Slate Autos has released the first official teaser of its upcoming affordable electric truck. The teaser was published in an article by Newsweek, which named the brand-new automaker backed by Jeff Bezos “America’s Next Disruptor.”
Slate has apparently partnered with Newsweek to help with promotion, as the teaser image shows the truck wearing camouflage made out of a repeating pattern of the Newsweek logo. The article also reveals that Slate will officially debut its truck soon, on April 24. While Newsweek doesn’t mention anything about the vehicle’s price, a previous report by TechCrunch suggested it will sell at a starting price of just $25,000, which would make it the most affordable EV for sale in the U.S.
Everything We Know About Slate’s Truck
We know from the TechCrunch report that Slate Autos is an EV startup based in Michigan that, until recently, flew completely under the radar. There are reportedly multiple sources that also link billionaire Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos to the company as an investor. The company was founded in 2022 from within another Bezos-owned company called Re:Build Manufacturing and includes employees from Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, and even Harley-Davidson.
Insiders say Slate has been using iconic vehicles such as the Ford Model T and Volkswagen Beetle as inspiration for its $25,000 electric truck. Unfortunately, none of the truck’s specifications have leaked, so we don’t know the size of the battery pack (or packs), estimated range, horsepower, towing, or anything like that.
What we do know is that Slate intends to start production of the truck as soon as 2026, possibly at a factory near Indianapolis, Indiana, according to TechCrunch. The truck’s ultra-low starting price also suggests it will be bare bones, with customization and up-fitting options that will surely earn the company higher profit margins than the truck itself.
The newly released teaser image doesn’t show us much that we haven’t already seen in the recently found spy shot of the truck being transported via a trailer. We get a better, more close-up look at one side of the truck’s front end, showing a simple round headlight and dot matrix-style front turn signal.
TopSpeed’s Take
Partnering with a non-automotive publication such as Newsweek to promote your new product is an unorthodox move, but it looks to be paying off for Slate, and Newsweek appears to be reveling in its exclusive access and special camouflage wrap.
As for the truck itself, Slate has large expectations to live up to despite it only having been in the public consciousness for a couple of weeks. Our guess is that the truck will have a range somewhere around 150 miles. Perhaps Slate will also sell an upgraded battery pack or range-extending add-on.
The battery pack is the most expensive component of an EV, so EVs this affordable usually have smaller battery packs. For instance, one of Slate’s future competitors, Telo (above), says its electric truck will have a base range of 260 miles and a starting price of $41,520.
If Slate can pull this off, we welcome another disrupting EV startup to the fold and wish it well. The ground, however, is littered with failed companies that have come before, so Bezos and his fellow investors had better be ready to lose some serious money in the short run.
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