Earlier this spring, in Venice, California, residents started noticing some odd new compact pickups and SUVs parked on the city’s main drag. It wasn’t the design that caught people off guard, but their unique liveries. One blue and pink pickup featured a custom wrap adorned with cartoonish crying babies, a giant, pacifier-shaped hood ornament, and most notably, a rooftop cargo rack toting three infant car seats. Branded as a CryShare fleet vehicle, the rear window featured a vinyl decal describing the (hopefully) fictitious company: “When Baby Drives You Crazy, We Drive Them To Sleep”.
Other odd autos included a broom-toting truck advertising a rather mystical service dubbed “Witch on Demand”, as well as a few rather macabre models like the tiger-stripped Rare and Raw Catering Company SUV (“Serving Up Exotic Animals and Wild Nights Since 2025”) and the decidedly creepy Taxiderm-My-Family truck, complete with some suspicious coolers and a roof-mounted biohazard barrel. While these services might be tempting for some sleep-deprived parents, Harry Potter fans, and paleo dieters, they’re all part of a publicity stunt intended to introduce the world to the Slate Truck.
Founded in 2022, Slate is an ambitious startup that’s looking to transform the EV segment with a new, budget-priced, all-electric pickup that could end up retailing for as little as $20,000. While other affordable EVs have hit the market in recent years, the nascent brand is taking an entirely new tack by providing a blank slate onto which drivers can paint their own automotive masterpiece. The Slate Truck is a no-frills pickup that allows drivers to personalize their ride with over 100 optional accessories to choose from, most of which can be easily installed by the average DIYer. Financed by deep-pocketed investors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former CEO Jeff Wilke, Slate could be the EV brand that succeeds where many other startups have failed in recent years. Are drivers ready for this sort of Build-a-Bear approach to the EV segment, and is the company’s “radically simple, radically affordable” ethos all it promises to be? Let’s take a closer look at the Slate Truck and see if the Bezos bookmobile is a page-turner or a dime-store disappointment.
Build-a-Truck Workshop
When reviewing the industry’s newest vehicles, touching on every stat, feature, and option can be tough. The Slate Truck presents no such challenge. In this case, covering what the EV pickup doesn’t have might be easier. Stereo system? Nope. Radio? Good luck. Aside from the digital gauge cluster, the truck is totally screen-free, though it can accommodate a smartphone or tablet to fill the infotainment-shaped hole in its resume. The Slate Truck doesn’t even have power windows, which means it’ll be the only vehicle on the road with old-fashioned crank windows when it hits the market in 2027. The pickup does pack power locks, cruise control, and all the legally required safety features like airbags, a backup camera, and emergency braking, but tech-forward it is not.
This stark design might come as a surprise given the involvement of tech sector bigwigs like Bezos, but it’s all part of the automaker’s unique “Blank Slate” approach. Instead of loading the truck with a full suite of advanced features or providing a range of trims aimed at different sectors of the market, the Slate Truck allows drivers to create a one-of-a-kind ride with over 100 available accessories on offer. From a two-inch lift kit, one-inch lowering kit, power windows, and speakers to an infotainment system, roof rack, and more, the truck can be transformed into virtually anything, including an SUV. Slate gives drivers the opportunity to blur the line between the two segments with the SUV kit, adding a roof panel, rear bench seat, roll bar, and airbags that increase the seating capacity to five passengers. Best of all, the vehicle can be converted from truck to SUV and back again as many times as you like, or even transformed into an open-top SUV or fastback wagon.
The truck is also as gray as the Slate name implies, but just think of it as a blank canvas that’s simply awaiting a little inspiration. Slate will provide a wide range of vinyl wraps, which, in addition to helping reduce the truck’s total cost, give drivers the opportunity to express themselves with a singular exterior. The vinyl wrap can even be applied to the wheels when choosing the 17-inch steel option, which is sure to turn some heads when you hit the highway. Those who prefer a simpler approach can choose between so-called “starter packs” that essentially serve the same role as the typical trim ladder, but that sort misses the point of this whole automotive experiment. The new pickup is designed for the DIY crowd. Slate says that every upgrade, from the speakers to the long list of available wheels and even the SUV kit, can be installed by any driver who can figure out which way to turn a wrench thanks to helpful how-to videos provided by the brand’s Slate U content hub. An authorized service center can also install these accessories and kits, but no matter which route you take, all enhancements will be covered under the truck’s warranty.
Throwback, or Vision of the Future?
The Slate Truck represents a bit of a throwback in an industry where pickups have grown into road-hogging behemoths. Measuring 174 inches, the EV is reminiscent of the modest pickups that ruled the road in the mid-1980s. By today’s standards, it looks more like a typical compact crossover than a true pickup, and is around two inches shorter than Subaru’s compact Crosstrek. Cozy dimensions aside, the Slate Truck offers plenty of room where it counts, with a five-foot cargo bed that beats the Ford Maverick by six inches. The bed boasts a drain plug that allows the rear cargo to double as an impromptu cooler, and 35 cu.ft. of cargo volume, complemented by a front trunk that adds an extra seven cu.ft. to the mix.
The Slate Truck might not be the most powerful EV on the road, with a single rear-mounted 150kW electric motor that produces 201 hp and 195 lb-ft of torque. However, considering the low starting price and target audience, the pickup still seems to pack some value. The compact truck currently lacks an all-wheel drive option, so drivers will have to settle for a 1,000-lb towing capacity that, while pretty modest, is offset by the Slate Truck’s serviceable 1,433-lb payload capacity. That’s just around 70 lbs short of the Ford Maverick, though it all depends on which battery you choose. The truck will ship with a 53-kWh battery that Slate says will provide 150 miles of range, but the larger 84.3-kWh pack could increase that number to 240 miles at the cost of some payload.
Slated for Success
Customization potential aside, the Slate truck’s best selling point would have to be the price. The EV pickup is expected to retail for as little as $27,500, making Slate’s debut model the most affordable all-electric vehicle on the market. The Nissan LEAF S currently holds the record with an MSRP of just under $30,000, but the Slate truck could blow that number out of the water with a little help from the federal government. While EV buyers can still claim a $7,500 subsidy for certain models, ever-shifting trade and economic policies have left the future of the lucrative tax credit in doubt. If the $7,500 subsidy does hold up, drivers could walk away with a new Slate truck for less than $20,000. That sort of accessibility could go a long way towards stimulating the EV segment, which has experienced slower-than-expected growth in recent years as drivers increasingly turn to hybrid models.
Even with the $7,500 tax credit, Slate’s success is far from assured. While the brand brings a fresh new approach to the EV market with its “Blank Slate” ethos, it wouldn’t be the first to flounder before it gets off the ground. The EV segment has seen its fair share of fledgling brands that fail to take flight, with companies like Lordstown Motors, Canoo, and Fisker filing for bankruptcy in recent years. Even the segment’s relative success stories struggle to turn a profit, with brands like Lucid and Rivian posting consistent losses as they fight to carve out a place for themselves in the EV landscape.
What does Slate have going for it, and how does it expect to succeed in the competitive EV segment? Mega-rich investors certainly help, with Bezos, Hollywood bigwig Thomas Tull, Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter, and others filling the brand’s coffers to the tune of more than $111 million, but two other key factors could spell success for the spunky Slate. The first would be the company’s made-in-the-USA approach, which should help shield it from the unpredictable tariffs currently rocking much of the auto market. While Slate will probably have to import some materials, especially those used to make the EV’s battery, focusing on domestic manufacturing and the brand’s Indiana-based plant could help Slate gain an edge as the current administration continues to advance its protectionist trade policies.
Slate’s other key advantages come down to its focus on customization. While producing any new vehicle from the ground up is a long, expensive process, much of the cost is tied to building the interior with cutting-edge gadgets, premium materials, and, surprisingly, the paint job itself. Investing in a production-level paint shop is not only pricey, it’s also one of the most heavily regulated parts of the vehicle manufacturing process. The Slate truck’s unpainted gray composite body panels allow drivers to opt for their own wraps and exterior flourishes, eliminating a considerable cost and helping the brand to slash the starting price. By creating a bare-bones pickup and letting customers invest in optional upgrades, Slate has drastically reduced production costs to create a value-packed EV that trades on its low price and customization potential.
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
The Slate Truck is bucking some well-established trends to bring something entirely new to the market, but are drivers ready? While the EV segment holds much promise, sales haven’t always kept up with expectations as buyers cite concerns around charging infrastructure, convenience, and cost. The Slate Truck seems to address the last issue, but only time will tell if the automaker’s outside-the-box approach will resonate with potential EV customers. It’s also hard to understate the importance of the current EV tax credit when it comes to the Slate Truck’s success. If the pickup can be had for less than $20,000, it’ll have a marked advantage by drastically improving accessibility to the all-electric segment. It’s a much harder sell without the subsidy. If the Slate Truck rings in closer to $30,000, plus the cost of additional accessories that make it feel less like an anonymous grey box on wheels, it might struggle in a market where much more capable, spacious, and powerful pickups can be had for a similar price. Personally, I’ll be rooting for the Slate Truck for one simple reason. If the Build-a-Car method gains traction, it could help put the power back in the hands of a driving public that’s become too accustomed to paying a high price for over-the-top models that aren’t tailored to their individual driving needs. The Slate Truck might not revolutionize the market alone, but it could represent the first chapter in an entirely new automotive story.
