Slate Unveils Bare-Bones EV Mini Truck

With tax credits, the truck could be had for under $20,000.

April 25, 2025

Roberto Baldwin

The American truck market is huge. The trucks, they're also quite large. Pickups went from workhorse machines to enormous luxury vehicles with equally large price tags. Even the Maverick, Ford’s latest entry, has seen its price creep up since its debut.

Slate's new electric pickup is bare-bones and inexpensive. (Roberto Baldwin)

The antithesis of the current market is the newly unveiled Slate pickup. A small, two-door, two-seater, bare-bones electric truck that doesn't have power windows, leather interior, or even an entertainment system. It also doesn't boast an insane zero to 60 time, even though it's an EV. Instead, it flies in the face of everything that's happening in the truck market, and it might just be what many customers are looking for.

"Slate exists to put the power back in the hands of customers who have been ignored by the auto industry," Slate CEO Chris Barman said in a statement. “Slate is a radical truck platform so customizable that it can transform from a 2-seat pickup to a 5-seat SUV. The highly customizable vehicle starts off as a (excuse the pun) blank slate. It has steelie wheels, fabric seats, climate control buttons, and not much else.

It's a stripped-down vehicle that Slate says is highly customizable and modular. The truck can become a five-seater SUV via an option pack that includes a rear roll cage, airbags, seats, and a cover. Slate says it will offer up to 100 individual accessories either in bundles or sold individually.

It comes in exactly one color, Slate gray. But Slate will sell wraps for the vehicle and will print custom wraps. It also offers guidance on how individuals could print their own wraps. It offers three levels of wrap for either long-term or short-term wrapping.

The overall theme is customization. This includes offering up reference files to the maker community to 3D print accessories or printing their own wraps. Do you want a pink truck without doors? Go ahead. Do you want the roll cage and rear seats, but don't want the cover that turns the vehicle into an SUV? You can do that.

The interior ships sans touchscreen infotainment system or stereo. (Roberto Baldwin)

The interior is also a bring-your-own-ideas-and-tech affair. In a world of touchscreens, the Slate is all buttons and knobs. The automaker will sell you a tablet, but a rail system above the climate control knobs is built to accept your smartphone or tablet. Behind the dash, from the steering wheel to the passenger door, there’s a large storage area.

The sparse interior is also missing a stereo. Indeed, it doesn’t even have speakers. Again, it's a bring-your-own-device situation. Drivers might just bring a Bluetooth speaker, while some more industrious owners will no doubt 3D print a chassis for aftermarket car stereos and speakers.

The pickup is only available with a single 150kW motor powering the rear wheels. The automotive startup is targeting an EPA range of 150 miles (241 km) from the base 52.7 kWh battery pack. An 84.3 kWh pack is also available, targeting an EPA range of 240 miles (386 km). Slate states that the vehicle will do zero to 60 in about eight seconds and have a top speed of 90 mph (145 km/h). It produces 201 hp (150 kW) and 195 lb-ft (264 Nm). None of these numbers are particularly exciting, but likely adequate for the majority of the vehicle's use cases.

Outfitted with a NACS SAE J3400 port, the vehicle will charge at up 150 kW on a DC fast charger and up to 11kW on an AC charger. On a DC charger, Slate says the pickup can charge from 20% to 80% in less than 30 minutes. Again, not blisteringly fast, but more than adequate, especially for around-town use.

An option SUV pack includes a rollcage, seats, and airbags. (Roberto Baldwin)

For truck stuff (hauling), the Slate has a five-foot bed and can haul up to 1,400 pounds (635 kg). It can tow up to 1,000 pounds (454 kg). Meanwhile, up front, the frunk has 7 cu. ft. of cargo space for lockable storage.

The goal of Slate is to build exactly one trim level of a vehicle on its platform to reduce complications during manufacturing. The truck will be built in the United States with batteries supplied by SK. The batteries will also be produced in the United States and SK has penned a five-year deal to supply batteries to Slate. Battery production will begin in 2026.

Building within U.S. borders with U.S.-assembled batteries should benefit Slate when it comes to dealing with tariffs. It should also benefit the company in terms of being able to offer a federal tax incentive of $7,500. Slate doesn't share pricing. Instead, the automaker states that with the incentive, its vehicle could be had for less than $20,000. That puts the price for the 52.7kWh capacity battery pack version of the truck at around $27,000. With additional state and regional incentives, the price of the vehicle may go even lower.

As for when the vehicles go into production, Slate has said it's aiming for the fourth quarter of 2026. The vehicle should be available via direct online sales around that time. The company has started accepting $50 refundable reservation deposits.