pump. On super cold days, even my very efficient Ioniq 5 with a heat pump loses 70-90 miles of range.
If the Slate lost that much or more, it would be closer to 100 miles in the winter. There are some days when I’d have to DCFC just doing normal driving between my two jobs in the winter with the Slate, something I’ve never even had to think about with my Ioniq 5 even though I charge to only 80%.
Yeah, I was considering the Slate, but going to visit my sister in the winter would be iffy. It’s about 108 miles with a significant amount of uphill driving to go from Boise to McCall, which would be my first available charging station. I think it would make it (it’s less efficient than your Ioniq to start with, so the hit probably won’t be quite as noticable), but it would leave me very little wiggle room if something happened and it would need to charge pretty much to full to hit the next stop. With the relatively slow charging of the Slate, that feels especially rough.
Honestly, this is a smoking deal. I can’t think of a cheaper vehicle that can carry a few sheets of plywood. A base Maverick is ~$3300 more and it’s not an EV if that’s what matters to you.
The reality is that it’s not 2020 any more and prices have gone up a whole heck of a lot. This price puts it among the absolute cheapest vehicles that you can purchase new.
I’m still not getting the hype here. I think the writers of this site need to take a step back and seriously think about what a buyer is getting for their money with Slate.
It’s cool, yes, but $26k OTD could buy you a used hybrid Maverick, which is already kind of a perfect 2nd or 3rd vehicle and you don’t have to worry about range anxiety or driving around in something with almost zero creature comforts.
We also need to keep in mind that this $26k is BEFORE you start modifying it up with doodads and trinkets, which Slate clearly wants you to do. Service also sounds like a bear.
In my very honest opinion, this thing is basically all hype and the novelty of owning/using one would wear off quickly. There’s no shortage of used Ford Rangers on FB Marketplace if all you care about is “”””””””soul”””””””.
But also consider what you get with the Slate that you don’t see initially… a low Total Cost of Ownership… lower than a Maverick hybrid… used or new.
That is yet to be determined, quite honestly. This is the first product by a brand-new company and it has zero dedicated, stand-alone service centers.
Or I should say… the promise of a low TCO.
I mean, there’s no universe in which a BEV is going to have a higher TCO than a similarly-priced petrol vehicle.
I think, as others have mentioned, that the price of the Slate moves it away from being an entry-level vehicle that buyers would consider for their primary car into more of a “Lifestyle” vehicle that people use as a secondary vehicle. Even though a 200-ish mile range is more than enough for most people, a majority of ICE drivers remain convinced that they need 500 miles of range before they’ll consider an EV as their primary car.
Even for me, a die-hard EV driver, with no heat pump, the Slate’s range would be annoying in the winter in certain circumstances. I’d rather buy something like a used Electric Kona (which I did), which is more practical for most purposes.
However at this price, I think it totally makes sense as a “Lifestyle” vehicle. I could totally see myself picking up a used one in a few years. There’s a bunch of situations where I’d love to have an actual truck with a bed to move junk, lumber, mulch, etc. without putting down a ton of tarps/blankets in my Ioniq 5 or Kona and then have to vacuum like crazy anyway.
If the Slate was closer to $20,000, which it would have been easily with the tax credits, I think a lot of people would seriously look at it as a primary vehicle.
However you slice it, I hope the Slate succeeds. As cool as it is, I don’t think it’s for me as I love all of the technology you get in new EVs, but I still hope the company does well.
Yeah, this is pretty much where I land. For $26K, a whole lot of low mileage used EVs with better range are in the picture, all of which will be just as functional and a whole lot more comfortable.
It will be in California now. That really changes the equation for buyers in that state.
Good point. Plus, the lack of a heat pump won’t matter as much in CA.
For me, cheap new cars will always make me say “damn, that would buy an extremely decent used car”.
I guess it’s the enthusiast in me, but would I rather have a bare-bones trucklet? Or an incredible e39 BMW V8 manual wagon and some money left over for maintenance and repair? Hmmm.
I think the price is ok. Could be better if it wasn’t for a certain change in the laws, but still it’s ok.
The Slate has 3 main groups of buyers.
Now as new car, it’s too cheap. Ford’s $30k goal is the right number. Most new car buyers are shopping for $30k+ vehicles and the market for sub $30k is weak. What happens is that below $30k, new car buyers become used car buyers to get more bang for their buck. Sure there are exceptions, but not enough of them.