Pick-up transformer Slate Truck prepares for market launch: more expensive than expected

American electric vehicle start-up Slate Auto has announced the pricing for its people's pick-up truck, which has been given the no-nonsense name Slate Truck. In its basic specification, the Slate Truck costs $26,400 including delivery, but for that money the little truck is as bare as a bone: no stereo and no electric windows. The Slate Truck will be built at the company's own factory in Warsaw, Indiana, with customer deliveries beginning before the end of this year.

Slate Auto was founded in 2022 by former Amazon employees, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos himself has become one of its key investors. The Slate Truck made its debut in April 2025, by which time the American car market had already turned its back on electric vehicles and several EV start-ups (Lordstown Motors, Fisker and Canoo) had already gone bust. Nevertheless, Slate Auto believes in the success of its business model and is so far executing it strictly to schedule.

The idea is to give Americans the cheapest possible electric pick-up truck, which can be modified at any time to suit their tastes and needs. Hence, of course, the name Slate: it translates from English as 'slate board' — the idea being that you can draw anything on our pick-up and turn it into anything you like. At the time of the debut, it was expected that the Slate Truck would cost less than $20,000 in basic specification, but since Donald Trump scrapped federal subsidies for buying electric vehicles, the minimum price has risen to $26,400 (this figure includes a $1,450 delivery fee).

The Slate Truck is a compact pick-up with a single-row cab that can be turned into an SUV by fitting a second three-seat row in the load bed and covering it with a hard roof. The vehicle can be modified after purchase by buying all the necessary accessories, or you can order one of two hard-roof versions from the outset — the SUV Squareback with a vertical rear tailgate, or the SUV Fastback with a raked rear window. Several options for roof rails and mounts for bulky loads are available for both the cab roof and the load bed. You can also fit an LED light bar on the roof and additional spotlights on the front. The design of the main headlights and rear lights can also vary. Every Slate Truck is painted grey at the factory, but the body and cab can be partially or fully wrapped in vinyl film and decorative stripes in virtually any colour.

The overall length of the basic pick-up is 4,435 mm, width is 1,793 mm, height is 1,727 mm, and the wheelbase is 2,766 mm. Standard wheels are 17-inch, with 20-inch items offered as an option. The useful load bed capacity up to the top of the sides is 994 litres, and there is a lockable front boot with a volume of 198 litres. The useful load bed length is 1,537 mm. Kerb weight is 1,836-1,966 kg depending on specification, maximum payload is 703 kg, and the permissible braked trailer weight is 907 kg.

The Slate Truck's single electric motor is mounted on the rear axle and drives the rear wheels; its maximum output is 135 kW (183.5 bhp) and 264 Nm, the sprint 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 (of which 63 kWh is available to the customer), and the range on a single charge is 330 km on the EPA cycle. The maximum battery charging power is 120 kW. The suspension is coil-sprung, with MacPherson struts at the front and a De Dion axle at the rear.

In basic specification, the Slate Truck has air conditioning, but no electric windows — the door cards sport nostalgic winder handles. The role of the infotainment system is taken on by your smartphone or an optional tablet that you mount in the centre of the dashboard. The audio system is a portable Bluetooth speaker. The only area where no corners have been cut is safety: standard equipment includes six airbags, an automatic emergency braking system and a reversing camera — the image from which is displayed on the single instrument screen.

With a long list of options and deliberately aggressive tyres, the Slate Truck can be turned into a rather flashy off-roader, although, of course, the word 'off-roader' in this case should be taken with a pinch of salt, as four-wheel drive is not available. Our American colleagues at Car and Driver magazine have calculated that a fully loaded Slate Truck will cost nearly $48,000, and that's with some options still unavailable — for example, the ability to raise or lower the ride height.

Slate Auto insists that around 180,000 pre-orders have been placed for its debut model, but how many of those will convert into actual sales will only become clear by the end of next year. The company has no plans to sell the Slate Truck outside the United States for now.