There's more good than bad Over the past year, I’ve tested a handful of “affordable” EVs — which are, in a relative sense, priced lower than the national average of around $50,000. Depending on who you talk to, options below $40,000 look genuinely…
The company has switched to an LFP pack made in Illinois. When Slate unveiled its stripped-back electric pickup in April 2025, the base model was to be powered by a 52.7kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery from SK On with an estimated range of…
The truck’s appeal rests on how little it offers. Motor1 describes a two-seat, small-bed pickup with a single rear motor, an estimated starting price of around $25,000, and no infotainment screen, just a mount for your phone. May’s video explains why that…
Ford keeps CarPlay and Android Auto in its affordable EV truck, while Slate expects you to bring the screen yourself. Both Ford and Slate are pursuing the same enticing goal: an electric pickup starting below $30,000. The Blank Slate Truck starts…
Slate Auto, the American company building what it calls America’s most affordable truck, has teamed with candy maker Smarties on a collection of six pastel-colored Starter Packs timed to Halloween. The series lets customers wrap a Slate Truck in one…
Slate Trucks offer hundreds of customization options at a low price, but those who want 4WD or AWD will need to look elsewhere, as Slate only offers 2WD. This one missing feature from the Slate truck might be a dealbreaker for truck…
US-only late-2026 deliveries; Blank Slate is $24,950 plus $1,450 destination, $300 preorder The Slate Truck ships without a factory infotainment system. Instead, Slate Auto tells buyers to use a phone they already own, then a free Slate app that launches later this year…
Slate’s first showroom sells the promise. Mass production will determine the rest. As I sat in the cab of the pickup truck and manually rolled down the windows, I closed my eyes and flashed back to opening the windows on…
Who wants a battery-powered 1970s throwback? The Slate Truck is about as unique a vehicle as there is. The modular electric truck ships from the factory as a bare-bones two-seat pickup in a single (slate gray) color. But the fun begins…
Tech My Money Slate Auto has published full cargo and towing specifications for the $24,950 Slate Truck ahead of its planned late-2026 rollout. Despite its compact two-door footprint, Slate projects a maximum payload of around 1,550 pounds for the Blank Slate pickup.
Slate Auto is the anti-luxury electric vehicle company. While most EV startups chased six-figure SUVs, Slate set out to build a small, two-seat electric pickup with a price that begins in the mid-twenties, by stripping away almost everything buyers take for granted. The base truck has no infotainment screen, steel wheels, manual windows and plain unpainted panels; the owner's phone handles navigation and music, and color comes from wraps. Revealed in 2025, it is backed by investors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The trick is that the truck is designed as a platform for personalization. Slate sells kits that add features, change the look or turn the pickup into a compact SUV with a back seat, a modular idea that recalls the early Ford Model T and modern smartphone accessories in equal measure. The company is based in Michigan and is preparing production at a converted industrial plant in Warsaw, Indiana. Rear-wheel drive and a five-foot bed are part of the recipe, and critics have debated whether skipping all-wheel drive and a screen is principled or a dealbreaker.
The loss of the federal EV tax credit forced Slate to retreat from its earliest sub-$20,000 messaging, but the target remains a truck priced below nearly every other new pickup. It has opened its first showroom as production approaches. Coverage here tracks final pricing and specs, reservations, factory progress, accessory kits, comparisons with the Ford Maverick and used EVs, and whether a stripped-down truck can succeed where so many expensive startups have not.
The Bezos-backed startup building a bare-bones electric pickup priced in the twenties: no screen, crank-it-yourself simplicity and endless add-on kits.
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