Startup manufacturer Slate bringing low-priced EV pickup truck to market

Want a ride that's basic, affordable, and electric? A Slate might do the trick. But, what's a Slate?

"It's the truck that answers the question 'What if you actually took out all the things you don't need in a truck right now, and you were able to put things back in that you actually wanted?'" said Jeff Jablansky, who runs public relations for the Jeff Bezos-founded startup.

The concept is that today's vehicles are too complicated and expensive. Slate EVs, made in the U.S., use a single basic configuration, with a starting price of just over $26,000. Projected range is 205 miles.

"Most people aren't driving more than about 35 or 40 miles per day, and when you do need to recharge a Slate, go to a fast charger like a Tesla Supercharger, and charge up in 30 minutes," added Jablansky.

In its most basic form, this is a compact pickup with a standard cab. But thanks to the ability to be reconfigured, you can order up an SUV transformation kit, which provides a full roof and a rear seat. And then there's the customization available. The Slate website shows what's possible. There are accessories galore and wraps in a dizzying array of colors. The standard gray is the color of the molded composite body panels.

"There's no paint on the truck," said Jablansky. "By not setting up a paint shop, we saved manufacturing costs of hundreds of millions of dollars."

A pickup truck is kind of an ideal vehicle to build an EV on, because there's a lot of space underneath the passenger compartment and the bed to put the battery pack.

But so far, trucks with battery power have been expensive, and offerings from legacy pickup brands have been in flux recently. Ford dropped its electric F-150 Lightning late last year, and Ram shelved its planned EV pickup while in the prototype stage. Both those brands are promising new EV truck models with gasoline range extenders.

Chevrolet seems to be doubling down on its rather expensive Silverado EV with variations like Trail Boss, a spec also available on the conventional Silverado. For those who want an electric pickup that's better able to handle off-road use, with the cargo flexibility of the mid-gate design. Base prices for the Silverado EV Trail Boss start at $70,000 and climb from there.

To compete at the lower end, Ford is revisiting the fully-electric pickup market with an upcoming mid-size model called Fathom, which has been seen running around in camouflage in the Las Vegas area recently. The promised starting price is under $30,000, due to a more streamlined manufacturing process that will also produce electric SUVs in the future.

So far, the Slate formula is showing that something simple, functional and which runs on battery power could be the right formula. Early customer enthusiasm would seem to indicate that.

"We moved to the pre-order phase back in June. In the first two hours, 10,000 people told us right away they wanted a Slate truck and put down money," said Jablansky.

Perhaps this EV newcomer is catching lightning in bottle, as the saying goes.