In one of many strangest launches we’ve seen shortly, Slate Auto, the reportedly Jeff Bezos-backed electrical automobile startup, unveiled its first EV, the Slate Truck. Notably, the automobile is able to a claimed 150 miles (241 km) of vary at a beginning value of lower than $20,000, assuming federal clear automobile tax credit live on.
Slate induced quite a lot of social media froth when it parked a pair of styling concepts (not purposeful automobiles) in Venice, California, promoting weird pretend companies. As we speak, the corporate unveiled the automobile to the press at an occasion close to the Lengthy Seashore Airport.
You needed a bare-bones EV? Right here it’s.
The Clean Slate, as the corporate calls it, is “all about accessible personalization” and features a “flat-pack accent SUV Equipment” that turns the truck from a pickup right into a five-seat SUV and one other that turns it into an “open air” truck. The goal, in accordance with a spokesperson for Slate Auto, is to make the brand new automobile repairable and customizable whereas adhering to security and crash requirements.
In the event you’ve ever mentioned you’d purchase a bare-bones truck with no infotainment and guide home windows if solely they’d construct one, it is time to get out your pockets.
Credit score:
Slate Auto
The truck will include a alternative of two battery packs: a 57.2 kWh battery pack with rear-wheel drive and a goal vary of 150 miles and an 84.3 kWh battery pack with a goal of 240 miles (386 km). The truck has a NACS charging port and can cost to 80 % in underneath half-hour, peaking at 120 kW, we’re advised. The wheels are modest 17-inch steelies, and the truck is not any pace demon—zero to 60 mph (0–97 km/h) will take 8 seconds because of the 201 hp (150 kW), 195 lb-ft (264 Nm) motor, and it tops out at 90 mph (145 km/h).
As a result of the truck might be inbuilt only a single configuration from the manufacturing unit, Slate Auto will supply physique wraps as an alternative of various paint colours. Quite than counting on a built-in infotainment system, you may use your telephone plugged right into a USB outlet or a devoted pill contained in the cabin in your leisure and navigation wants. The Slate Truck may even goal for a 5-star crash score, in accordance with an organization spokesperson, and can function energetic emergency braking, ahead collision warning, and as many as eight airbags.