In the most surprising automotive debut in decades, Slate — a company funded in part by Jeff Bezos — just showed a brand new pickup truck that comes standard with unpainted plastic body panels, crank windows, no heated seats, no radio, no infotainment screen, and steel wheels. It is a cheap, bare-bones “blank slate” that comes as either a pickup truck, a fastback SUV, or a squareback SUV. Here’s everything you need to know about this completely outside-the-box concept that may end up being America’s only sub-$20,000 EV.
The caveat on “sub-$20,000” is that it depends on the EV tax credit, which may or may not go away soon. But even without the tax credit, the new Slate truck is expected to cost somewhere in the “mid-twenties,” which is dirt cheap. What Slate had to do to get the cost down that low is shocking, especially for 2025; the company — whose engineering is based out of Michigan and whose design studio is in Long Beach, CA — stripped the car down to its very essentials in a way we haven’t seen since… maybe the Chevy Aveo?
I visited the office in Long Beach and saw what looked a lot like a stripped-down black Ford Bronco Sport. It has plastic body panels that are designed to be wrapped, and comes in a single trim (the base model is the top-of-the-line model), which offers crank windows, no heated seats, no radio, no infotainment screen, and steel wheels. It is the most basic modern car I’ve seen since I rode in a Dacia in Romania a few years ago.
The new 400-ish-person American company — which plans to build its trucks/SUVs stateside — says in its press release that the goal since the company started in 2022 has been “simplifying the manufacturing process and removing unnecessary content to reduce cost and increase reliability.”
“The definition of what’s affordable is broken,” says Slate CEO Chris Barman in that press release. “Slate exists to put the power back in the hands of customers who have been ignored by the auto industry. Slate is a radical truck platform so customizable that it can transform from a 2-seat pickup to a 5-seat SUV.”
That’s right, the truck is the SUV. You may recall back in the late 1980s Nissan’s Pulsar, which came with a variety of different roof options. Check it out:
The new Slate follows this same model, but takes things a bit further. Not only can the Slate transform from a truck into one of two SUVs (fastback or squareback), but it can also increase its capacity from two passengers to five.
The fiberglass roofs, seats and roll cage come as as part of the “SUV Kit,” which Slate calls a “flat-pack” accessory, meaning it’s all shipped to your door in a flat-ish box. “The flat-pack accessory SUV Kit turns the truck into a 5-seat SUV, with a roll cage, airbags, rear seat. Do it yourself or have it done for you,” reads the press release, leading me to wonder if customers are meant to install their own rear airbags (surely not, right?).
The roof options represent just some of the over 100 accessories one can buy for the Slate — all of which are DIY.
You read that right: You buy a bare-bones truck, and if you want to add things like a radio and speakers and a rear-mounted spare, you just order the kit and install it all yourself. If you want to add heated seats, Slate will ship you a seat-cover accessory with a pad-heater built in. Power windows? You can install those, too. You can also buy alloy wheels and custom bumpers.
As for infotainment, the truck doesn’t come with any. There’s a place to plug your phone in and use it as your display if you like. “Bring your own tech,” is how Slate bills it, writing: “Rather than learn a new interface, use the one you love. Slate introduces the universal phone mount and USB power. Add a dedicated tablet if you want to.”
Hardware-wise, there’s a 52.7 kWh battery pack that combines with the vehicle’s light 3,600-pound curb weight and small overall dimensions to yield a range target of about 150 miles. As for charging, there’s DC “Level 3” charging with speeds up to 120 kW (using the Tesla “NACS” plug), promising 20% to 80% state-of-charge in under half an hour. At-home charging is limited to 3.6kW with a regular “Level 1” plug (11 hours to charge 20-100%) or 11kW with Level 2 (under five hours from 20-100%). There is also an optional 84.3 kWh battery pack that Slate says will offer a targeted 240 miles of range, though, unlike other accessories, this is something an upfitter would have to install if a customer wanted a range upgrade.
The battery, 150 kW (201 horsepower) rear-mounted electric motor, and gearbox (Slate says it has package-protected for a front motor in order to potentially offer all-wheel drive) are off-the-shelf items to keep cost down. It’s not exactly clear who makes these components, but 52.7 kWh is exactly the same as the Chinese Weltmeister EX5 400’s CATL-based battery pack (that’s just a guess). Suspension is a MacPherson strut setup in the front and a DeDion tube in the rear. Tires are from Kenda, a budget tire brand. The rear taillight is a single LED. And I could go on and on about other cost-saves (I plan to do a deep-dive into it soon).
As for dimensions and capacities, the 3,602-pound vehicle is rated to tow 1,000 pounds and to carry a payload of up to 1,433 pounds. It’ll do 0-60 mph in around 8 seconds, get up to a maximum speed of 90 mph, and carry up to 37 cubic feet of cargo in its bed (34 behind the front seats of the SUV). There’s also a frunk at the nose that holds 7 cubic feet.
Overall dimensions are: 175 inches long, 109 inches in wheelbase, and 71 inches wide, and 68 inches tall. This is two feet shorter than a Ford Maverick, and a couple of inches narrower; it’s a little narrower but otherwise roughly the same size as a Ford Bronco Sport, with which it shares quite a few design elements in my opinion.
As for safety, Slate says its vehicle was “designed to achieve the highest safety ratings,” and that the vehicle has Active Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warning, and up to 8 airbags.
Reservations of this wacky new approach to cheap EVs are now open at $50 per, with shipment expected direct-to-consumer at the end of 2026.
I’m loving the Citroën Méhari vibe.
If the execution is as good as the concept I think it’s great. A bed with flip down sides would e the perfect option.
I said before that I thought it was built for the burbs. Let me explain and defend that a little bit for the person who was kind enough to read my hot take earlier.
I see about two and a half groups of buyers for these. The first being fleet buyers who don’t exactly hate stripped down vehicles that are cheap to operate. The second group being those who I will call fashion and/or passion buyers. The final half group being folks who just want the least expensive EV out there. Some of the design and feature choices, or possibly more accurately, the lack of features lead me to this.
Things like the plastic body panels designed to be wrapped. I think wrapping is just going to grow and grow popularity. It should appeal to the fleet buyers for logo and advertising purposes. The fashion and passion group will love being able to make it their own (I know I dream of VW Harlequin motifs). The cheap group won’t do shit and will love the ruggedness of that plastique.
The commodity battery doesn’t provide much range, but the price is probably right and should also appeal to the fleet, passion, and cost-conscious groups. The range and size further lead me to the burbs. It’s still a wee big to be considered a true ‘city car’, but about perfect for our brand of sprawl
The fleet buyers should love the two door zero frills pickups. The passion and fashion buyers will like the ability to load them up with ala carte options. That is the group I see mostly as suburbanites. I can’t see tons of these going to rural areas and I’m having trouble seeing these as being ideal for urban settings given the two door only nature, however, the thrifty will not mind the two-portedness if it saves a buck.
I personally love the blank slate theme and the idea of installing my own stuff. I mod everything anyway whether it needs it or not, so not having to design, wrangle and fight as much has both appeal and a little lack thereof.
Guess where I live? I can 100% see these as a discretionary purchase by some of my neighbors. I think they’re mostly over buying Wranglers Unlimited
More of a new early Scout than the new Scout with the ability to bolt on a wagon or coupe top on your pickup. I’m assuming the bulkhead is removable unlike the first Scouts.
I’m afraid that it is going to be one of those cases where a mfg brings out what the internet has been saying they want, but very few will actually put their money where their mouth is.
“but very few will actually put their money where their mouth is.”
Sure they will….in about 5 years and for 1/4 the price of new.
I guess Amazon is taking the place of IKEA in a lot of ways flat pack SUV conversion pretty neat idea. All the accessories like Scion did but to the extreme. I think it will sell well in places where it gets extra incentives. It’s cheaper then an imported new kei truck so will probably absorb most of that market maybe will absorb some nev market. Still seems like they are dependent upon incentives to get it to a price even worth considering.
Absolutely gutted it’s USA only
This thing is rad and I want to buy one. Truck first then a fun DIY change into a neat Bronco II suv! The interior reminds me of the first Generation S10 interior-the refreshed hockey stick gauge one. Super cool. Still faster than any of those original small trucks…