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The $20,000 American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, and no touchscreen


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Posted

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Meet the Slate Truck, a sub-$20,000 (after federal incentives) electric vehicle that enters production next year. It only seats two yet has a bed big enough to hold a sheet of plywood. It only does 150 miles on a charge, only comes in gray, and the only way to listen to music while driving is if you bring along your phone and a Bluetooth speaker. It is the bare minimum of what a modern car can be, and yet it’s taken three years of development to get to this point.

But this is more than bargain-basement motoring. Slate is presenting its truck as minimalist design with DIY purpose, an attempt to not just go cheap but to create a new category of vehicle with a huge focus on personalization. That design also enables a low-cost approach to manufacturing that has caught the eye of major investors, reportedly including Jeff Bezos. It’s been engineered and will be manufactured in America, but is this extreme simplification too much for American consumers?

If you haven’t seen the leaks and the reports of weirdly wrapped trucks hiding in plain sight, the Slate Truck is the first product from Michigan-based Slate Auto. Think “American kei truck” and you’re not far off. It’s a machine designed to be extremely basic, extremely customizable, and extremely affordable. Those are not your typical design goals, but then the Slate Truck isn’t the fruit of your typical design process.

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What is a little less commonly known is just how expensive it is to paint those cars. Creating a facility that can reliably, quickly, and cleanly lay down a quality coat of color on automotive body parts is a complicated task.

By eliminating paint, and thus eliminating the paint shop, Slate’s manufacturing process is massively simplified. So, too, the lack of metal body parts. “We have no paint shop, we have no stamping,” says Jeremy Snyder, Slate’s chief commercial officer who formerly led Tesla’s global business efforts.

Vehicle factories tend to have high ceilings to make room for the multiple-story stamping machines that form metal body parts. Injection molding of plastic is far easier and cheaper to do in limited spaces — spaces like the factory that Slate has purchased for its manufacturing, reportedly near Indiana. “The vehicle is designed, engineered, and manufactured in the US, with the majority of our supply chain based in the US,” Snyder says.

The simplification goes simpler still. Slate will make just one vehicle, in just one trim, in just one color, with everything from bigger battery packs to SUV upgrade kits added on later.

“Because we only produce one vehicle in the factory with zero options, we’ve moved all of the complexity out of the factory,” Snyder says.

While most buyers will rightly fixate on the cost of the truck, the bigger story here might just be this radically simplified approach to manufacturing. “From the very beginning, our business model has been such that we reach cash flow positivity very shortly after start of production. And so from an investment standpoint, we are far less cash-reliant than any other EV startup that has ever existed, as far as I know,” Snyder says.

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“At start of production, we will have coverage across the country for servicing your vehicle,” Snyder says. Snyder declined to say who will provide the service, but it seems reasonable to expect something along the lines of a Midas, Monro, Meineke, or perhaps some other nationwide service chain that begins with the letter M.

And finally, how can you buy one? It should come as no surprise that Slate will follow Tesla’s footsteps by offering direct sales. No nationwide network of dealerships is planned. Instead, a limited set of pickup centers will pop up as needed based on preorder data. Or, if you don’t mind paying a little more, home delivery will be available.

Preorders cost just $50 on Slate’s site, and deliveries are expected to start in late 2026. Slate hasn’t said exactly how much the truck will cost, only that it’ll be less than $20,000 after federal incentives — assuming those incentives are still in place in 18 months’ time.

The bigger question, though, is whether consumers will actually be into such a simplified vision of what a car can be. The Slate Truck is a rolling rejection of the current, bloated state of American motoring, but it’s consumer demand that’s driven the market down this dark alley. Are those consumers ready for a rolling digital detox?

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Posted
Quote

assuming those incentives are still in place in 18 months’ time.

Donald Trump GIF by CBS News

 

Only being a 2 seater makes this a problem for me and most people. 

Find a way to make it a reliable 5 person SUV or truck for $20k and I'd get one. But I'm in the probably very small minority that doesn't care about vehicles for anything but utility. 

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Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, Hermanator said:

Only being a 2 seater makes this a problem for me

 

3 hours ago, Hermanator said:

But I'm in the probably very small minority that doesn't care about vehicles for anything but utility. 

Need to take the wife and three kids along to the dump?

Edited by Deej
Posted

If it is designed with a space for a head unit and easily accesible wiring conduits for speakers and dash cams, I could see it for people like me, those of us who work from home and just need a second car for the odd commute. 

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Posted

I love the idea of having some basically go kart type vehicle for quick drives around town. LIke a Willys Jeep or a Thing or something, except I don't want to be a jeep guy and then it comes down still needing a real vehicle and not wanting three cars in my normal upper middle class house.

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Posted

I like the concept, but a two-seater makes it extremely flawed and almost impossible to succeed.  You're immediately eliminating most buyers.  I'm the guy who dreams of ditching his smartphone the second he retires, and I'm not a fan of all the modern tech in most vehicles. I'm still struggling to believe this will sell well enough in the U.S. to make it worth the tax-funded squeeze.  Even the old Pups, Luvs, etc., that this will be most similar to for older American consumers, had a radio in them and a paint job.  They were also quite sturdy for what they were.  This thing looks like it would fall apart if you loaded it up with fertilizer bags, not to mention your range would drop down to about twenty miles.

Posted (edited)

$20k worth of an F150, whatever year model/ mileage that gets you, is a hellova lot more utilitarian than the slate. 
 

It might not compete with an F150, granted; but for what purpose or demographic does it carve out a niche?  They built it, but why?

Edited by Iceman
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Posted
2 minutes ago, Iceman said:

$20k worth of an F150, whatever year model/ mileage that gets you, is a hellova lot more utilitarian than the slate. 
 

It might not compete with an F150, granted; but for what purpose or demographic does it carve out a niche?  They built it, but why?

City drivers that want something they can put stuff in and isn't a Swasticar

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Posted

Seems like an affordable option for a car for a teenager. Utilitarian, short range. It'll be interesting to see the costs of the kits for adding another row of seats and the SUV top. The customizable colors and doors and options could also be a big hit with the youngs since they can't afford much these days anyway. 

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Posted

I have not been paying attention to this at all, but I'm curious about how far they see the modular personalization bit of this going and also wondering how much of this they are seeing as... doing lean product development on an entire car, seeing how this works before moving on to the slightly refined version, the truckier version, the coupe, whatever.

Posted
Just now, Pescado_Rojo said:

This thing looks like a golf cart with a body kit. 

Probably about as safe as one as well.  Why not just grab a used Taco if you need a small ranch vehicle or a used 4-banger car like a Corolla or something stupid-reliable for a 3rd car?

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Posted

I'd assume it's competing with the Colorado and the Ranger. So plumbers, electricians, pool service, pest control, etc.

I see at least half a dozen of that type truck in the neighborhood every day. 

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Posted
2 minutes ago, choripan said:

They can probably sell enough. I still see a shitload of single cab Rangers holding on. Oddly enough, almost never an S10, though.

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Posted
6 minutes ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

A sheet of plywood you say?  Yeah, i don't see that.  

When those six bags of mulch won't move themselves...;)

Posted
15 minutes ago, Redneck Mutha said:

I'd assume it's competing with the Colorado and the Ranger. So plumbers, electricians, pool service, pest control, etc.

I see at least half a dozen of that type truck in the neighborhood every day. 

Wasn't that the point of the Maverick?

Posted
35 minutes ago, Iceman said:

$20k worth of an F150, whatever year model/ mileage that gets you, is a hellova lot more utilitarian than the slate. 
 

It might not compete with an F150, granted; but for what purpose or demographic does it carve out a niche?  They built it, but why?

Model, mileage, $20k, blah, blah, blah.

 

No one is getting any pussy in a slate…

Posted
Just now, DaggerHorns said:

Model, mileage, $20k, blah, blah, blah.

 

No one is getting any pussy in a slate…

I'm buying a Slate as soon as it comes out and your mom is gonna be my first call, bitch.

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Posted
35 minutes ago, Iceman said:

$20k worth of an F150, whatever year model/ mileage that gets you, is a hellova lot more utilitarian than the slate. 
 

It might not compete with an F150, granted; but for what purpose or demographic does it carve out a niche?  They built it, but why?

This.  If you are into utility only buy something used.  You get a lot more utility than this is offering.

Posted
4 minutes ago, Da Fino said:

Wasn't that the point of the Maverick?

Not sure if you can get the Maverick in EV? And I think the Maverick starting price is higher?

Obviously the price assumptions include EV credicks are still available, which I think may make all this discussion moo (sic).

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Posted

For work on the farm, seems like a great deal. Curious how durable the suspension is though and then how it handles the snow / cold weather as that is what kills the idea for me up in Colorado. 

Posted
5 hours ago, Hermanator said:

Only being a 2 seater makes this a problem for me and most people. 

In the old days, a 2-seat pickup truck was good for transporting 9-10 people at a time. 

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Posted

I can see a significant market for these, especially if you can customize a covered bed panel-van style, for tradesmen, delivery, fleets, etc. Customers that want the service and warranty and who can’t one-off shop on the used market. 
 

Probably much more limited for a family car.  I do dig it though. Not much different than a two door S-10 or Ranger that used to litter highways.  The range would stop me, would love to see an ICE version but the incentives wouldn’t apply.  
 

The truck and car market got stupid and is crashing into the reality of no one can afford a car.  The manufacturers don’t want to play in the low-margin budget zone but that zone is getting bigger and will continue to. 

Posted

The bottom line is if it's reliable and price competitive it will sell. There is absolutely a significant market for vehicles like this. If it's a clunker piece of shit that falls apart after 6 months it won't.

Posted (edited)

Toyota basically tried this with Scion and it failed.  This is a little more hard core basic and its electric so maybe those differentiators will cause a different result. 

Edited by Pato del Muerto
Posted

I read Nissan is releasing a $20k pickup with a naturally aspirated, in-line 4 cylinder, with the option for a standard transmission. They will even have a diesel version. If I just needed something to make short trips to carry stuff, I'd probably lean towards that. 

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Posted
5 hours ago, Hermanator said:

Only being a 2 seater makes this a problem for me and most people. 

Find a way to make it a reliable 5 person SUV or truck for $20k and I'd get one. But I'm in the probably very small minority that doesn't care about vehicles for anything but utility. 

I'd consider this for a 16 year old if it had AC and another 100 miles on the battery at this price point.    

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