Slate is offering its electric van for sale starting at $24,950 USD
Slate Auto, the young American automaker backed in part by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, confirmed yesterday the starting price of its affordable electric pickup truck, which features a single cab, no radio, and manual windows.
The price is US$24,950, or the equivalent of 35,500 Canadian dollars, not including shipping and handling fees (which are unspecified). Sales will be made directly to customers, without going through dealers.
Manufactured in Indiana, all models will be painted gray and equipped with steel wheels, with the option of a vinyl wrap applied at the end of the production line in Kentucky. There are 100 colors available at launch, including about 40 priced at just $499.
The Slate pickup can also be converted into an SUV with a rear bench seat for an additional $5,000. For those who prefer a coupe-style SUV, that’s another $2,000 on top of that. Kits to raise or lower the suspension will also be available, but their prices are still unknown.
The company noted that one-third of the customization options available at launch cost less than $100, and half are priced at less than $250.
More range and capacity than expected
The pickup is 4.43 meters long with a wheelbase of 2.77 meters, which is much smaller than a Ford Maverick (5.08 and 3.08 meters, respectively), although the 5-foot bed is identical. It is available in a single rear-wheel-drive configuration, and its electric motor produces 181 chevaux and 195 lb-pi of torque. According to Slate, it can accelerate from 0 to 60 mi/h (97 km/h) in 8 seconds.
Good news: The range, initially announced at 150 miles (240 km), has been revised to 205 miles (330 km) thanks to a new 63 kWh LFP battery. Charging is done via a NACS port located on the left rear fender, which provides access to Tesla’s extensive Supercharger network, where charging power can reach up to 120 kW.
In addition, Slate mentions a maximum towing capacity of 2,000 lb, rather than just 1,000 lb. As for the cargo bed’s payload capacity, it has increased from 1,400 to 1,550 lb. Let’s not forget that there’s a large trunk of about 200 liters under the hood.
Slate says it currently has 180,000 pre-orders, but how many of those will translate into sales? Deliveries will begin this fall. At full capacity, the factory will be able to produce some 150,000 units per year. Unfortunately for us, there are currently no distribution plans for Canada, as efforts are focused on the U.S. market.
