A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

For anyone curious, if you made a similarly sized gas-powered pickup with an i4 engine, it would be penalized more than a full-sized pickup for being too fuel inefficient, despite likely getting much better mileage than an F-150 because, since 2011, bigger cars are held to a lesser standard by CAFE[1].<p>1: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Corporate_average_fuel_economy#Overview" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Corporate_average_fuel_economy...</a>

The US is falling way behind in electric vehicles. If BYD could sell in the US, the US auto industry would be crushed.[1]<p>What went wrong is that 1) Tesla never made a low-end vehicle, despite announcements, and 2) all the other US manufacturers treated electric as a premium product, resulting in the overpowered electric Hummer 2 and F-150 pickups with high price tags. The only US electric vehicle with comparable prices in electric and gasoline versions is the Ford Transit.<p>BYD says that their strategy for now is to dominate in every country that does not have its own auto industry. Worry about the left-behind countries later.<p>BYD did it by 1) getting lithium-iron batteries to be cheaper, safer, and faster-charging, although heavier than lithium-ion, 2) integrating rear wheels, differential, axle, and motor into an &quot;e-axle&quot; unit that&#x27;s the entire mechanical part of the power train, and 3) building really big auto plants in China.<p>Next step is to get solid state batteries into volume production, and build a new factory bigger than San Francisco.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_BYD_Auto_vehicles" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_BYD_Auto_vehicles</a>

I LOVE it! THIS is the kind of truck I&#x27;d be looking at to replace my 1998 Ford Ranger.<p>Here is what could be potential deal-breakers:<p>- Lack of a mobile app. Minimalist design is great, but I still want an app to manage charging and be alerted to any vehicle issues.<p>- Lack of good charge management and battery conditioning. Either that, or a cheap and easy to replace battery pack. I&#x27;d really like both!<p>- Comparable hauling and towing capacity to the 1998 Ford Ranger. Those numbers aren&#x27;t exactly impressive, but I do use the truck as a truck, and I occasionally need the hauling capacity (weight).<p>- Bucket seats. I need a bench seat so I can take my wife and dog. Think weekend glamping trips. Picture 8 shows a bucket seat. It doesn&#x27;t look like that would work.<p>If anyone from Slate is reading this, this is how I&#x27;m looking at this truck. FYI, I&#x27;ll be comparing this to the Ford Maverick.

This is extremely refreshing. I think that it would be possible to make something like this in the US for under $15K even. Cars and trucks are so over-engineered and come with tons of low value options intended to drive up the price.<p>For a case in point, consider that headlights that turn on and off automatically in response to darkness (or rain) are not a standard feature on many cars, yet they include a manual switch that costs more than a photosensor only because of the trim-level upgrades.<p>Cars could include a slot for a tablet but instead come with overpriced car stereos and infotainment systems that are always light years worse than the most amateurish apps on any mobile app store.<p>As should be very clear by now after the 2008 US auto industry bailouts and the 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs, the US auto industry is heavily protected and faces virtually no competition, which is why a common sense vehicle like the one in the article sounds revolutionary, though I imagine BYD could deliver something a lot more impressive for $10K if allowed to compete in the US without tariffs.

It&#x27;s a $20k, street-legal, EV modding platform. Sounds like you can mount your own infotainment system. Just an electric motor, battery, and chassis, and the rest is up to you. Isn&#x27;t this what we&#x27;ve been asking for?

I like it. My wife runs a riding academy and we use a Honda Fit the way some people would use a pickup truck: we can fit 10 bales of wood shavings in the back. [1] We’re dreading when it fails because they don’t make the fit anymore and compact hatchbacks seem to be on the way out. Recent experiences have made me a bit of a Buick enthusiast and I can see driving a 2005-ish sedan except that I won’t get those sawdust bales into the trunk. We are also thinking of fitting in EV into the fleet, so far the used Nissan Leaf has been the main contender but this is a pickup truck I could get into.<p>[1] We were profitable from day one because we didn’t buy a $80,000 pickup on day one the way everybody else does.

As a car audio enthusiast, the biggest obstacle to putting a system into a new high-tech car is bypassing the deeply-embedded infotainment system while retaining decent aesthetics and steering wheel controls. The idea of getting an electric drivetrain and new-car safety with a 90&#x27;s-style blank canvas for audio is amazing.<p>I hope that the noise isolation and intended speaker mounting locations are good!

Its a cool car, but forgive me for not getting Lucy-Footballed again by an electric car startup claiming to be able to &quot;change the game&quot; while never actually getting any cars sold.

I <i>loved</i> the Saturn plastic doors. The salesdroids were conditioned to call them &quot;polymer panels&quot; and I got corrected when I bought my SL2 back in the day, but I was sold when in their own showroom he kicked the door in, it visibly dented, and then popped itself right back out with no damage to either the paint or the pla, uh, polymer.<p>That SL2 went from California to Maine, down to Georgia and back to California. It never had any dings and had only a few scratches in the paint. My Civics seem to get dinged if you look at them wrong.<p>I wish I could have said the same about the Saturn&#x27;s stickshift, though. That actually fractured when I was in Gilroy. I mean, the shaft literally <i>snapped</i>.

Absolutely love this. Love brands taking the SLC (simple, lovable, complete: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;longform.asmartbear.com&#x2F;slc&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;longform.asmartbear.com&#x2F;slc&#x2F;</a>) approach - minimalism is an absolute delight in a world where everything is crammed with unnecessary&#x2F;unused feature bloat.<p>(That said, I&#x27;d love a stereo - even if it was just a built in bluetooth speaker&#x2F;aux-in, which feels like a perfect compromise!)

I put down $50 to reserve one. I grew up with an old car that I tinkered with endlessly. Mostly because it was simple enough for me to get my head around! This car reminds me of that time.<p>I&#x27;m hoping that they go with a lot of &quot;off-the-shelf&quot; electronics and mechanical parts. Standards are a blessing.<p>It feels like they&#x27;re going with a different business model to traditional car manufacturers. AFAIK most manufacturers make a lot of their money via servicing. I&#x27;d love to take a look at what their long-term business strategy is.

Very exciting! Electric vehicles have the ability to be very simple, much simpler than an ICE.<p>Although electric can&#x27;t be 100% analog, I miss the old days when a car has no software updates, no telemetry, no privacy issues, no mandatory subscription for features.

&gt;The rather extreme omission of any kind of media system in the car is jarring, but it, too, has secondary benefits.<p>&gt;“Seventy percent of repeat warranty claims are based on infotainment currently because there’s so much tech in the car that it’s created a very unstable environment in the vehicle,” Snyder says.<p>I&#x27;m totally cool with them not having an infotainment screen or even a stereo itself. But speaker management might be a pain.<p>I really hope they decide to either include speakers to which you connect to your own infotainment system or at the very least, have the space or brackets where you can bring your own speakers and install them without cutting.<p>Having a bluetooth speaker take care of all the sound is just too bulky and cumbersome for those of us who need to live with constant music in the car. Plus, I don&#x27;t want to leave a $150 bluetooth speaker in my car all the time and encourage break-ins.

I love it.<p>However I wonder about the overlap between people that need a truck and this particular truck. I have only owned trucks when I needed to go out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere with a payload, in places with poor access to electricity. If I need to go in bumfuck nowhere without payload then there is no need for the truck, and if I need a payload in the city it&#x27;s just way way cheaper to have it delivered when you factor in depreciation of even a cheap truck.<p>Would really love to see something like this with a simple 4 cylinder motor. Like the old s-10 &#x2F; ranger. Until then the solution I have found is to just tag a trailer on small passenger vehicle, since it is now impossible to find a compact gas truck.

I&#x27;m quite excited about this. Ticks all my boxes for &quot;low&quot; tech, simple, moddable, useful, and cheap. I&#x27;m hoping my aging Pontiac Vibe holds out long enough to upgrade to one of these, if they succeed. I put in a preregistration!

Looks like the biggest thing isn’t even mentioned: no telematics control unit to track your behavior.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.consumerreports.org&#x2F;electronics&#x2F;personal-information&#x2F;how-to-stop-your-car-from-collecting-sharing-driving-data-a1233378612&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.consumerreports.org&#x2F;electronics&#x2F;personal-informa...</a>

&gt; It only seats two yet has a bed big enough to hold a sheet of plywood.<p>Not really the point of the article, but, does it? This[0] says the bed is 60 inches long and 43 wide, and plywood is 96x48 inches. Is it like, any vehicle fits plywood if you cut it to the size of the truck or stack it on top?<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thedrive.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;the-slate-truck-is-two-feet-shorter-than-ford-maverick-but-has-a-bigger-bed" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thedrive.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;the-slate-truck-is-two-feet-sh...</a>

150 miles of range is pretty terrible, especially when it&#x27;s winter and you have a load in the back. Suddenly that&#x27;s 70 miles of range.<p>I get that it&#x27;s a bargain price, so that&#x27;s the tradeoff. But a pretty bad one.

Perfect. Instant buy for me if they can deliver on their promises. No other car in recent memory has spoken to my minimalist frugal engineering mind like this one. Hope my 2000 4runner lasts until the Slate gets delivered to my door!

The issue with this is they claim the cost savings came from not having a screen and other silly features, but that’s not where money is spent.<p>The real cost savings came a tiny, 150 mile battery. It could easily be &lt;100 miles loaded up after a few years of use, which means there are very few use cases for this truck, and it certainly doesn’t make sense without the tax credit. Cool idea, but there’s no getting around the price of batteries

So basically they are doing the simple &quot;BEV can be cheap if you don&#x27;t try to size the battery for long distance driving&quot; but leave out lots of other things that don&#x27;t meaningfully contribute to the lower price, as a distraction.<p>That might be just the thing that had been missing for bootstrapping the market of short haul electric (think of all those trips that are done in a car because they are almost but not quite walkable&#x2F;bikeable!). Reminds me of how the Tesla roadster and then S bootstrapped the market of luxury electric.

&gt; The simplification goes simpler still. Slate will make just one vehicle, in just one trim, in just one color, with everything from bigger battery packs to SUV upgrade kits added on later.<p>Makes me wonder if, once &quot;normal&quot; features are added, cost and reliability will be a problem?<p>In contrast, I could see this really helping the dealer model work because dealers could compete with different customizations.<p>That being said: At least when it comes to the battery, efficiencies come from a single large battery instead of a modular battery. I suspect they&#x27;ll need to offer a larger battery at the factory.

Ars did a good write up on this as well: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;cars&#x2F;2025&#x2F;04&#x2F;amazon-backed-startup-wants-to-sell-a-bare-bones-ev-truck-for-20000&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;cars&#x2F;2025&#x2F;04&#x2F;amazon-backed-startup-w...</a><p>Definitely something I would consider if they can make it happen.

This should really be mainstream car manufacturing. I can&#x27;t wait for the day when we have choice of cheap cars, with DiY upgrades and no fucking tracking mechanisms built in and something that works without a phone. I wish them all the success and for the first time in my adult life, I&#x27;m excited about technology in cars again!

I could imagine this being popular for company and fleet trucks, but I can&#x27;t imagine it being popular for personal vehicles with the general public. The people I know who drive personal pickup trucks want the absolute biggest one they can find and have zero interest in actually doing any truck activities with it. They drive their Raptors and 2500s to work and to burger king and that&#x27;s it. If they do any customization, they might take it to a shop and pay them to put a louder muffler on it.

If this can’t compete head to head (no tariffs or other import restrictions) with BYD and the like, then I don’t know why one would get excited. Feels like an expensive consolation prize with tons of compromises. I want competition.

The fact that it’s so bare bones (no stereo, etc. unless you put one in) makes me really hope that it doesn’t phone home with a firehose of telemetry like pretty much every other new car. If so, they’ve got my interest

~$30k for a manual-window, slow-charging truck? Will anybody in the US actually want one?<p>It&#x27;s a cool concept... looks good to my eye, small trucks are neat, etc. But, I&#x27;d want push-button windows, up-to-date charge controller&#x2F;battery tech, and the normal EV integrated app. Maybe if it was really a $20k truck (they&#x27;re advertising the price after incentives, many of which are either going away or vanish for higher income earners).

I see this and I don&#x27;t see it as an every day, driving-on-my-commute style vehicle. As someone who (previously) drove a 2014 honda civic, cheaper cars leave <i>a lot</i> of comfort for longer drives. I can&#x27;t imagine this barebones vehicle being fun to drive for any extended period of time, or any extended distance, unless you&#x27;d spent considerable time customizing it to those needs (at which point, you&#x27;ve probably spent more than buying something off the shelf).<p>I do see this being great for short utility trips (think running errands, picking something up, etc), and as a utility vehicle (would be nice to be able to have an 8ft bed).<p>It would be really interesting to me to see a fleet of vehicles like this that are ultra-rentable; think a Bird&#x2F;Lime scooter, but a utility truck.

I&#x27;m looking for a vehicle which doesn&#x27;t track my location, and doesn&#x27;t have complex software controlling vehicle functions which could kill me. Maybe this is for me.

This is really useful. It&#x27;s an upgraded kei truck. All the modern safety features - airbags, ABS, rear view camera, anti-collision braking. None of the frills - infotainment, connectivity, etc.<p>Does it have air conditioning?

I have said this and will reiterate - building an &#x27;afforable&#x27; EV is impossible with the current level of technology - by which I mean a vehicle that competes on price with affordable ICE vehicles, and doesn&#x27;t make compromises that would make it impractical to own as the only car.<p>There are $20k cars with infotainment, bodypaint and probably a lot more creature comforts than this thing. Also this thing has a 150 mile range (less probably IRL), which is not practical.<p>Looking at the basic shape, the drag looks horrible, and probably the efficiencys bad too, considering they only manage 150k with an 52kWh battery.<p>Euros have already tried this, they put out abominable shitboxes where they tried to save money everywhere but the battery and charger, and the result were poverty cars which barely cost less than a Model 3.<p>Once you spend the money on a 400 mile battery and a fast enough charger to be practical, you&#x27;re most of the way in terms of BOM to a 300HP electric upmarket road monster. Tesla understood this, and are dominating the market.<p>BYD also knows this, and there&#x27;s a reason their C-segment EVs cost more than their D-segment plug-ins, despite the latter having tons of electric range.<p>Also doesn&#x27;t cost $20k from the <i>factory</i>, it costs $20k with tax credit.

Not a truck guy, but I like it. What I like the most is that it&#x27;s not batshit fucking insane.<p>I recently visited America after a couple of years away, and spent a couple of weeks in California, driving from SF to LA. The thing which I found the most striking was the sheer insanity of the pickup trucks that were absolutely everywhere. These things were true Idiocracy-class monster trucks, which are clearly lethal to operate in any environment which includes pedestrians. In some cases, my five-year-old&#x27;s head barely reached the bumper, and my wife&#x27;s head didn&#x27;t clear the hood. And these were highly-polished, un-dented behemoths that had clearly never seen a dirt road in their lives. The whole thing is clearly all about aesthetics and identity politics. Absolutely revolting.<p>(If you haven&#x27;t visited the US recently, I think it&#x27;s almost impossible to appreciate how obscene the phenomena is. 10 years ago, trucks were far more restrained, but could still do everything they needed to do. 30 years ago, trucks were fully <i>half</i> the size, but could still carry the same-size loads and do honest work. There&#x27;s honestly no possible justification for their corpulent growth.)<p>Anyhow, this thing looks like it can do honest work without killing everyone who crosses its path. I really appreciate that. I hope it starts a trend.

Price seems to be creeping up. Car and Driver says $28K.[1] That may be related to &quot;incentives&quot;.<p>This could be very popular with companies that need small fleets of pickup trucks. The ones that have company logos on the side.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=iVeYjxQPdz4" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=iVeYjxQPdz4</a>

I love this. We have a Fiat 500 EV that we got for $8k used that’s a fantastic city &#x2F; small hauling car, and this beats it in many qualities in a way that’s still minimalist, reasonably affordable, and low maintenance (if as promised). We also have a 1986 4WD VW camper van which gets the big jobs done but is still manageable in the city. This truck is like the DIY marriage of the two.

I would love to have such a simple car, here in the uk.<p>Something tells me though, that if such a company got successful, it wouldn&#x27;t be long before the features started creeping back in, to justify an increase in price.

This is amazing. I hope it succeeds. If I had any use for a truck I&#x27;d be lining up to buy one. They make one in a compact sedan or hatchback form factor and I am in. Heck, even better a subcompact.

This looks great. But isn&#x27;t there a long history of new car companies over the last few decades that have an impressive car, take pre-orders and never deliver? Something about production hell?

Don&#x27;t get me wrong, I absolutely adore this truck. But I feel the same way about this truck that I do about the Framework Laptop (having owned one)—cool idea, cool product, but will Slate be around in 5 years to keep making parts and offering support for it?

&gt; Meet the Slate Truck, a sub-$20,000 (after federal incentives) electric vehicle that enters production next year.<p>Then it isn&#x27;t &lt; $20000. It is a pitch.

By the way, THIS is how we stop inflation. We make new things that cost less and are innovative. People on here are so scared of &quot;deflation&quot; but the reality is, if you don&#x27;t have deflation your not innovating enough!

Does this strategy even make sense? You can charge $20k for a car. Why wouldn’t you add options that cost you nearly nothing but some amount of buyers will opt in for a meaningful revenue increase.<p>Charge $1k for paint. Even if 95% of people don’t do that, 5% of orders just increased their revenue by 5%. Paint doesn’t take engineering time.. just spend $500 and let some other company do it. This is why trims exist, having a single low price point means people who want to spend more either produce lower revenue than possible, or are disappointed.<p>IMO this one trim, one price is almost certainly a prelaunch marketing gimmick as from a business perspective there is literally no benefit.

The big thing I would want from this is no call-home&#x2F;telemetry. I want privacy so I want a vehicle that gets me from a to b.

I&#x27;m very positive, however note that when they mention &quot;injection molded polypropylene composite material&quot; - this (i think) is the same material used for Seadoo Spark jetskis. I owned one and had a minor crash, and because this material cannot be repaired, the entire hull needed replacing, it was an insurance write-off. I hope they&#x27;ve thought about how to make this car repairable and not &#x27;disposable&#x27; after the first inevitable minor crash. Of course this may not be a fair comparison because jetski hulls are exposed, whereas car chassis&#x27; have panels and bumpers.

This is like a car version of the Framework laptop. Love it.

This is amazing. More car manufacturers should get out of the infotainment business. tablet tethered to a cellphone for reception, and a connection to OBD2 for car data is all you need and allows for easy upgrades&#x2F;replacements when things fail.<p>I do think they should keep in mind that people will want to do this and at least design the dash to easily accept a tablet mount (vesa standard), amp mount (plug and play Pyle 120v?), speaker wire, and speakers (6x9 or 6.5”). That’s an easy hour install if everything is standardized, accessible, and doesn’t require drilling.<p>Would also love seating for 5.

If Slate succeeds, it would be the total inversion of Tesla&#x27;s original masterplan strategy of starting with a supercar and then slowly working their way down the value chain. And what&#x27;s really astonishing is that, not only is this the cheapest electric car in the country, it&#x27;s one of the cheapest new cars in the country, period.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cars.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;here-are-the-10-cheapest-new-cars-you-can-buy-right-now-421309&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cars.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;here-are-the-10-cheapest-new-c...</a>

At $20k it is actually comparable in cost to a GEM el Xd pickup [1] which can only go up to 35 mph, has 78 mile range, and costs $18k [2]. Totally different class of vehicle, of course.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gemcar.com&#x2F;gem-el-xd&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gemcar.com&#x2F;gem-el-xd&#x2F;</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;electriccarsalesandservice.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;2024-gem-el-xd-2-passenger-utility-truck-new" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;electriccarsalesandservice.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;2024-gem-el-...</a>

150 mile range makes it close to useless. As soon as you take it on a highway, the range will likely drop by half. Which means you can only do a round trip of 37 miles before you have to charge.<p>Even a very aerodynamic Model 3 loses half of range at highway speeds.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lh5.googleusercontent.com&#x2F;proxy&#x2F;vkz0SOnR45Gved9B-q9ncPhpgfR5PNTUw9J81-V5QY8cFvc4amR0llr0etNa2VjcfE-PFy6yhe8C3TH1DO5OatquM1Ia2djqie4" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lh5.googleusercontent.com&#x2F;proxy&#x2F;vkz0SOnR45Gved9B-q9n...</a>

It has a base range of 150 miles [0], which won&#x27;t resolve range anxiety worries as the average American travels 42 miles a day [1] and only has 2 seats. I think it will do well for hobbyists and EV enthusiasts, but it would be hard to compete with a slightly pricier Tacoma. When people buy a pickup truck, they often use it as a daily commuter as well.<p>&gt; Got a road trip planned? These trips are all doable on a single charge of our standard battery. If you want to go even farther, our extended range battery increases the range to a projected 240 miles from a projected 150 miles. [0]<p>[0] - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.slate.auto&#x2F;en&#x2F;charging" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.slate.auto&#x2F;en&#x2F;charging</a><p>[1] - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.axios.com&#x2F;2024&#x2F;03&#x2F;24&#x2F;average-commute-distance-us-map" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.axios.com&#x2F;2024&#x2F;03&#x2F;24&#x2F;average-commute-distance-us...</a><p>Edit: The average pickup truck purchaser&#x27;s has a household income of around $110,000 and 75% live outside cities [0]. When they are purchasing a pickup, it is meant to be both a daily driver and an errand vehicle.<p>Spending $20,000 on a 2 seater bench pickup with 150mi range is ludicrous when you can buy a used 5 seater Honda Fit or Toyota Tacoma for $0-7k more.<p>This is most likely targeted at fleet usecases like a factory or local deliveries, but this won&#x27;t make a dent in the primary demographic that purchases pickups, and being overly defensive is doing no favors in thinking about HOW to build a true killer app EV for the American market.

This makes a lot of sense for a run around town and short commute car. It specializes for that use case perfectly. I can see a world where families have one decent gas&#x2F;hybrid car and one cheap EV. That set up could save a lot of gas money over time while meeting the needs of the household.<p>Also, when is the last time an economy car&#x2F;truck looked this good? The slate is beautiful.<p>I think it has a real shot if it arrives as promised, but we know how these things go.

&gt; &quot;and the only way to listen to music while driving is if you bring along your phone and a Bluetooth speaker&quot;<p>Why not make a physical connection (power&#x2F;network) and define a form factor for entertainment system with or without screen and speakers and let other companies design something to fit the space available. I don&#x27;t understand why no one does this instead of selling cars full of crappy software that can&#x27;t be upgraded.

What’s the price without incentives though?

This is just beautiful. A small, functional, electric truck. Not a luxury SUV with a tiny truck bed for cowboy cosplayers, or a cyberpunk glue heap.<p>I hope they sell millions.

I like the idea, but I think a hybrid version would be the better first product. A 150 mile range is going to limit the people who will purchase this truck.

Interesting.<p>No mention of crash testing or crash-worthiness&#x2F;safety. Airbags? ABS braking? Collision avoidance (brakes engage based on distance and speed to cars or objects ahead), etc.<p>Before the hounds say &quot;it is refreshing...&quot; remember that lots of safety features are there because so many people died before they were instituted.<p>How safe is this plastic body from lateral impact by an F150 or SUV?<p>One of the reasons for which I do not like or buy old vehicles is the lack of safety features that are common today. All it takes is to land a loved one in the hospital (or worse) to quickly regret the choice to buy a cheap car or an old unsafe car. Years ago my father was t-boned by a full size SUV at a neighborhood intersection, launching his car diagonally across the intersection and onto the front yard of the corner house...through a couple of trees. He walked away from that one because the safety engineering of the vehicle he was driving save his life.<p>Another note: To me, while this is interesting, it is also a sad commentary on the state of manufacturing in the US. The ONLY WAY to make a $20K car in the US is to strip it down to bare metal...err...not even use metal...or paint...or electronics...or comfortable seats...and have HALF the range of other EV&#x27;s...and even take out the speakers, etc. And then, you sell not having all those things as a FEATURE! Yup. Brilliant. What&#x27;s the least we can do to build a car and get away with it?<p>My prediction is that this thing will die a pretty rapid death or they will have to pivot into making real cars for this market. There&#x27;s a reason nearly three million conventional trucks were sold in the US last year. Plastic bodies, 150 mile range and barren interiors did not fit the description of a single one of them.

I&#x27;m wondering why the hood is so big, given that it doesn&#x27;t need to contain an engine? Is that where the batteries are located? Or is it just mostly empty space in the form of a frunk serving as a crumple zone to meet crash testing standards? I hope it&#x27;s not just a strictly aesthetic thing, because you could reduce that distance and end up with an even more practical truck.

It would be great if they published an SDK for canbus communication and interfacing, that would really enable aftermarket and add-ons.

I love the look and the idea, but I wonder if it will go the way of the small&#x2F;budget phone?<p>Will folks revealed preference continue to be big and expensive?

I had an old Nissan XE truck for a few years. I loved it, the thing was simplicity itself.<p>I assume there&#x27;s still a lot of vaporware here, but if they can make it reliable and avoid the teething issues of new cars, I&#x27;d probably impulse-purchase one. I would also love to see options for AWD and a full-length bed.

In Colorado, I need 4x4 sometimes. Slate is just RWD. I&#x27;d love to see a minimalistic 4x4 model like this.

It sounds just like the goals of Ford&#x27;s Model T.<p>I&#x27;d be very interested in buying one of these as my first EV.

That&#x27;s what I want. That&#x27;s almost exactly what I want.<p>If it were 4x4 it would be literally exactly what I want.

Damn, this might finally get me to retire my 83 Mazda b2200. I&#x27;ve king thought this size trick is about perfect, and the old Perkins engine in my truck is getting really tired. Mostly commenting so I have this in my history to refer to later

I love this concept and will probably buy one for that reason alone. 150 miles is too low though, I already struggle with the 180 I get out of my current electric car. Really cool to see more ideas in this space, congrats to the founders getting this far!

I&#x27;m really intrigued to see how this does. Kudos to Slate for trying something new and building it in Detroit at a great price point.<p>I see a ton of discussion on social media from people who want to buy simpler vehicles with less features at a better price point (e.g. the Japanese Kei trucks). I&#x27;m not convinced Americans will actually buy such a vehicle because we are used to our modern conveniences in new vehicles. You can even see that trend in this thread where people are asking for more features, or things that were phased out decades ago due to safety (e.g. bench seats). Perhaps Slate has figured that out with their options packaging? I&#x27;m rooting for them regardless.

Man this is so awesome. I do really think they need to consider the fold down bed sides like the kei trucks have.<p>The bed being plastic doesn’t give me much confidence either. The payload may be similar to a mini truck, but a mini truck’s metal bed will take a significant beating over plastic.<p>This is very, very close to what I want, but I worry that those two things may prevent me from actually pulling the trigger. While all of the modular features are cool and neat, I don’t really consider them very useful for what I would actually use this truck for.<p>The purpose of this seems to be a fleet or Personal utility truck, but I still feel like I would be leaning towards a used old Ford Ranger or similar.

Looks like a concept that will never actually reach the market.<p>And if it does and I&#x27;m completely wrong, this concept is probably doomed anyways, as it is swinging far too far to the other side away from fancy tech and right into uselessly bare. I&#x27;m sure a few people are excited by this, but realistically it will have a tiny real market. Nearly no one wants manual windows and leaving them out isn&#x27;t saving huge amount of money.<p>Make it comparable to a decent conventional vehicle, but electric, and you may do well. This though is more useless and non-functional than my old Jeep, which has a trip computer and bluetooth as the biggest &quot;tech features&quot;.

If I undersand the article right, it sounds like they make it with no features but that you add yourself afterwards<p>&quot;We moved all the complicated parts outside the factory&quot;<p>What does that really mean? You can paint it yourself, well ok, people may like that. Making it easy to service is great.<p>If I want electric windows is that adaptable? (It may come with electric windows) When I want to put in a stereo A navigation system? AC? (Might come with it)<p>It would be cool if the car was a abit &quot;framework&quot; so it has an open well thought out way to add and integrate features a person may want.<p>THe compnay and 3rd parties could offer up all sorts of cool stuff.

I <i>LOVE</i> this idea. I’ve specifically been looking to buy a tiny truck or van, “can hold sheets of plywood” being a major criteria. I love the idea of that being a simple electric I can charge at home. Beautiful!

I wonder if I could write my own software for this car? Like auto-sensing rain-wipers with an Arduino or something, and if the CAN BUS protocol isn&#x27;t super hard to use. This would be a car hacking dream.

Me, showing this to my wife: Oh, they made a car for you!<p>She&#x27;s not wrong, though I&#x27;m not at a point where I want THIS much minimalism (or lack of range). What a great product though.<p>Now, the Ineos Grenadier? That thing speaks right to my soul.

&quot;...but is this extreme simplification too much for American consumers?&quot;<p>Not this one. It&#x27;s the premiumization that drove me away from every EV product out there.<p>Plus, load up the back with more batteries and you&#x27;ve got great range!

I have dreamt of some entity trying to do this. A completely stripped down vehicle sold for a (hopefully) sustainable profit. I wish them as well as possible, and they will have my interest in purchasing one.

Good trend. Other companies should follow suit. Simplify the car enough. And make it cheap. Sometimes I feel like Chevys are just like this. Real cheap machines. Or those white ford vans made for industrial use.

As far as I can tell, it&#x27;s &quot;$20K&quot; the same way Cybertruck was &quot;$39K&quot;. It&#x27;s not available for purchase yet, and when it is, it&#x27;ll be twice as much, because Bezos also likes money.

I feel like this is the perfect first car for a teen or college student Gets them from A to B. optimally 5 star crash test rating. Cheap.<p>If they deliver i would absolutely buy one for when my oldest starts driving in 3 years.

I put down a deposit for one.<p>An EV that&#x27;s designed to be user-serviceable, has modular upgrades, and isn&#x27;t full of surveillance technology? This checks all the boxes for me. Can&#x27;t wait to play with it.

With a 1000lb towing capacity and 150m range (let’s call that 120 when you don’t charge 100%) this eliminates too many use cases.<p>It’s the anti-cybertruck but aimed at people who actually could get by with a nice trailer.

I think one of the most amazing things about this new company is that its run by women who held prominent roles in the Big 3. Its an intriguing vehicle but a Ford Maverick pickup offers far more value for the same price.<p>Sad to say but if the thing was made in Mexico and was priced at $15,000 it would be a huge hit. By the time you accounted for the $7500 federal tax credit it would be priced at around a quarter the price of a gas 4 cylinder powered pickup. An entire industry of add-ons and wraps would spring up around it.

This Truck is gonna be a big Hit with consumers!<p>But once it starts selling like hotcakes they&#x27;ll jack up the price to &quot;Whatever the Market will Bear&quot; relative to how many they&#x27;re able to produce.<p>With most people struggling to get by nowadays (economically) we&#x27;ll love the &quot;less gadgetry&quot; option because all that advanced technology stuff (and I do mean even power windows!) is, as my father always said, &quot;Just something else that&#x27;s going to eventually break, and was designed so it must be replaced not repaired.&quot;

I couldn&#x27;t be more excited about this vehicle (I put $50 down to reserve one), but god damn, that customizer tool is bad. I&#x27;m someone who goes to a lot of auto manufacturer websites and makes imaginary builds, so I think I&#x27;ve spent time using the majority of builder apps that are out there, and this is one of the worst. On a laptop, with a shorter screen and a touchpad, it&#x27;s really hard to use. Which is too bad, since customization is their whole deal.

If Slate can actually pull this off then this might be the first automobile I buy new. It&#x27;s almost exactly what I&#x27;ve been begging for.<p>Main question I have is whether the &quot;blank slate&quot; can be gradually upgraded. Article mentions a battery upgrade, but for example if I did eventually want to install a head unit or whatever, would I be able to do that after driving the truck off the lot? How open will this thing be to aftermarket upgrades?

Kind of a big light phone [0]. China has had these for a bit, I’d guess there’s a decent market for them, though hesitant to buy the first production model of any car, given how dependent we seem to be on warranties and market forces to ensure manufacturing quality and the poor survival rates for new car companies. Interested in v2 for sure.<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thelightphone.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thelightphone.com&#x2F;</a>

Looks up my alley. I already went backwards and got a low mileage 2013 specifically to shed all the technology crap. I’d much rather have something newer and nicer

Really interesting stuff. Reminds me of Ox (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oxdelivers.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.oxdelivers.com&#x2F;</a>).

1. $50 for a reservation<p>2. No guarantee of delivery date<p>3. No right to purchase<p>4. No guarantee of purchase price<p>5. No assignment of purchase to other parties<p>I&#x27;ve got some lunar real estate to sell you if you think this product will ever exist

Remember when cybertruck was supposed to be cheap minimalistic truck? No paint, spartan interior, simple materials and straight shapes. $39k price tag. Yeah…

It took me a few articles to even find it mentioned, so I&#x27;ll repeat it here in case anyone else was wondering: it&#x27;s rear wheel drive only.

From the Wikipedia page:<p>&gt; Unlike most vehicles sold in the United States, the Slate Truck is not expected to have any Internet connectivity<p>Well that&#x27;s certainly a sentence. It wasn&#x27;t true just 20 years ago. It makes me wonder about the world we&#x27;ve grown into with deeply intertwined apps becoming not only the norm but expected.<p>The idea is there but I&#x27;m wondering about the execution. Here&#x27;s hoping it takes off.

This has much the same design philosophy as the original Land Rover: tough, reliable, simple and maintainable. It was originally developed as the UK answer to the Jeep, but rapidly became the standard utility vehicle for anyone with an outdoor off road job. Especially farmers. Something like two thirds of all Land Rovers ever made are still in use.<p>This might well go the same way.

I like the idea of this as a Framework-style vehicle. If they really leaned into the mod community and were making deliberate decisions to support this, it could offer a lot of traction. Shame there&#x27;s no AWD version of this. That, the larger battery option, in truck mode with a rack and tonneau cover would be great for contractors as an around-town job vehicle.

The rest makes sense, but no stereo? Why not?

Looks interesting. Are there any real-life non-marketing photos of it?<p>Reminds me of Bollinger prototypes. Whatever happened to those?

This&#x27;ll seem a like an odd question given the obvious bare-bones approach, but still: Is or could be instrumented for self-driving? I can&#x27;t imagine us humans driving forever. Otherwise this looks like a dream truck to me. Easy DIY repair, electric, fewer distractions, meant for work not showing off.

What a gross looking vehicle, and at that price? I just want the old ranger design. I&#x27;ve been using a 2006 ranger for quite a while and it&#x27;s served me well, I&#x27;d like to upgrade it to a ranger XL for that little extra cab room for crap, along with 4WD and power windows and AC, but people rightfully guard them and when they do show up at dealerships they&#x27;re typically pretty expensive too.<p>I&#x27;ve thought about importing a Kei, but I don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s for me. When I think &quot;American kei truck&quot; I at least think something in the ballpark range cost of a Kei, which is quite a bit less, at least half as expensive for the best options like 4WD, even less if you can compromise. It also has charm unlike this. The range is just ridiculous, too. My little ranger isn&#x27;t exactly great, I don&#x27;t push it much more than 300 miles on a tank, but having half that (new! let alone after a few years) is such a deal breaker. Last time I took my truck camping it was around 60 miles each way, and that was a nearby spot.

There&#x27;s a configurator now.[1] Lots of factory options. The trouble is that it turns into a $30,000 and up vehicle.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.slate.auto&#x2F;en&#x2F;personalization" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.slate.auto&#x2F;en&#x2F;personalization</a>

For comparison, this is a $16k car in China:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;carnewschina.com&#x2F;2025&#x2F;03&#x2F;25&#x2F;byd-sealion-05-ev-launhed-in-china-with-a-starting-price-of-16240-usd&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;carnewschina.com&#x2F;2025&#x2F;03&#x2F;25&#x2F;byd-sealion-05-ev-launhe...</a><p>It’s like if you could buy an old Nokia for $200, or a new Android smartphone for $160. The old Nokia certainly has nostalgic qualities and some concrete practical benefits like all-week battery life, but overall it’s not a great deal.<p>And this is why you have &gt;100% tariffs on Chinese cars — American manufacturers know they can’t compete.

No infotainment is great. We&#x27;re all dying for a car with no infotainment.<p>But no stereo <i>at all</i> is not something that anyone wants. A simple radio is as much a basic expectation as &quot;windows that go down&quot;.<p>Aside, why a pickup body? Aren&#x27;t sedans wildly more popular?

I wish there were an all-wheel or four-wheel drive option. This would make it the perfect shorter-range adventuremobile for snowsports and remote backwoods climbing and hiking access.

I am, and I say this without hesitation, absolutely the target demographic for this truck.

it is extremely important that you read this comment: a company called edison motors out of canada is making a conversion kit that can turn any pickup into a hybrid using a drop-in motor and a really powerful generator. imagine something that costs less than this truck, has a range of many hundreds of miles, and can be used to tow more than ten thousand pounds. and you never have to turn on the generator if you dont need to. groceries on all electric. they are posting videos on youtube about this, its real. i personally believe that these work trucks will be the best in history. the most reliable, the most utility, the best cost.

These are going to be backlogged for years. The US market is absolutely dying for this truck (and even moreso the SUV variant), exactly as specified. The big guys have refused to provide it, so there is a literal gold mine awaiting anyone that can.

It is an interesting idea, but there is obviously a lot which can go wrong here.<p>Can you actually build an EV like that, conforming to all regulations, with significant cost reduction? VW is currently trying to build a 20k EV, which seem extremely difficult in Europe and US labor costs are probably higher. The Dacia EVs (which seem closest in concept to a pickup) suffer from many downsides, to make low prices happen.<p>Do people actually want less screens or do they just say that?<p>Is customization a road to profitability? VWs ID.1 concept has a similar idea to lower entry price, by making several upgrades user installable, so they can be bought over time.<p>This is obviously a US only car and the US is very lacking in EV adoption. Will this sell in significant numbers?<p>Can you actually make it cheaply? Rivian is notoriously unprofitable and making cheap cars is, far, far harder than making expensive cars.

This reminds me of the cars being produced in Russia at the moment…

I hope they separate the BMS from the battery, unlike Tesla and others, which force you to replace the entire battery if the BMS fails. What a concept, allowing people to personalize and repair their own vehicles.

Oh HELL yes!! This is almost exactly the kind of thing truck owners have been clamoring for for years now. The only way this could be more exciting is if Ford flipped out and rebooted the Econoline on this concept.

While I like this concept, for my next car, I need the safety features like 360 view, blind spot warning, lidar etc.<p>Also, though I think using tablets and detachable speakers is cost effective, it may promote car break-ins?

The discourse around this thing is hilarious. For years people have been saying “I just want a small, simple truck with no frills and a reasonable price.”<p>Now, one is finally available, and all the commentary is “Oh, I’m in the target market for this, but I just need them to add:”<p>- more room for passengers - more payload - an infotainment screen for nav - more room in the bed - more towing capacity - screens in the seats for kids - an app to “manage” it<p>Guess what! This is why the best-selling vehicles are large trucks, because they give the most people what they want.<p>Everyone wants a small and cheap and simple car with all the comforts of big and expensive cars. Reality doesn’t work that way!

From the related Ars article[1]:<p>&gt; Rather than relying on a built-in infotainment system, you&#x27;ll use your phone plugged into a USB outlet or a dedicated tablet inside the cabin for your entertainment and navigation needs.<p>How is a &quot;dedicated tablet&quot; different than an infotainment system, other than not having vehicle telematics and controls? Also, a regular tablet UX would be dangerous while driving, and typically they don&#x27;t have their own mobile data connections.<p>1. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;cars&#x2F;2025&#x2F;04&#x2F;amazon-backed-startup-wants-to-sell-a-bare-bones-ev-truck-for-20000&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;cars&#x2F;2025&#x2F;04&#x2F;amazon-backed-startup-w...</a>

This sounds great. There are not any pictures of the interior but I hope it is also very simple and not full of difficult to reach nooks and crannies that are impossible to clean.

Love this! Would like to see a (manual) split rear window- super helpful for hauling longer things in a smaller truck. I put 10&#x27; conduit in my Ridgeline all the time.

This is cool, but you can buy a 3 year old used model 3 right now for close to $25k that has 300+ mile range. The model 3 also has, wait for it, a&#x2F;c and speakers…

I&#x27;m not sure why I read this as a $20k guitar pickup...

Will this be street legal? Will it have airbags? If most of the car in injected molded plastics, what happens when it gets int a crash with a regular car?

All those photos look fake &#x2F; rendered. And they didn&#x27;t even bother rendering an inside shot for a car that&#x27;s all about the inside design choices.

go the next step, and offer box and wheel&#x2F;tire deleet, lots of people will have or can get wheels&#x2F;tires that will fit, if they use one of the popular size combos, and many would opt for a flat deck, or custom purpose box see if it can be squeezed down to 20k, taxes in delivered with no box, they can be stacked, piggy back, just the way commercial heavy trucks are stacked for delivery.....more per load, less trips

I can&#x27;t imagine the DIY minimalist crowd is terribly popular, or profitable... I wonder how long they will actually be able to stay in business.

People say they, and many other Americans, want a cheap and simple truck. They&#x27;re lying.<p>I know you don&#x27;t believe me but it&#x27;s true.<p>Automotive sales numbers are public information. Every single time a VIN is stamped into some metal, that record is public. The gradual decline in the sale of small, simple, cheap trucks is well documented.<p>People want full-sized trucks.<p>People say they love manual transmissions, too. They walk right past the manual Tacomas and Jeeps and buy an automatic.<p>People say they love station wagons. Then they go to the Volvo dealership and walk right past the V60 and buy an XC60.<p>People say they want a cheap car. Then they walk right past the base model Corolla and throw down $50k on a Rav4 Limited.<p>Only enthusiasts and weirdos like me will buy one of these.<p>A company whose audience is enthusiasts and weirdos must charge a shit-ton to stay in business. $20k isn&#x27;t a shit-ton and if their strategy is to make up the difference on upgrades, they&#x27;re not selling cheap trucks anymore.<p>I know what Americans, in aggregate, want. They want a big-ass SUV with heated and cooled seats with a screen that stretches across the entire god damned dash, 360 degree cameras, RGB mood lighting, 47 speakers, and second-row captain&#x27;s chairs that make getting to the third row easy.<p>I own 3 cars, a Fiat 124 (MANUAL) Spider, a Volvo V70, and an Alfa Romeo Giulia.<p>But I am a weirdo, and because of this those companies are about to go extinct (in the US, at least).<p>I&#x27;m the guy that ran OS&#x2F;2 and BeOS until the bitter end. I prefer writing software in Ada. I had a Saab.<p>I am literally and actually a subject matter expert on this shit.<p>I know what normal people want, and this ain&#x27;t it. I know this because I want it.

Video review:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;iVeYjxQPdz4?si=RU4gWmJk5WJHiac5" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;iVeYjxQPdz4?si=RU4gWmJk5WJHiac5</a>

It&#x27;s embarrassing when people buy a truck and don&#x27;t use it for work, towing or payload. So you bought a fuel-inefficient non-aerodynamic vehicle whose storage area is open to the air and unusable for passengers, <i>and</i> it&#x27;s not big enough to carry or tow large items? What a smart choice.<p>However, with the SUV package and lift kit, this is actually useful. It&#x27;s basically the same size (and payload and towing capacity) of the 2nd gen Scion xB. A boxy, roomy, small, cheap car. Absolutely useful and great. (Unlike a tiny truck.)

I wonder if it would make financial sense to offer the &quot;skeleton&quot; of the car for sale and let design studios integrate all the pieces.

Interesting, the options for customization is endless.

Okay, but is (was) this assuming on putting in Chinese batteries? If not, where are you going to get the cells and pack for that money?

i hate trucks because they&#x27;re big and trash up my neighborhood with their noise and size, just don&#x27;t belong in the city. but since some neighbors have started driving electric (rivian, cybertruck), I tolerate them so so so much more. it&#x27;s amazing how just making them electric has changed (and I hope, continues to change) the gestalt of my block.

My prediction: this will cost $15K-$25K more before you ever have it in your driveway. Even with tariff and market uncertainties.

It&#x27;s a shame reasonably sized and reasonably priced imports are illegal. We could have much better vehicles for this price now.

Electric cars make personalization so much easier, glad someone&#x27;s doing this.<p>And it&#x27;s a pickup truck that is an actual pickup truck.

I want exactly this, but with a hybrid engine, RWD, and a manual transmission. I would buy it new for $28k, no frills.

Seems a bit like a spiritual successor to the Jeep Cherokee XJ, which also has a very strong DIY community around it.

&gt; Instead of steel or aluminum, the Slate Truck’s body panels are molded of plastic.<p>Deal breaker. Plastic gets brittle with age.

Please make a washing machine like that

How much before incentives?<p>TFW just want cheap Hilux Champ.

Ars Technica is also running something on this today as well. They must be paying their publicist a fair bit.

If they make a sedan I would buy it in a heartbeat at those prices. A pickup or suv doesn’t work for me.

I think this is going to cater very well to contractors who do a lot of run-around in small area.

I love the idea. Simple and elegant. Hopefully someone will make something similar in Europe

I thought the Verge only covered “what’s in the box.” This vehicle will not be $20k in the end.

Yes, it is too much for consumers... Farmers might have no choice though if they want a new truck

They are targeting 5-stars safety rating, but we don&#x27;t know if they manage to achieve it.

I&#x27;d buy this immediately and just paint it myself. This care looks perfect for modding.

Seems genius, hope this catches on

This is not real.<p>This will be real when you can go to some place, pay $20k and drive out with such thing.<p>If you&#x27;re into car CGI, this is a much more enjoyable resource [1]!<p>1: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.behance.net&#x2F;search&#x2F;projects&#x2F;Car%20Render" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.behance.net&#x2F;search&#x2F;projects&#x2F;Car%20Render</a>

So incredibly refreshing after the abomination that is the telos was announced

Looks good. If it never beeps or dings or makes interior noises, I&#x27;m in.

No stereo is a bridge too far.

They could get the price down to $18.5k by omitting the steering assemblage.

&gt; a sub-$20,000 (after federal incentives) electric vehicle<p>Buried the lede, didn&#x27;t we?

Cybertruck was such a miss.

All the images look like renderings. Is the car actually in production?

Aren&#x27;t backup cameras mandated in the US now? How do you have a background camera with no screen?<p><i>Edit</i> I see the issue. The actual title say no touch screen. The OP altered the title to just say screen for some unexplainable reason.<p>Maybe this title should be fixed?

Feels kinda like an American kei truck, maybe it&#x27;ll catch on.

I hope they succeed, this is a great idea. I’d love something like this.

Hand crank windows is a weird choice, are the locks manual as well?

Who is going to pay 20K for an oversized RC car? Youtubers?

people when a tesla doesnt have a knob: “outrageous. there couldnt be any benefit to that!” people when this car has no paint or speakers: “… take my money.”

please, god, let this thing make it to production in the US!

The question is... how many farmers &#x2F; ranchers need these pickups? There seems to be like an absolutely crazy competition for vehicles for a very narrow group of people.<p>Who will be buying all of these pickup trucks?

Anybody know the safety of these vs typical trucks?

too many comments here to read them all<p>but, MMW, i think they will sell every single unit made<p>basic truck + freedom of customization will be very popular in the USA

Make it a combustion engine and I&#x27;m sold

Can we do this for combustion cars too please!

What are downsides of &quot;no paint&quot;?

Love this. Definitely getting on the list.

Is there anything like this in EU?

&gt; &quot;Extremely affordable&quot;<p>&gt; $20,000

I want this with an ice engine.

No electronics in an EV, nahhhh

These are going to rust out fast in higher latitudes. You&#x27;d think Michiganders would know better.

Isn&#x27;t this sort of thing illegal as a new vehicle in US markets because of those backup camera laws?

The $20K is after incentives, so it&#x27;s actually $27,500. That still compares favorably to Ford&#x27;s closest offering, the F-150 PRO, which is $54,999 (pre incentives):<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fordpro.com&#x2F;en-us&#x2F;fleet-vehicles&#x2F;f150-lightning&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fordpro.com&#x2F;en-us&#x2F;fleet-vehicles&#x2F;f150-lightning&#x2F;</a><p>The Ford comes standard with the same range as the upgraded Slate, though. The slate can tow 1000lbs, and hold 1,433 lbs, vs the Ford&#x27;s standard 5000 &#x2F; 2235, respectively (you can upgrade the range and towing capacity on the ford):<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.caranddriver.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;a64564869&#x2F;2027-slate-truck-revealed&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.caranddriver.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;a64564869&#x2F;2027-slate-truck...</a><p>Not including a bluetooth capable am&#x2F;fm radio &#x2F; speakerphone on a fleet vehicle seems dumb. This cut what, $100?<p>I can easily see Ford cutting $10K off the cost of the Pro. It looks like it has power windows, and it definitely has an infotainment system. Also, the two row cab adds lots of weight + cost and makes the bed smaller.<p>Anyway, competition is good. Hopefully slate will make something with an upgraded suspension &#x2F; power train for $10K more, and maybe eventually a larger one with ford-compatible conversion mounts (for custom work trucks, etc.)

Hold on, isn&#x27;t backup cameras mandated for vehicles sold after May 2018?

this is cool but does it meet strong safety standards?

I wish them the absolute best. Make trucks trucks again.

I love it, now give me a gas engine so I can take it on weeklong off-road camping trips

this seems so funny to me like &quot;hey you want to buy something worse&quot;<p>I&#x27;m talking specifically about the no stereo&#x2F;screen

&quot;but is this extreme simplification too much for American consumers?&quot;<p>No, it&#x27;s not. This American consumer says bring on the simplicity. Also like that this is not some monster sized thing.

Great concept. Bring back real small trucks. My grandpa ran a farm with a truck this size.<p>Disappointed in towing capacity of 1000 pounds ish. I can already do 1700lb on my hybrid rav4

I want one.

so, an actual cybertruck

I hate this, I need a screen and stereo in my car.<p>Seriously, who wants to be in a modern car without music, and who wants to travel without Google maps.

Will believe it when I see it unfortunately looks like very early stages

Do youngs know how to use manual windows? LOL

OK now do a small hatchback.

And the worst thing is that Elon could&#x27;ve been a living legend by building&#x2F;funding colleges and schools focused on the tech his companies need, software development, robotics etc. Or even given out million dollar scholarships for the very top students.<p>And he still would&#x27;ve been worth over 250 billion easily.<p>Instead he chose to buy the president and start &quot;optimising&quot; the government with AI.

what is the point of this?<p>a used car for 10k does more, costs less, and has a lower carbon footprint.

With all those missing of basic features why is it still 20k and not 10k?

I like it but minimalism always fails for complex products because everyone wants a different 80% of the features cut. You can already see it in the comments haha.

I don&#x27;t know what laws need to change, or what needs to happen, but for the people in the southern united states, nearly every one of us would be a reasonably priced gas truck. There are no options. I had to buy a grossly overpriced F150 for double what I think it&#x27;s worth because there&#x27;s no other option. These fuel economy laws in the USA make no sense. While this truck is neat I guess, there&#x27;s 0 use case for it for people who really need trucks in the USA.