A brand new American electrical automobile startup known as Slate Auto has made its debut, and it’s about as anti-Tesla because it will get.
It’s inexpensive, deeply customizable, and really analog. It has handbook home windows and it doesn’t include a essential infotainment display screen. Heck, it isn’t even painted. It may well additionally transform from a two-seater pickup to a five-seater SUV.
The three-year-old startup revealed its automobile throughout an occasion Thursday evening in Lengthy Seashore, California, and promised the primary vehicles can be out there to clients for beneath $20,000 with the federal EV tax credit score by the tip of 2026.
The occasion comes only a few weeks since TechCrunch revealed particulars of Slate Auto’s plans to enter the U.S. EV market, construct its vehicles in Indiana, and that the enterprise is financially backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The auto trade “has been so targeted on autonomy and know-how within the automobile, it’s pushed costs to a spot that almost all Individuals merely can’t afford,” chief business officer Jeremy Snyder mentioned through the occasion, which Inside EVs reside streamed. “However we’re right here to alter that.”
“We’re constructing the inexpensive automobile that has lengthy been promised however by no means been delivered,” CEO Chris Barman added.
The Specs
Slate isn’t saying precisely how a lot its truck will value — a number of sources have instructed TechCrunch over the previous couple of weeks the corporate has gone forwards and backwards on the quantity. And a lot can change between now and a late 2026 launch date.
The corporate is saying it can begin beneath $20,000 after the federal tax credit score (offering that also exists subsequent yr). patrons can place a $50 refundable reservation on the corporate’s web site.
The bottom model of Slate’s truck will squeeze 150 miles out of a 52.7kWh battery pack, which can energy a single 150kW motor on the rear axle. For folk who get a little bit spooked at that quantity, Slate is providing a bigger battery pack that it says may have about 240 miles of vary. It should cost utilizing a North American Charging Commonplace port, the usual Tesla established that the majority main automakers now use.
The truck comes with 17-inch wheels and a five-foot mattress, and has a projected 1,400 pound payload capability with a 1,000 pound towing capability. Because it’s an EV, there’s no engine up entrance. Instead there’s a entrance trunk (or frunk) with 7 cubic ft of space for storing, which occurs to have a drain in case the proprietor needs to fill it with ice for that tailgate celebration.
That towing capability is decrease than a extra succesful Ford F-150, and is even lower than the smaller Ford Maverick, which may tow round 1,500 kilos.
Talking of the Ford Maverick, Slate’s truck is smaller. The Slate EV has a wheelbase of 108.9 inches, and an total size of 174.6 inches. The Maverick has a 121.1-inch wheelbase and total size of 199.7 inches
Every part else concerning the base model of the truck is very spare — and that’s the purpose. Slate is de facto maximizing the thought of a base mannequin, and setting clients up for paying to customise the EV to their liking.
Customized… all the pieces
Slate is deeply dedicated to the thought of customization, which units it aside from another EV startup (or conventional automaker).
The corporate mentioned Thursday it can launch with greater than 100 completely different equipment that patrons can use to personalize the truck to their liking. If that’s overwhelming, Slate has curated a variety of completely different “starter packs” that patrons can select from.
The truck doesn’t even come painted. Slate is as a substitute enjoying up the thought of wrapping its autos, one thing executives mentioned they may promote in kits. Consumers can both have Slate try this work for them, or put the wraps on themselves.
This not solely provides to the thought of a purchaser having the ability to personalize their automobile, however it additionally cuts out an enormous value heart for the corporate. It means Slate received’t want a paint store at its manufacturing facility, permitting it to spend much less to get to market, whereas additionally avoiding one of the vital closely regulated components of auto manufacturing.
Slate is telling clients that they will title the automobile no matter they need, providing the power to buy an embossed wrap for the tailgate. In any other case, the truck is simply known as the “Clean Slate.”
As TechCrunch beforehand reported, the customization piece is central to how the corporate hopes to make up margin on what’s in any other case a comparatively dirt-cheap automobile.
But it surely’s additionally a part of the pleasant pitch Slate is making to clients.
Barman mentioned Thursday that folks can “make the Clean Slate yours on the time of buy, or as your wants and funds change over time.” It’s billing the add-ons as “straightforward DIY” that “non-gearheads” can deal with, and says it can launch a collection of how-to assets beneath the billing of Slate College.
“Purchase your equipment, get them delivered quick, and set up them your self with the straightforward how-to movies in Slate U, our content material hub,” the web site reads. “Don’t wish to go the DIY route? A Slate approved accomplice can come and do it for you.”
The early library of customizations on Slate’s web site vary from useful to beauty. Consumers can add infotainment screens, audio system, roof racks, gentle covers, and way more.
Probably the most vital are the choices that allow patrons “remodel” the truck into roomier SUV kind components. However these aren’t everlasting choices. Slate says individuals will be capable to change their automobile into, and again from, an SUV in the event that they like — “no mechanics certification required.”
All that mentioned, Slate’s truck comes normal with some federally mandated security options equivalent to computerized emergency braking, airbags, and a backup digital camera.
Buckle up
The highway to creating a profitable American automotive startup is plagued by failures. In the previous couple of years, Canoo, Fisker, and Lordstown Motors have all filed for chapter. And that’s simply to call a number of. These firms which are nonetheless round, like Rivian and Lucid Motors, are hemorrhaging cash in an try to get high-volume, extra inexpensive fashions to market.
Slate is a complete inversion of that method. It’s going after a low-cost EV in the beginning, and hopes to make that enterprise viable by supplementing it with cash from this deep customization play.
However, very like Rivian and Lucid Motors, it additionally has deep-pocketed backers. It raised has raised greater than $111 million up to now (the precise determine remains to be not public). And, other than Bezos, has taken cash from Mark Walter, Guggenheim Companions CEO and controlling proprietor of the LA Dodgers, as TechCrunch reported this month.
The corporate has employed practically 400 workers in service of conducting all of its bold targets, and is at present making an attempt to rent extra. Slate arguably couldn’t have picked a extra risky time to make its debut, however it’s additionally targeted on home manufacturing, and could also be insulated from among the turmoil going through different startups and established automakers.
“We consider autos must be inexpensive and fascinating,” Barman mentioned Thursday, including that Slate’s truck “is a automobile persons are truly going to like and be proud to personal.”