Slate May Be About To Price Itself Out Of The EV Market

[Sherminator98]

https://www.carscoops.com/2025/10/slate-may-be-about-to-price-itself-out-of-the-ev-market/

[rmc523]

I said this at launch - it still costs too much for what you get (or rather don't get).

[T-dubz]

Yep. I can’t see anyone buying this over a Maverick. At the estimated 27.5k, you are getting a tiny truck that has zero options and 150 mile range. 
 

For comparison, here are some truck, suv, and EV competitors that are vastly better equipped and in the same ballpark price wise.

 

Maverick xl hybrid - 28,145

chevrolet bolt EV - 28,595

chevrolet equinox ev - 33,600

chevrolet Trax - 20,500

 

 

[rmc523]

31 minutes ago, T-dubz said:

Yep. I can’t see anyone buying this over a Maverick. At the estimated 27.5k, you are getting a tiny truck that has zero options and 150 mile range. 
 

For comparison, here are some truck, suv, and EV competitors that are vastly better equipped and in the same ballpark price wise.

 

Maverick xl hybrid - 28,145

chevrolet bolt EV - 28,595

chevrolet equinox ev - 33,600

chevrolet Trax - 20,500

 

 

 

The only "neat" thing about it is the customization, but start adding things, and you're blowing past well (better)-equipped alternatives.

[DeluxeStang]

7 hours ago, rmc523 said:

 

The only "neat" thing about it is the customization, but start adding things, and you're blowing past well (better)-equipped alternatives.

I liked it at first, but the appeal wore off fast. Ford talks about customization in one of their CE1 press releases, so its not even like Slate has the market cornered there. 

[twintornados]

Through Bezo's sheer arrogance, he will push this to market only to sell it off to a competitor (legacy or otherwise) and take the money and run....maybe VW will step in and buy it to add to the Scout line....if I were a bettin' man, that is where I would place it. 

Edited October 22, 2025 by twintornados

[Sherminator98]

3 hours ago, twintornados said:

Through Bezo's sheer arrogance, he will push this to market only to sell it off to a competitor (legacy or otherwise) and take the money and run....maybe VW will step in and buy it to add to the Scout line....if I were a bettin' man, that is where I would place it. 

 

But its not a pure Amazon product, from Wikipedia:

 

Quote

Slate raised at least $111 million in Series A financing, including an undisclosed amount from Bezos. Several other wealthy individuals also invested, including Walter, the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, and Tull, who is a lead investor of Re:Build Manufacturing.^[3] General Catalyst, a venture capital firm, and TWG Global, a holding company, also invested in Slate.^[7] In mid-2025, the company said it had raised $700 million in its first two rounds of financing, and was conducting a third round (Series C) of financing.^[6]

 

[twintornados]

2 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said:

...But its not a pure Amazon product, from Wikipedia:

 

All of that would likely assure my speculation to be correct....

[Rick73]

21 hours ago, T-dubz said:

Yep. I can’t see anyone buying this over a Maverick. At the estimated 27.5k, you are getting a tiny truck that has zero options and 150 mile range. 
 

For comparison, here are some truck, suv, and EV competitors that are vastly better equipped and in the same ballpark price wise.

 

Maverick xl hybrid - 28,145

chevrolet bolt EV - 28,595

chevrolet equinox ev - 33,600

chevrolet Trax - 20,500

 

 

Excellent point showing that if there was considerable demand for a Slate-like truck, other than it being electric, that manufacturers could offer a similar-size ICE truck for near $20k.  The Trax is similar in size and it would seem a pickup based on it would cost no more than the passenger version.  Granted, Slate has some coolness factor for now but that won’t last.  Just shows price parity between BEV and ICE has yet to be achieved.

[Sherminator98]

1 hour ago, Rick73 said:

Excellent point showing that if there was considerable demand for a Slate-like truck, other than it being electric, that manufacturers could offer a similar-size ICE truck for near $20k.  The Trax is similar in size and it would seem a pickup based on it would cost no more than the passenger version.  Granted, Slate has some coolness factor for now but that won’t last.  Just shows price parity between BEV and ICE has yet to be achieved.

 

Your forgetting the Footprint rule for CAFE...smaller ICE vehicles like the Trax would be hurt by that.

 

Plus i'm going to assume that there is a floor that smaller vehicles are limited to if you actually want to make a profit on them. 

 

[rmc523]

3 hours ago, Rick73 said:

Excellent point showing that if there was considerable demand for a Slate-like truck, other than it being electric, that manufacturers could offer a similar-size ICE truck for near $20k.  The Trax is similar in size and it would seem a pickup based on it would cost no more than the passenger version.  Granted, Slate has some coolness factor for now but that won’t last.  Just shows price parity between BEV and ICE has yet to be achieved.

 

GM already has the Montana in some ROW markets.....if they really wanted a "Trax pickup", they could've brought that over....I don't think they see a market for something that small.

 

[Rick73]

3 hours ago, rmc523 said:

 

GM already has the Montana in some ROW markets.....if they really wanted a "Trax pickup", they could've brought that over....I don't think they see a market for something that small.

 

That appears much larger pickup than Slate, given 4-doors and back seat, but yeah, it goes along with my point that if there was a market for a Slate-size truck, it could have been done already in ICE.  And more importantly the price would be much lower than Slate’s.

 

The first generation Montana (below) was probably closer to Slate in size.  Other than being electric, I don’t see much Slate offers to attract enough buyers.  And per article, lease payments are higher than those of Maverick; probably due to higher depreciation rate.

 

[Sherminator98]

6 hours ago, rmc523 said:

 

GM already has the Montana in some ROW markets.....if they really wanted a "Trax pickup", they could've brought that over....I don't think they see a market for something that small.

 

 

In overall length, its 185 inches long, not exactly small-about the same size as the old 1990s Ranger Single cab. 

 

The Slate is about 11 inches shorter, which makes me wonder how much actual appeal it will have with people once it comes out and they go...oh this is too small. 

 

[rmc523]

13 hours ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

In overall length, its 185 inches long, not exactly small-about the same size as the old 1990s Ranger Single cab. 

 

The Slate is about 11 inches shorter, which makes me wonder how much actual appeal it will have with people once it comes out and they go...oh this is too small. 

 

 

I honestly didn't even look up dimensions, it was the smallest truck I could think of and figured it had to be close.

[twintornados]

On 10/22/2025 at 7:57 PM, Sherminator98 said:

...which makes me wonder how much actual appeal it will have with people once it comes out and they go...oh this is too small. 

 

When we went shopping for a replacement vehicle for the girlfriend last fall, she confidently stated, I want something smaller (she had a 2018 Ford Escape at the time and in the interim, had retired from her 30+ year job with the long commute) I explained to her, that the Escape is as "small" as it gets in the Ford lineup and if she persisted, we would have to look at other brands. "Fine with me!" she says and off we go a-shoppin' for "something else"...she looks and looks and then settles on a Mazda CX-30....when we took it for a test-ride, her statement of "Wow, this thing is small..." kinda unnerved me (lol) but after the test drive, we went to her favorite salesman at her favorite Ford store, test drove and then bought Escape #6, a 2024 ST-Line model and everything is right in the world....that is until in 6-8 years from now when she wants another car and finds out that Ford has not replaced Escape in the line yet....I hope I am wrong about that part....

[Sherminator98]

1 hour ago, twintornados said:

When we went shopping for a replacement vehicle for the girlfriend last fall, she confidently stated, I want something smaller (she had a 2018 Ford Escape at the time and in the interim, had retired from her 30+ year job with the long commute) I explained to her, that the Escape is as "small" as it gets in the Ford lineup and if she persisted, we would have to look at other brands. "Fine with me!" she says and off we go a-shoppin' for "something else"...she looks and looks and then settles on a Mazda CX-30....when we took it for a test-ride, her statement of "Wow, this thing is small..." kinda unnerved me (lol) but after the test drive, we went to her favorite salesman at her favorite Ford store, test drove and then bought Escape #6, a 2024 ST-Line model and everything is right in the world....that is until in 6-8 years from now when she wants another car and finds out that Ford has not replaced Escape in the line yet....I hope I am wrong about that part....

 

Its werid-I've mostly owned compacts and a couple subcompacts-I hated how "big" my SHO was-it was like 201 inches long. I think I'd hate having a pickup since the vast majority of them are well over 200 inches long.

 

The sweet spot for me is a vehicle between 170-190 inches long. 

[Rick73]

4 hours ago, Sherminator98 said:

The sweet spot for me is a vehicle between 170-190 inches long. 

Around 180 inches (more or less) works good for me also.  That’s 15 feet and my home garage is 20-ft on one side, so I can have a 2-foot-deep workbench at back wall and still move around easily.  When we replaced CR-V (178”) with Odyssey (201”) it essentially made it necessary to first open garage door to get to other side of van, and also to pull van out in order to do any work at all inside garage.  The premise that bigger is always better doesn’t ring true with me.  I prefer vehicles to be as large as I need and no larger.

[Texasota]

6 hours ago, twintornados said:

 

When we went shopping for a replacement vehicle for the girlfriend last fall, she confidently stated, I want something smaller (she had a 2018 Ford Escape at the time and in the interim, had retired from her 30+ year job with the long commute) I explained to her, that the Escape is as "small" as it gets in the Ford lineup and if she persisted, we would have to look at other brands. "Fine with me!" she says and off we go a-shoppin' for "something else"...she looks and looks and then settles on a Mazda CX-30....when we took it for a test-ride, her statement of "Wow, this thing is small..." kinda unnerved me (lol) but after the test drive, we went to her favorite salesman at her favorite Ford store, test drove and then bought Escape #6, a 2024 ST-Line model and everything is right in the world....that is until in 6-8 years from now when she wants another car and finds out that Ford has not replaced Escape in the line yet....I hope I am wrong about that part....

Admit it! You love “Uptown Girls”!

[twintornados]

22 minutes ago, Texasota said:

Admit it! You love “Uptown Girls”!

 

Riding in one? Sure....owning one?...ehh, I'll keep driving my Maverick. 

[twintornados]

14 hours ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

Its werid-I've mostly owned compacts and a couple subcompacts-I hated how "big" my SHO was-it was like 201 inches long. I think I'd hate having a pickup since the vast majority of them are well over 200 inches long.

 

The sweet spot for me is a vehicle between 170-190 inches long. 

 

My Maverick is 199.8 inches overall....

[Rick73]

Slate at 174.6” in length is approximately 10” shorter than second-generation regular cab Ranger like I owned, though Slate is slightly wider and taller.  Length difference for the most part can be accounted for by Slate bed being 5-foot versus Ranger’s 6-foot.

 

A little research shows that trucks around +/- 175” in length like Slate were built decades ago, though they were smaller in width and height.  At least two were VW Rabbit pickup, and also the first generation Tacoma.  VW was discontinued and Tacoma made larger. 🤔

 

 

 

 

[Motorpsychology]

From 1960-1965, Ford made a US Falcon-based pickup, the vehicle Oddjob used in Goldfinger. In the scene featuring the 1964 Ranchero, a 1964 Lincoln Continental was crushed into a cube and appeared to be loaded into the Ranchero. Actually, the film was cut and a smaller, lighter cube was loaded, as the ute would hardly have been drivable with a 4,300lb Conti in the box.

 

[rmc523]

Slate's EV Truck Won't Have Service Centers—Your Local Mechanic Will Fix It - Autoblog

 

Slate, the plucky American startup promising a pint-sized electric pickup for the people, has decided it’s far too clever to muck about with service centers. Why build shiny temples of EV repair when there’s already a nation full of grease-stained legends with socket wrenches and strong opinions about carb cleaner?

Instead of rolling out the Tesla playbook, Slate is handing its baby over to RepairPal’s army of 4,000-plus certified independent shops. Yes, the company that plans to sell you a minimalist, two-door truck with roll-up windows also plans for you to take it to Bob’s Auto & Muffler for its check-ups. We’re not saying Slate is trying to bring back 1998, but if someone starts hawking cassette adapters again, don’t be shocked.

 

Cue RepairPal, the Yelp-owned certifier of independent shops. Not a dealership network. Not a fancy EV repair empire. A curated list of garages judged on tools, training, and whether customers leave happy rather than shouting into the void. Slate says pricing will be consistent across locations, and the booking experience will be all modern and digital. Think less clip-boards and sighing, more apps and smug efficiency.

[Sherminator98]

45 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

Slate's EV Truck Won't Have Service Centers—Your Local Mechanic Will Fix It - Autoblog

 

Slate, the plucky American startup promising a pint-sized electric pickup for the people, has decided it’s far too clever to muck about with service centers. Why build shiny temples of EV repair when there’s already a nation full of grease-stained legends with socket wrenches and strong opinions about carb cleaner?

Instead of rolling out the Tesla playbook, Slate is handing its baby over to RepairPal’s army of 4,000-plus certified independent shops. Yes, the company that plans to sell you a minimalist, two-door truck with roll-up windows also plans for you to take it to Bob’s Auto & Muffler for its check-ups. We’re not saying Slate is trying to bring back 1998, but if someone starts hawking cassette adapters again, don’t be shocked.

 

Cue RepairPal, the Yelp-owned certifier of independent shops. Not a dealership network. Not a fancy EV repair empire. A curated list of garages judged on tools, training, and whether customers leave happy rather than shouting into the void. Slate says pricing will be consistent across locations, and the booking experience will be all modern and digital. Think less clip-boards and sighing, more apps and smug efficiency.

 

In the grand scheme of things, outside of a major issue, an EV should be more reliable/require less maintenance  then an ICE product would. It would also make me wonder if the local mechanic shops would be even willing to invest money in training to be able to fix them. 

[rmc523]

1 minute ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

In the grand scheme of things, outside of a major issue, an EV should be more reliable/require less maintenance  then an ICE product would. It would also make me wonder if the local mechanic shops would be even willing to invest money in training to be able to fix them. 

 

That's what i'm thinking.