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Slate emerges with customizable EV pickup available for under $20k [Video]
After about a month of speculation and subtle hints from industry insiders, American EV startup Slate has emerged from stealth to share its flagship model with the world. This simplified all-electric pickup arrives with over 100 accessories, a five-seat SUV configuration kit, and get this… crank windows. Even better, this no-nonsense pedigree of EV is priced refreshingly low, starting below $20,000 after US tax incentives.
As we pointed out last month, there was much more we didn’t know than we could confirm about a new EV brand called Slate. The American automaker was verified as an official business on LinkedIn as of March 5, giving us a sparse trail of breadcrumbs to follow to learn more.
According to the page, Slate had already established a team of 200 to 500 employees, and 46 additional open roles were listed. Some open jobs, such as plant manager and suspension engineer, hinted that Slate has been working on at least one EV.
Aside from promising “the next generation of innovation in the industry” (despite not confirming what industry), Slate’s website stated that we would learn more on April 24. We had heard rumblings that the Troy, Michigan-based startup was on the cusp of debuting a simple, all-electric pickup.
However, that wasn’t confirmed until two days ago, when the first real-world images of the EV emerged ahead of Tesla’s earnings call. Our readers pointed out that “Slate” is an anagram of “Tesla,” which offers interesting fodder to the conspiracy theory scene at best.
While Slate’s name may be a tongue-in-cheek nod to reimagining an EV industry Tesla championed early on, the name seems more rooted in the fellow American company’s clean slate approach to EV design. From what we’ve now seen, Slate is breaking from the trend of other startups kicking off market entry with top-tier, luxe models starting in the $80-$100k range.
Instead, it has created a no-nonsense EV pickup that starts at a super low price, leaving the upgrades and customizations to the customer. Better still, if you US customers prefer a five-seat option, Slate also offers that. See below:
Slate debuts EV that can be 2-seat pickup or 5-seat SUV
Slate has officially arrived and, in my opinion, is a welcome breath of fresh air (because of no emissions, of course) to an American EV industry that is growing by the day, but has yet to reach critical mass in adoption.
Much of that struggle relates to pricing (not to mention lackluster local charging infrastructure). Most EVs are not affordable enough for the average consumer yet, and to get an electric pickup like Slate is now offering, for example, you have to opt for a model from Ford, GM, or Rivian that will cost at least $63,000 and will easily go up from there with added features like range.
Instead of coming out swinging against the big boys, Slate has dug itself a nice little niche in simplified affordable EVs that are modular and customizable. Slate’s first CEO, Chris Barman, elaborated:
The definition of what’s affordable is broken. Slate exists to put the power back in the hands of customers who have been ignored by the auto industry. It is a radical truck platform so customizable that it can transform from a 2-seat pickup to a 5-seat SUV.
Steel wheels, HVAC knobs, and crank windows – Slate is most certainly taking a clever approach to affordable US EVs for all. Designed to be “approachable and timeless,” the startup flagship model is truly a black slate canvas that puts the brush in the hands of its customers.
The company shared it will offer over 100 accessories, available a la carte or in a bundle, available from your initial order or years down the road. The dash also includes a universal phone mount with USB power, enabling you to use whatever smart device and OS you’d like. Have it custom wrapped by the Slate team or do it yourself, Slate is not only offering variety to customization, but also the process by which it is achieved.
Another example is Slate’s flat pack SUV Kit, which turns the EV pickup into a 5-seat SUV, complete with a roll cage, airbags, and rear seat. Again, you’ll have the choice to have Slate integrate it in Michigan or do it yourself, adding a bit of a DIY “gearhead” philosophy the EV segment has lacked since day one.
“But Scooter, what about specs?” Don’t worry my friends, we got you:
- Dimensions:
- Length: 174.6 inches
- Wheelbase: 108.9 inches
- Width: (w/o mirrors): 70.6 inches
- Height: 69.3 inches
- Pickup Interior Volume: 55.0 ft3
- SUV Interior Volume: 80.5 ft3
- Frunk Cargo Volume: 7 ft3
- Bed Cargo Volume: 37 ft3
- SUV Cargo Volume (behind seats): 34 ft3
- Weights:
- Curb Weight: 3602 lbs.
- Max Payload: 1433 lbs.
- Max towing: 1,000 lbs.
- Power and Battery:
- Powertrain: Single motor, RWD
- Battery: 52.7 kWh (standard) or 84.3 kWh (add-on)
- Power: 150 kW (201 hp)
- Torque: 264 Nm (195 lb-ft)
- Acceleration (0-60 mph): 8 seconds (est.)
- Top speed: 90 mph
- Charging and Range:
- Onboard charger: 11 kW
- Level 1 AC: 3.6kW / 20-100% in 11 hrs.
- Level 2 AC: 11kW / 20-100% in under 5 hrs.
Level 3 DC: 120kW / 20-80% in under 30 mins. - Charging Configuration: NACS
- Standard Range (52.7 kWh) (est.): 150 miles
- Large Pack Range ((84.3 kWh) (est.): 240 mi.
- Combined city/highway (est.): 96 MPGe
- Bed Dimensions (Pickup):
- Bed width (between wheel wells): 42.9 inches
- Bed Width Min./Max.: 50.0 inches /54.9 inches
- Bed Length: 60.0 inches
- Bed Length (Tailgate Down): 81.6 inches
According to Slate, its flagship EV will be sold directly to consumers and is available to reserve now with a $50 deposit. The trucks will be built in the US and start at an MSRP below $20,000 (after federal tax incentives). No timeline on when production may begin, but a representative for Slate told Electrek that initial customer deliveries are… slated to begin in Q4 2026. Not too shabby.
While we await more details regarding this new American brand, here’s a better look at Slate’s first EV from a video it provided below:
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When will Toyota launch an electric SUV for under $20,000 in the US or Europe? We’ll keep dreaming. Toyota is launching the new bZ5 electric SUV next week in China amid an intensifying EV price war. The new SUV will draw power from BYD’s batteries and EV powertrain as Toyota looks to get a leg up on the competition.
Meet the Toyota bZ5 electric SUV, starting under $20,000
After the first bZ5 rolled off the production line at Toyota’s new energy production plant in China on May 16, the new electric SUV is about to officially hit the market.
FAW Toyota, the company’s joint venture in China, announced plans to launch the new electric SUV next week on June 10.
The bZ5 is already available for pre-sale, starting at just 130,000 yuan, or roughly $18,000. Two BYD Blade battery options are offered: 65.28 kWh or 73.98 kWh. The standard range battery provides a CLTC range of 550 km (342 miles), while the extended range pack offers a range of up to 630 km (391 miles).
Toyota’s new electric SUV will also draw power from a 200 kW (268 hp) EV motor from BYD’s battery unit, FinDreams.
The bZ5 is a step up from the Toyota models we are used to seeing, featuring its new hammerhead front end design with slim LED headlights and a full-length light bar.
Measuring 4,780 mm in length, 1,866 mm in width, and 1,510 mm in height, with a wheelbase of 2,880 mm, Toyota’s electric SUV is about the size of the new Tesla Model Y (4,797 mm length, 1,920 mm width, and 1,624 mm height, with a wheelbase of 2,890 mm).
The interior is pretty simple with a 15.6″ touchscreen infotainment system at the center, but it’s loaded with smart tech, including Momenta 5.0 smart driving tech. The system utilizes 33 sensors to support over 30 assisted driving features like city and highway navigation assist, parking assistance, and more.
Toyota’s new bZ5 will follow the bZ3X, which launched in China in March. The bZ3X is Toyota’s most affordable EV with prices starting at just 109,800 yuan ($15,000).
After opening orders on March 6, GAC Toyota, the company’s other joint venture, claimed it was “so popular that it crashed the server” with over 10,000 orders in an hour.
Will the BZ5 have the same reaction? Initial reviews have been positive so far. One test driver reported commuting about 50 km per day, and it takes ten days before they need to recharge. With fast charging (30% to 80%) in about 27 minutes, they said by the time they’re done ordering coffee, it’s ready to go.
Source: CarNewsChina, FAW Toyota
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This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes Trek’s first throttle e-bike, NYC imposing a 15 MPH speed limit for e-bikes, MeetOne Tour electric trike review, why your e-bike frame number is important, NIU’s stock is soaring, and more.
The Wheel-E podcast returns every two weeks on Electrek’s YouTube channel, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We also have a Patreon if you want to help us to avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the Wheel-E podcast today:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 9:00 a.m. ET (or the video after 10:00 a.m. ET):
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Trump are in the middle of a nasty break-up and it didn’t take long for Musk’s companies, including Tesla, were thrown in the middle of it like kids in a divorce.
We will focus on the real impact on Tesla’s business here, rather than its stock price, which is largely driven by sentiment, similar to a meme stock.
As Jamie pointed out in his post yesterday, Tesla’s stock surged following Trump’s election, mostly on anticipated corruption between Musk, who invested nearly $300 million to get Trump elected, and the federal government.
Now, Tesla’s stock crashed 14% yesterday following Musk turning on Trump in a very public way.
During the post-election rise and now this drop, Tesla’s core business has remained unchanged. Its automotive business is in evident decline, while its energy business is growing, but not enough to compensate for the decrease in EV deliveries.
Investors are clinging to the hope that this time Musk is finally right about Tesla solving self-driving, even though he has been consistently wrong about it for years, and now has initiated a pivot to Tesla operating an internal ride-hailing fleet in a geo-fenced area of Austin, Texas, and helped by “heavy teleoperation.”
With this context at Tesla, and its CEO now being in a feud with the head of the US federal government and his loyalists in Congress and the Senate, how could this impact Tesla?
Branding issues
Tesla has been having major brand issues for the last few years, as its CEO has become increasingly political and they have ramped up since he became directly involved with Trump.
It led to the “Tesla Takedown” protests all around the world and Musk alienated a large part of Tesla’s customer based, who tends to lean to the left. Some argued that Tesla might managed to grab new customers to the right of the political spectrum and Trump tried to help with that by holding what amounted to a Tesla informercial on the White House lawn.
However, we have previously highlighted that Tesla has limited opportunities to bring in customers from red states and rural areas.
Now that Musk has called Trump an ingrate, insuated that he was a pedofile, and called his flagship legislation an “abomination”, all in the span of a few hours, it’s likely going to result in MAGA supporters turning away from Tesla.
Musk’s impact on the brand has had the biggest negative effect on Tesla in North America and Europe.
Tesla’s sales are on track to be down roughly 50% in Europe this year and Tesla’s market has been wiped out in Canada.
While the impact on the brand in the US is undeniable, it actually hasn’t been greatly felt on deliveries yet for a few reasons.
First off, Tesla has maintained record discounts and incentives to buy its vehicles in the US.
Secondly, the US market is the least competitive for electric vehicles worldwide. Tesla’s main competition is from other US automakers while many foreign automakers don’t bring their entire EV lineups into the US and Chinese EVs are virtually banned in the country.
Lastly, the US still has a $7,500 incentive on the purchase of new electric vehicles, which is expected to go away next – creating some urgency to buy now.
Incentives
Trump campaigned on removing the $7,500 incentive at the purchase of electric vehicles – a campaign that Musk backed with almost $300 million.
The President also attacked electric vehicles in general during the campaign with clear misinformation. Shortly after, Musk said that “Trump was right about everything.”
The plans was always to remove the EV tax credit and any incentives for renewable energy. Musk actually publicly agreed with this though he added that he thinks that subsidies for fossil fuels, which greatly outpace those for renewable energy, should also be removed.
Trump never showed any intention to do that and campaigned on the US drilling for more oils and restarting unprofitable coal power plants.
The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ that was approved by Congress and is now being discussed in Senate is officially killing the EV tax credit, the 30% tax credit for solar, wind, and energy storage (ITC), the incentives to produce batteries in the US, and it tries to kill CARB’s ZEV credits.
Some have attributed this as the real reason why Musk turned on Trump and attacked the bill, but the truth is that Trump and the GOP had signaled all this prior, including during the campaign that Musk backed.
However, Musk has been mostly absent at Tesla for the last year, but he recently returned at Tesla and received several briefings. There’s a possibility that Musk has now grasped the full impact of the removal of all EV, battery, and solar incentives.
Without ZEV credits, the EV tax credit, the ITC, and battery manufacturing credits, Tesla would have lost money in Q1 2025.
Investigations, penalities, and bans
Many argued that the real reason Musk backed Trump was to get federal agencies investigating him and his companies off his back.
Musk and his companies have been under SEC, DOJ, NTHSA, US Labor Board, and FTC investigations.
Some of those investigations have been ramping up and once Musk got into the government, he pushed for new leaders of those agencies and gutted their resources through DOGE.
Now that he has turned on Trump, there’s a possibility that those investigations ramp back up again.
Trump has already made it clear that he plans to retaliate against Musk’s companies in a series of post on Truth Social:
In particular, the SEC could go against Musk and Tesla due to recent lies about Tesla’s demand.
NHTSA has had a long going investigation into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving program and Trump could pressure the agency to shut down its upcoming pilot program in Austin or even recall FSD features.
Electrek’s Take
I think things will cool down. The way I see it, Musk was pushed out, he realized that he doesn’t have that much control over Trump, and tested the waters to activate his plan B, which is to get Trump impeached and have him replaced by JD Vance.
He quickly realized that he doesn’t have the political weight to make that happen and backed off.
The situation is still not great and I could certainly see it escalate again. Especially since Musk signaled that he is willing to throw his weight at the political class to get what he wants:
Trump could be worried about that and decide reduce Musk’s power, which relies greatly on Tesla’s inflated stock price.
But even if nothing happens and Musk and Trump squash their beef, the truth is that Tesla is going to suffer badly from this bill.
The entire EV market is going to suffer. If the bill passes, EV are going to have a great second half of the year as buyers try to take advantage of the tax credit, but things are going to get rough in 2026.
For Tesla, I think it starts losing money in 2026. Competition is starting to crush the company in Europe and China. The US is its only market where sales are not crashing, but that’s because Tesla is willing to reduce its gross margins with discounts.
Tesla is going to have to dig deeper on that front without the tax credit. You remove the billions of dollars that Tesla has been getting for ZEV and battery manufacturing credits and it turns negative.
Ultimately, it will cripple the entire US automotive market as the rest of the world moves to electric vehicles.
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