What’s going to be made in the US, is battery-electric, will cost less than US$20,000, come as either a basic two-seat pickup or five-seat SUV, and has a reservation price of just $50? The new Slate from Slate Auto.
So far, 2025 has been a year of surprises. Bethesda Game Studios released an unexpected remake of Oblivion without pomp or announcement, causing a certain Elder Scrolls fan to invest in a new graphics card. A YouTube music producer with the same name as the author went viral for his groove metal ambiance tracks. And Slate Auto quietly opened reservations for the Slate pickup/SUV, then began showing up at various events around the country with it.
Well, two of those three things happened – my guitar has yet to actually bring an income. But the new Slate truck is an electric bit of customizable awesomeness that looks about ready to enter production. There are a few questions left to answer before that happens, but it looks more than promising.
The idea behind the Slate is that it’s a platform, not a finished product. This means it’s fully customizable by design. When you buy a Slate, you’re buying a base vehicle with a ready-to-drive design, but not much else. The basic truck includes safety equipment, a battery and electric motor, flat gray paint, and a relatively blank interior. From there, buyers can add things as they see fit.
Vehicle wrap? Partial wrap? SUV body and more seats? Roof rack? All of those things are available from Slate. Aftermarket whatever-you-wants or custom wraps or paint? Also good to go. Infotainment? Nope. Just a place to mount your phone on the dash. The design philosophy behind the Slate is personalization. You buy it and make it yours from there. Sales will be a direct-to-consumer model.
It’s a cool idea and one that’s being backed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, as well as a short list of high-end investment groups. Surprisingly, Slate does not yet have an Amazon presence for sales, which seems like an obvious next step.
Slate Auto is based in the US with offices in California and Michigan, and employees working remotely from across the country. Manufacturing will be “somewhere in the midwest,” according to the company’s website. Rumors in the automotive press pinpoint that location to Indiana, perhaps at a shuttered Ford or Chrysler plant in the Indianapolis area. Timing for the start of production is likewise ambiguous. I'm guessing it would likely be within the next three years, given the reservations timeline and the fact that pre-production models are already being shown.
What about the truck itself?
Slate’s design is pretty straightforward for an EV. It’s a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive design outputting 201 horsepower (150 kW) and 195 lb ft (264 Nm). Batteries are lithium-ion in a 52.7-kWh standard pack with an option to expand to 84.3 kWh. Top speed is limited to 90 mph (145 km/h). Slate says the truck will sprint to 60 mph (92 km/h) in eight seconds.
An NACS plug allows 11 kW of on-board charging, giving a 20-80% Level 1 (3.6 kW) charge time of about 11 hours, five hours at Level 2 (11 kW), and under half an hour at Level 3 (120 kW). Range is 150 miles (241 km) per charge with the standard pack, and up to 240 miles (386 km) per charge with the expanded pack. Slate estimates the truck’s combined EPA MPGe to be 96 (2.5 L/100km).
The Slate measures 174.6 inches in length, 70.6 inches in width, and 69.3 inches in height (443.5 x 179.3 x 176 cm). Its wheelbase is 108.9 inches (276.6 cm). The Slate’s chassis is a simple design with a Macpherson strut front suspension and a De Dion axle and coil spring rear. Wheels are 17 x 7 steelies clad in 245/65R17 tires.
Cargo space consists of a front trunk at 7 square feet (198 liters), 37 sq-ft of bed (1,047.7 liters), and 34 sq-ft (962.8 liters) behind the second row of seats in the SUV. Curb weight is 3,602 lb (1.634 kg), max payload is 1,433 lb (650 kg), and towing is rated at 1,000 lb (453.6 kg). The cargo bed on the truck measures 54.9 inches (139.5 cm) wide and 60 inches (152.4 cm) long with the tailgate up and not accounting for the wheel wells (42.9 inches / 109 cm between).
For comparison, the Hyundai Santa Cruz is currently the smallest-footprint pickup on the market and measures about the same height, but is both longer and taller by a fair margin. In fact, the Slate is about halfway between the tiny 1972 Datsun 620 and today’s Ford Maverick in terms of size and wheelbase.
The Slate is a great idea with a minimalist appeal that many would like to see in today’s market. I’d have already put in a reservation for one, actually, were there an all-wheel drive option available. A simple, low-cost, bare-bones compact pickup truck or SUV is a welcome addition to today’s market. Hopefully the Slate gets to production and begins delivery soon. Slate Auto’s backing is better than most startups and looks on par with Rivian when it first began. A good sign.
Source: Slate Auto
