A Sub-$20,000 Pickup With 150 Miles of Range

It’s here. At a Thursday event in Los Angeles, startup Slate Auto revealed what it’s calling simply, the Truck. It’s a tiny electric pickup funded at least in part by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and astonishingly, a targeted base price of $20,000 after federal tax incentives for EVs.

Slate pitches the Truck as nothing short of a game-changer. “The definition of what’s affordable is broken,” said CEO Chris Barman in a statement. “Slate exists to put the power back in the hands of customers who have been ignored by the auto industry.”

Slate plans to build the truck in the US, but it hasn’t announced a factory location yet. It’s aiming to keep costs down by offering one simple spec—a two-door, two-seat single cab that only comes in one color, slate gray, naturally. The company is also planning a huge line of accessories, which range from tiny customizations, to wraps, to a sort of flat-pack kit including airbags that changes the pickup into a five seat SUV. There’s also a sort of fastback bed cap that makes the Truck look a bit like an old Range Rover. These accessories are meant to be either DIY or professionally installed.

Inside, Slate’s keeping things radically simple, too. There’s no dedicated infotainment system; Instead, the Truck has a universal smartphone mount for phones or tablets, and optional speakers so you can listen to your music, podcasts, or whatever else. Or you can just put a Bluetooth speaker on the dash. The interior also features simple HVAC controls, and amazingly for a new car, crank windows.

Mechanically, it’s all very simple. There’s a single electric motor at the rear wheels that makes 201 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, and a choice of batteries. The base 52.7-kWh pack promises 150 miles of range, while an “accessory” 84.3-kWh pack ups this to 240 miles. Slate quotes a 0-60 mph time of 8 seconds, and a 90-mph top speed. Does anyone really need more performance?

There’s a cheap, effective MacPherson strut front suspension, and a De Dion rear, just like you get in a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen. Naturally, steelies are the standard wheel, with tires measuring 245/65R17. But the company isn’t overlooking safety, with standard autonomous emergency braking and forward-collision warning. Even the aftermarket SUV package includes additional airbags for the rear-seat passengers.

Photo by: Slate

The Slate Truck is relatively tiny, too. With a length of 174.6 inches overall, it’s shorter than a Honda Civic Hatchback, let alone America’s other small pickup, the Ford Maverick, which comes in at nearly 200 inches long. It’s got a five-foot bed, too, the same as many full-size pickups these days, and there’s a front trunk with an additional 7.0 cubic feet of cargo space. Total weight is a relatively light 3,602 pounds, though the 1,433-pound payload and 1,000-pound tow capacity won’t impress many.

Slate plans to sell direct to consumers without dealers to keep costs down, and, well, because who likes going to a car dealer? The company is also planning local service centers.

Obviously, there are big questions around the company. Even with the backing of the likes of one of the world’s richest people, getting this thing into production will be a huge challenge. And with federal tax incentives for EVs winding down, that sub-$20,000 price is going to be close to, if not entirely impossible.

But, Americans need affordable cars, and they love trucks. The Truck could do what Slate says is its aim: “Redefine Personalized Transportation.”