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This week, we’re officially going to get pricing for the Slate Auto Blank Slate electric pickup truck. While I won’t be one of the journalists getting a ride-along at the event, this vehicle is less about what it’s like to drive and more about the value and cost-cutting it offers, and whether the general public will go for it.
Due to a potential vibe-coding failure, which is what I think happened, we believe the non-delivery price Slate will start at just a hair under $25,000. For a brand new car, regardless of powertrain, that’s a solid price. The number of sub-$30,000 cars for sale isn’t as plentiful as it used to be.
But the Slate is an electric truck. That means a majority of its manufacturing costs go to the lithium-ion battery pack that underpins the vehicle. Those aren’t cheap, which means Slate has to make its dollar go a long way in the rest of the vehicle.
That’s why in its standard trim, it doesn’t come with power windows. Yes, you can add them, but they aren’t standard. You don’t even get speakers or a radio as standard. This is as bare-bones a new vehicle as you’re ever going to get.
I’ve suggested many times that Slate is what happens when the internet comments section gets what it wants. The only thing missing is a manual transmission and a gas motor, but in the Year of our Lord 2026, I contend it’d be impossible to find funding to help build an all-new automaker with gasoline powertrains. The money simply wouldn’t be there.
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Now, when Slate first announced the truck, there was a small chance that the federal tax credit would still exist, though it seemed quite unlikely. When it went away, it was hard to see how competitive the truck would be if it started closer to the $30,000 price point. There are good EVs at just a hair over that amount.
But Slate has timing on its side. Nobody predicted that the United States would start a war of choice with Iran, and nobody anticipated that energy prices would soar once the Iranians closed the Strait of Hormuz. And because we have a toddler as a President, it’s unlikely there’ll be a negotiated deal anytime soon, even if we give Iran everything it wants, because said toddler can’t even surrender properly and has to rant on his social media network.
That means now, more than when there was a tax incentive, people are looking to electrified vehicles. That means hybrids and plug-in hybrids, but it also means fully-electric vehicles. Hyundai’s Ioniq 5, priced aggressively, is setting company sales records, and the used EV space is hotter than ever.
So it appears that Slate has the right timing to launch a small, back-to-basics vehicle. But has it done its market research? Is it a company that’s just going to sell to fleets, like Amazon? Or is there a genuine total addressable market beyond the internet comments section, which never buys new vehicles (actually, they never buy anything they say they want)?
💡Do you have information about Slate? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me on Signal at chadkirchner.1701, or with another secure communication method.
We’re about to find out whether the opportunity presented to Slate is met with the preparation needed to be successful and capitalize on it.
Me? I think the truck will be more popular initially than some naysayers suggest. I’m still not sure there’s a big enough market out there to start a car company based on the idea that people want a small, two-door pickup truck, but I do think there is some appetite for a basic vehicle.
When the Ford Maverick was $30,000 to start, with a hybrid, that was a literal no-brainer option. It was easy to recommend, and what I’d buy if it still existed. No, it’s not a full-BEV, but it was practical and inexpensive to run. But now it’s far too expensive to compare it against the Slate, and it has lost a ton of the value that it once offered. I still like the product, but the price increases have been brutal.
Ford’s upcoming Universal Electric Vehicle Platform pickup truck might be a more compelling alternative, since it’ll come with four doors and presumably power windows. Ford claims the price will be around $30,000, which would make it a logical competitor to Slate. But we don’t know the official pricing yet because Ford hasn’t told us, and Ford has a history of offering a product at one price and then raising it shortly after (like the Maverick and the Ford Lightning BEV).
What I do know is that every single day Slate can offer a small electric pickup truck that is reasonably affordable before Ford or other competitors do is a day to win over sales. While many people might go to the used marketplace when they are priced out of new, buying a used vehicle is an entirely different mindset than buying new.
What I do know is that the political pendulum will swing back, and anyone not actively working on electrification and BEVs will be behind in a big way. Additionally, while there are many compelling options that could come from China, it’s highly unlikely that those vehicles will be allowed to be sold here by either a Republican- or Democratic-controlled government. Regardless of what the reason is, or why you think the reason is, it doesn’t change the political reality of the situation.
So that leaves us with Slate at the entry level. Is it enough? I don’t know. But as I said, we’re about to find out.