AFAIK there's actually only one color and you can wrap it. The wrap kits are supposed to be DIY friendly so you can change it yourself when you want a new color.

I think this is starting to change, fortunately, with things like the yellow Renault 5s.

Mind you, when ordering a lease car for the first time recently, I did notice that I was paying a premium for non-bland colours. I suspect the weird financial structure of new cars has - they're often not bought to hold, but leased - has a lot to do with the blandness.

I noticed recently it’s cool to match the color of your vehicle to your house

Definitely!

Gen Z & A value uniqueness and authenticity. I think the customization options will resonate a lot with them.

That was my first thought as well. I can't articulate why, but if the company and product survive a few years, it feels to me like it might become a modern "cult" car.

And then they pick black or white.

> The color options are a much bigger deal than I think many people realize.

Any mass-market car has practically the same color options. Wraps have existed for a looong time.

I'm not sure they are. I don't think most people give two shits about the color of a vehicle, that's why most of them today are white or silver.

The four most common vehicle colours in the US are white, black, grey and silver. I believe this covers like 80%+ of vehicles. Canada is worse still (so much so that many makers basically just offer the shades of grey, sometimes with a special-order red or something for the rebels), and a few days ago I was on a walk and saw a light turn red and a dozen cars that pulled up to stop and every single one was white.

People have other colour choices, but they're constantly choosing the most spectacularly boring, neutral colours possible.

The colour thing is neat, but I'm not sure it's going to be a big deal. It might actually lead to the paradox of choice where people basically feel even worse about their options.

Compared to gas cars: Kia K4 hatchback is $26k with a lot more creature-comforts. Gets 34mpg, so if $6/gal gas is here to stay that's $0.17 per mile of fuel costs. My EV gets almost exactly 4miles/kW average and I pay $0.21 per kW so that's about $0.05 per mile.

So $0.12 per mile saved in fuel costs implies about 800k miles for break-even.

This excludes costs of servicing, which should be higher on the gas car.

> wheel upgrade

At the same size (17"), going from steel to alloy improves performance but reduces durability. Larger wheels (20") are generally a downgrade for performance and ride quality.

Engineering Explained has a video on this topic: NYvKxsYFqO8

I'm simultaneously not interested in an electric truck & amazed the price is still reasonable if you want to turn it the truck into a hatchback instead. The range is also meh.

Same conclusion: interesting, but not necessarily interested. Hope they go places though.

There isn’t a hatchback option. Did you mean fastback?

Presumably you could reconfigure it easily later. Which seems like a plus

> still pretty inexpensive

Can we stop being so out of touch and/or deluding ourselves to believe $35k is “pretty inexpensive” for people not living in a bubble; whether that is the Americas bubble or the tech bubble within the bubble or the urban bubble within that; let alone for a tiny two seater electric truck that has a 200 mile range.

The 45th percentile, i.e., the bottom 90% have a median income of roughly $40,000. $35,000 for a enclosed covered or even hatchback type mini SUV is not reasonable and you know very well when they come out with that, it’s going to be at least $40,000. None of that is inexpensive or even pretty inexpensive. That’s just rationalization and coping, trying to convince ourselves and others of things that are incongruent.

“Pretty inexpensive” would be an enclosed bed version that cost $22,000 maybe.

For additional context; the industry standard measure of income to cost ratio has risen from 9.3 weeks of household income gross pay for a baseline vehicle, i.e., civic, in 1973 to, 16.5 weeks of gross pay in 2024; and that’s based on the fraudulent official inflation numbers.

Yet more context, a civic can seat 5 people and still has a range of 450 miles on a tank of gasoline that you can find all over the place, even in far off rural places OSD puppy can carry gasoline with you if need be.

There is no sense in rationalizing and deluding ourselves about the real limitations that still exists that are real and are why adoption is not matching imaginations.

It makes sense for a utility truck to be modular. I cant say the same for vans and sedans.

I blame the dealers, at least somewhat. In the early days of the Scion brand, the idea was something like, all of the cars are shipped to the dealer as base models, customers could choose from a menu of add-ons, and the dealer would install them. Want just the basic car? Fine. Want to add keyless entry and mood lighting and a CD changer and chrome alloy wheels? They'll add those for you.

But (at least in my experience), that made for a worse product than having factory installation and QA. I bought a brand-new car from a Scion dealer in 2005 and indicated I wanted to add keyless entry. I paid the dealer, they did the install, and I left ... with a car that would intermittently fail to lock some doors with the key fob. I realized shortly thereafter that the dealer had installed an aftermarket system to save money rather than the offical Scion keyless entry system. I complained and eventually got them to install the right system, but jeez, that did not enhance my experience compared to just finding a car that was built in a factory with the options I wanted.

I'm not saying the modular Slate pickup isn't cool. I'm kind of tempted by it. But I wouldn't be surprised if people find themselves with leaky roofs, electrical gremlins and random squeaks and rattles compared to if they just bought some other truck/SUV and left it alone.

Tesla made some progress with this, but it’s the dealer network. The existing manufacturers are beholden to it and $200 oil changes.

The tradeoff is creaks and rattles.

https://www.andysautowreckers.ca they have a field of junk cars that people come in & harvest parts from

GMC made a modular system for like 50 years, it's called the SBC.

The modularity is there with classic manufacturers too, just not "exposed" to the buyer. Cars use a common platform and you can still buy the classic or fastback, different styling packages, but you won't be able to self service them after the sale. I don't really know how much Slate is the Framework of the auto world, and how much it's just customization options at purchase time.

Most people who buy a car would never be bothered to "tweak" it later, upgrade, add stuff. Modularity also constrains the design and could add some reliability issues.

The biggest benefit would be home repairability so I think that's a big driver for why other manufacturers don't do it. EVs already require less maintenance so that's lost revenue.

P.S. Looking at the options on the site, other than the body style everything else is just as easy to have on any other car. Most of the customization is purely esthetic (wraps, decals, rim options, light plates) and even the practical options like light bars or roof racks are common in the OEM world for any classic brand.

Yeah 200 miles is pretty much the low end of what I'd consider (and I assume that is an "absolute best case" number, e.g. unloaded at a constant speed on a flat road, not running AC or heat but IDK how those are actually computed).

300-350 miles would be a lot better. That would cover most of my trips (and allow for some payload) with a little bit to spare before I needed to stop to charge.

I guess the price isn't too bad. I still remember something like a Toyota or a Ford Ranger or Chevy S10 selling for under 10K new, but inflation and all... probably not terrible for a compact truck in 2026.

They have a lowering kit, but it’s “coming soon” and it costs extra

The b2500 was great. My buddy's dad had one and we would take it to go fishing. This and the 95 or so Ford F-150 are _the_ canonical trucks to me.

I believe all of these previews are using pre-production units. Production units should be better built with better tolerances since it becomes all factory done, but that's definitely something you'd have to wait and see when it actually begins shipping.

That said, given the price point and the new-ness of the manufacturer, there's all but certainly going to be fit & finish issues.

I love that there are physical buttons for all of the car functions (fuck trying to adjust the temperature/audio/car settings on a touchscreen while driving) but I do feel like having an optional component for a large 1st party screen which sits in the dash with Android Auto/Apple CarPlay would be nice instead of only having the phone mount option.

I love the lack of a center console touch screen precisely so I can add one I made myself with a raspberry pi and some cool shit from adafruit

https://www.slate.auto/en they have a size comparison if you scroll down about 3 pages.

Good criticism. It looks like the car's EV tech is average at best; definitely not outstanding. That's probably why they don't advertise it strongly, and also probably a big factor in why it's so cheap.

They list some details on the Specs page[1]. They quote 200 miles of range, which is not great especially for a small car. They list a 20-80 charge time of 30 minutes so it's probably a 400V architecture, which is becoming outdated as 800V architectures and chargers exist now.

Seems like a fine about-town car, but probably not a great one for road trips. I think that probably aligns with the NVH[2] expectations you should have for a car of this price.

[1] https://www.slate.auto/en/specs

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise,_vibration,_and_harshnes...

On the specs page is say "205 miles" estimated range for the blank slate/minimal version - which is not great

Very surprising it doesn't say the battery capacity anywhere and has no option for a bigger battery

I dug in a bit. Slate has around 63Kwh battery capacity and a range of 205 miles. For pure metrics comparison - chevy bolt has similar battery capacity and a range of 260 miles and similar price range. So basically slate looked at the existing market and said we need a better looking chevy bolt even if it sacrifices range. I guess there will be a market for this.

> my dad's 90's ford ranger

The only reason it takes an EV to get this is CAFE.

I have a 91 Ranger Club Cab, 4.0L RWD sitting around waiting to get used again. The only reason I upgraded (2016 Tacoma) was because of how bad it was in the winter (Western Canada, lots of snow and ice). Couldn’t get good tires for it anymore (15” is so passé) and often got stuck on flat icy surfaces. If it had been 4WD I’d probably still be driving it every day.

I love the Tacoma for a lot of reasons, but that Ranger really had a lot going for it in the summer.

The Bezos investment gives me pause too. But the claim that there’s no telemetry is exciting: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/06/slate-says-its-electric...

I was interested until bezos. Hard pass.

>Hard to see what the market is for the Slate.

Well you quoted a hybrid, which needs fuel. At current local electric rates ($0.07/kw) I can fully charge my E-Transit (~68kwh usable in the battery) for $4.76. Then I can go around 130 miles before coming back home to charge.

Vastly cheaper than a gas van, but lets look at the Maverick which gets even better economy.

Most gas stations I drove by today were $3.15 to $3.39 for 87oct gas. Self reported fuel economy for the Hybrid Ford Maverick on a few sites maxes out around 37mpg combined.

That means for a Slate truck with the larger 84kwh battery you'll be spending $5.90 for a full at home charge in my area which will get you ~240 miles. While if you bought a Maverick you'll be getting around 70 miles for the same cost.

This is all before we even factor in maintenance differences.

EDIT// They dropped the 84kwh battery, but my point still stands.

There are people who want an EV and not a hybrid, like me.

We are about to see this increasingly frequent commentary put to the test.

The Specs page has a list of safety features. Sadly it's an image and not text, so here's a direct link:

[PAGE] https://www.slate.auto/en/specs

[IMAGE] https://images.ctfassets.net/20dhmw20vttc/2wmiW5shOfgAKsd1nF...

I’m on the waitlist and this is the main thing I’m contemplating before actually pulling the trigger on buying one.

They did a demo and some discussion in this video. I recall some discussion on safety features www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6_9_HHLOSY

You’ve hit a nerve for sure. A couple years back I was doing some field ops in rural Illinois and the rental SUV I had (Nissan?) made it almost impossible to turn around on a gravel road. Slowly backing up towards the ditch, watching carefully in the backup camera… BAM, full brake, lots of beeping, cue frustration. Every damned time.

You can usually disabled the automatic braking in every vehicle I've driven from 2020-2025. I tend to leave on the warning noises, but disable to auto braking.

That is not just the auto industry either. US manufacturers have really dropped the ball across the board, and tariffs are not going to fix it for them.

I’m not really sure what the solution is at this point. We can’t just drop the tariffs, as that will decidedly end almost all manufacturing that has been propped up by them. On the flip side, the current administration’s recent erratic application and resulting litigation in this area have created an environment where no one in their right mind would invest in building out new capacity. The winds have demonstrated that they are too likely to shift again.

I hope someone can swoop in on this thread and explain how it’s all going to work out. Because I just don’t see it anymore….

And that makes me sad, because I want to love the Slate. Seems great. But I can’t see past how the pricing is tantamount to systemic theft, knowing that it has been artificially inflated by such protectionism.

I believe they got rid of the smaller battery. Before the tax credit was removed, they were sourcing a more expensive battery. After the credit was removed the switched to a cheaper battery. The cheaper battery would not have qualified for the tax credit, but that’s not an issue anymore.

https://insideevs.com/news/799667/slate-truck-lfp-battery-ra...

Don't be so sure. Rear wheel drive is just fine in a truck if you fill the bed with firewood. This is an EV, so I would expect they put a lot of batteries under the bed and so have good weight on the back wheels.

Of course I'm waiting for real world reports, but I'm not going to rule it out yet.

What do you consider good range? Ford [1] and Stellantis [2] have small EV passenger vans.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Transit_Courier#Tourneo_C... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_e-Berlingo

Probably not, no. Large vehicles are heavy which needs more battery, and good range needs more battery too. Batteries are expensive.

Everyone has their own corny. Problem with the Cybertruck is that it's corny in a single cyberpunk kind of way which doesn't appeal to many people. Some of the designs are corny but in a way I find quite appealing. The Moon Duster looks super cool imo.

It's well known to be backed by Jeff Bezos which might be the only reason they haven't ran out of money.

The general population doesn't care a lick who has invested in the company, who the C suite is, any of that.

Normal people make product-buying decisions based on the product.

Approximately zero people who are in the market for a Rivian would consider buying this.

You wouldn't cross-shop a Rivian and a Slate. The Rivian is a high-end luxury vehicle with a laundry list of features, including things like self-driving. The Slate is literally the opposite: it has a laundry list of things it doesn't have and, indeed, its lack of features is part of the sales pitch.

This is like saying "an under-appreciated value of ordering from Amazon is that they deliver to your house".

Not only that, if you have access to an outlet at home (many do; many do not), then you just never have to think about your "gas tank" at all. You start every day at a full "tank". After a month of ownership, your state of charge is just not even something you think about, at all.

You always buy fossil fuels with an EV, not directly but you do. When you stop at the plaza for a quick super charge there’s no way to tell where is the energy sourced from, it could very well be from a diesel generator a few miles down the road. The value is in all the parts found in an ICE that need servicing or replacement that you don’t have in an EV. With an EV you basically need tires and maybe brakes once every 8-10 years, no oil and fluids, no oil or engine filters, water pumps, spark plugs, valves, seals, etc etc

Where people snag is the "gas station mentality", where everything they know about car ownership revolves around "filling up at a station".

So when they think about owning an EV, they focus really hard on "gas station mentality" things like "how long does it take to fill" and "how far can you go between fill-ups?".

Once you own an EV (and have a home charger) you pretty quickly forget about those things shy of the occasional 300+ mi road trip.

One under-appreciated value of having an EV is that you don't have to buy gas.

I’m pretty sure that’s the whole g-damned point of an EV. Who are you thinking needs to be told this?

Is that under-appreciated? It's kind of the whole deal aside from environmental concerns.

It's ok, just keep a generator in the bed and you can buy gas for it

That is literally the only selling point what are you on about?

True, but one does not have to replace their gas powered engine and fuel tank and drive train every ten to fifteen years if they want to drive several hundred miles. The problem with EV is destroying the economy to shift it to a tiny few people. From all the gas station workers, fuel distribution, parts makers, parts suppliers, etc. for several hundred moving part vehicles. To the oligarchs who control the thirty moving parts that must be replaced every ten years for ten grand.

EVs are a massive serfdom wealth and freedom transfer masquerading as a decade of not having to visit a gas station while hiding the country sized hole that will be needed for all the battery trash.

They are a blight on humanity. China survives them at scale because they are communist and have policies to mitigate economic fallout in one sector by having people supported in others. The USA just makes more homeless people and tells the next generation of high schoolers to enroll in a special work ready jobs pipeline program for whatever the local school board thinks will be left. And their non-employment rate skyrockets.

I'll be amazed if Tesla meets their sub-$30k target for the cab. But stranger things have happened.

And the Slate should have better utility, for anybody who needs a truck/SUV vs coupe. And also comes without the Musk stigma.

Personally, I hope that nothing Elon Musk ever does for the rest of his life succeeds. Maybe that's just me though.