American electric vehicle startup Slate Auto has announced pricing for its people's pickup truck, which has been given the straightforward name Slate Truck. In its "base" configuration, the Slate Truck costs $26,400 including delivery, but for that money, the truck comes stripped down: no audio system and no power windows. The Slate Truck will be produced at the company's own factory in Warsaw, Indiana, with customer deliveries set to begin before the end of this year.
Slate Auto was founded in 2022 by former Amazon employees, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos himself became one of its key investors. The Slate Truck premiered in April 2025, at a time when the American auto market had already turned its back on electric vehicles and several EV startups (Lordstown Motors, Fisker, and Canoo) had gone bankrupt. Nevertheless, Slate Auto believes in the success of its business model and is currently executing it strictly on schedule.
The idea is to offer Americans the cheapest possible electric pickup truck, which can be modified at any time to suit individual tastes and needs. Hence the name Slate: it translates from English to Russian as "slate board" — implying that you can draw anything on this pickup and turn it into anything. At the time of the premiere, it was expected that the base Slate Truck would cost under $20,000, but since Donald Trump canceled federal subsidies for purchasing electric vehicles, the minimum price has risen to $26,400 (this amount includes a $1,450 delivery fee).
The Slate Truck is a compact pickup with a single-row cab, which can be turned into an SUV by installing a second three-seat row in the bed and covering it with a hardtop. The vehicle can be modified after purchase by buying all necessary accessories, or you can order one of two versions with a hardtop right away — the SUV Squareback with a vertical rear wall or the SUV Fastback with a sloping rear window. Several options for roof rails and mounts for oversized cargo are available for the cab and bed roofs. A LED light bar can also be installed on the roof, and additional lights on the front. The design of the main headlights and taillights can also vary. Every Slate Truck is painted gray at the factory, but the body and cab can be partially or fully wrapped in vinyl film and decorative stripes in virtually any color.
The overall length of the base pickup is 4435 mm, width is 1793 mm, height is 1727 mm, and wheelbase is 2766 mm. Standard wheels are 17-inch, with 20-inch wheels offered as an option. The cargo bed's usable volume up to the bed sides is 994 liters, and there is a lockable front trunk with a volume of 198 liters. The usable bed length is 1537 mm. Curb weight ranges from 1836 to 1966 kg depending on equipment, maximum payload is 703 kg, and the permissible trailer towing weight is 907 kg.
The Slate Truck's single electric motor is located on the rear axle and drives the rear wheels, with a maximum output of 135 kW (183.5 hp) and 264 Nm of torque. Acceleration to 60 mph (96.56 km/h) takes 8 seconds, and the top speed is 145 km/h. The lithium iron phosphate battery has a capacity of 65 kWh (63 kWh usable), providing a range of 330 km on a single charge per the EPA cycle. The maximum battery charging power is 120 kW. The suspension is coil-spring, with McPherson struts at the front and a De Dion axle at the rear.
In its base configuration, the Slate Truck comes with air conditioning but no power windows — the door panels feature nostalgic manual crank handles. The role of the multimedia system is fulfilled by your smartphone or an optional tablet that needs to be mounted in the center of the dashboard. The audio system is a portable Bluetooth speaker. No corners were cut on safety: standard equipment includes six airbags, an automatic emergency braking system, and a rearview camera — the image from which is displayed on the single instrument screen.
With a large list of options and deliberately aggressive tires, the Slate Truck can be turned into a rather flashy off-roader, although, of course, the term "off-roader" in this case should be taken loosely, as all-wheel drive is not available. American colleagues from Car and Driver magazine calculated that a fully loaded Slate Truck would cost nearly $48,000, with some options not yet available — for example, the ability to increase or decrease ground clearance.
Slate Auto claims that around 180,000 pre-orders have been collected for its debut model, but how many of these will convert into actual sales will only become clear by the end of next year. The company currently has no plans to sell the Slate Truck outside the United States.
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