The Jeff Bezos-backed Slate debuted this week as an reasonably priced, low-tech electrical pickup truck firm with a concentrate on customization and a novel tech strategy.
The truck will begin round $27,000, or $20,000 after the federal tax credit score (if the Trump administration would not kill it), and be obtainable in 2026, TechCrunch reports. You possibly can reserve one now for a $50 refundable price.
(Credit score: Slate)
Buyers customise a primary, bare-bones template. Early renderings do not present a splash display or perhaps a radio. Simply bodily buttons for key controls and locations to place your personal telephone, iPad, or speaker—”carry your personal” (BYO) tech. There’s an odometer, nonetheless.
“Convey the apps and like to create the expertise you need,” says the web site. “As a substitute of a cumbersome, distracting, and rapidly outdated infotainment system…Your Slate will age gracefully, as a result of it’ll at all times have the most recent tech—yours.”
(Credit score: Slate)
(Credit score: Slate)
The concept can also be to maintain the car’s value low, so drivers aren’t paying for additional software program and options that are not related to them. It may very well be the right choice for somebody who’s explicit in regards to the tech they purchase and use, and would not want a luxurious automotive.
“We predict everybody ought to have the ability to personalize their automotive,” Slate says. “However autos aren’t constructed to be personalized by non-gearheads (we love you, gearheads). So, we modified that.”
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The whole lot in regards to the automotive is customizable by means of a menu of add-ons; Slate hasn’t revealed pricing for these but. The automotive can remodel from a two-seat truck right into a five-seat SUV, “and again once more.” It solely is available in one colour, grey (suppose: clean “slate”), however prospects can select from a number of exterior “wraps” that begin at $500 and are straightforward to swap out for a brand new one.
“You possibly can adapt your Slate to no matter you want, even in case you don’t know you want it but,” the corporate says.
Slate SUV (Credit score: Slate)
It solely has a 150-mile vary, however the firm says “most individuals in America drive round 37 miles a day.” Every car comes with a primary charging wire, with an accompanying app that shows the vary and close by charging stations. The battery might be manufactured within the US by Korean-based SK On. The car will even be US-made.
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“North America is a key marketplace for us, and we’re dedicated to delivering dependable, high-quality batteries that help our companions in making EVs extra accessible, whereas decreasing emissions, and advancing sustainable mobility,” says Lee Seok-hee, CEO of SK On.
This truck’s minimalistic, DIY-inspired ethos may very well be a welcome various to different automotive manufacturers’ efforts to place as a lot tech in vehicles as potential, together with giant dash screens, inside vehicles. It is also the antithesis to Tesla, which kicked off the “car-as-computer” development the auto business received hooked on. Is the pendulum starting to swing within the different course?
Slate has a deep connection to Amazon. It is founders embody the previous CEO of Amazon’s shopper division, Jeff Wilke, alongside along with his MIT classmate Miles Arnone. Bezos is an investor. CEO Chris Barman is one in every of just some feminine auto CEOs, together with GM’s Mary Barra.
About Emily Forlini
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