Yeah, it's definitely interesting and a very loud segment of the market they're trying to address. Time will tell if Slate can deliver and if the squeaky wheels really want the grease or just to squeak.

Looks like there are several former Amazon executives involved with Slate and the big investor is Jeff Bezos.  Bezos, via his family office, reportedly holds a passive stake and is not directly involved in the day-to-day business   Great plans but I think we need to watch this for a while to see what progress they make.

Is this one an actual Bezos company or just backing it like he did with Rivian?

At the moment Slate is all marketing, let’s see how Bezos goes with actually delivering at that price.

Been on the Maverick bandwagon since the start, and currently on my 3rd, but it surprises me how many people bought a Maverick not because it seats 4, or can haul a bunch of mulch or tow a trailer, but because it was a fairly inexpensive hybrid.  There seems to be a LOT of buyers who bought just for the MPG/$$$ equation. It would not surprise me if a 2-door, 2-seat vehicle like the Slate would be popular, IF the price is low enough.   HRG

Most EV startups bring little new to the table, and aren't worth the risk of investing in, but I believe Slate has some good ideas, and a good design, but needs help actually engineering/manufacturing the vehicle. Not to mention partnering or being owned by Ford could make it possible to service these vehicles at Ford dealerships potentially, which would be a massive benefit.    I just think Ford should hedge their bets. It sounds like CE1 is very radical, very radical in how the vehicles look, and act. Buying Slate so you could offer a far more convenient truck on top of that might be a good idea if you're trying to win over more truck buyers to an EV. An areo truck and a boxy truck being sold side by side, each with their own pros and cons, let the customers pick which one they want.    Slate seems like they're bringing a lot of strong ideas to the table, and I believe Ford should be looking for ways to turn them into an ally instead of their competition. 

https://www.theautopian.com/the-slate-ev-would-be-a-better-peoples-car-if-it-had-a-gas-engine/   i thought this was a very good article.

Maverick is made by Ford which has been around for a century, plus as you say it is either ICE or Hybrid which accounts for well over 90% of truck sales, so Slate is not comparable at all in my opinion.  If it fails due to low demand and sales, assuming it makes it to market in the first place, we won’t actually know to what degree being small, 2-door, simple, or relatively cheap was responsible for failure.  That would just be conjecture.   As of today not many buyers are purchasing BEV pickups, in part because they are more expensive than equivalent ICE or HEV, but also because they don’t make as much sense.  Pickups in general have much higher energy consumption per driven mile and the Slate  is no different.  Target efficiency is only around 3 miles per kWh, which is not great given its size and weight.  A Lucid sedan which is much larger and heavier is up to 5 miles per kWh, highlighting that pickup trucks poor aerodynamics does make a difference.  In my opinion 150 miles of range under ideal conditions won’t go over well when a buyer can choose a Maverick for same price (excluding $7,500 Slate tax credit).   AM222 makes a valid point, and if Slate was ICE built by Ford like an early Ranger, or Toyota built an early Tacoma, with MSRP around $20k, then we would know a lot more about how much cheapness buyers are willing to buy.    

In fairness, just look at Ford F-Series first quarter sales data which make it clear that being “electric” is enough to limit sales significantly, given that Lightning is otherwise pretty much the same size, has same number of doors, etc. yet only accounts for a few percent of total sales.  Some will argue that weak Lightning sales are due to higher cost, but same applies to Slate if tax credit is not included.  

The upcoming Slate pickup/SUV is like an EV version of a pre-2000s entry-level model. The base model is an actual base model. If this were an ICE model its $25K-$27K estimated base price would probably be under $20K, the base price of the Maverick a few years ago.  Traditional pickups are just getting too expensive everywhere in general.