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Car dependency is a dead end for humanity regardless of what shit-boxes they manufacture.
For urban environments I 100% agree, but e-bikes and public transport can’t help farmers* get their produce to market. I don’t know much about this truck, but if it can fill a similar niche as the Japanese kei truck, I think it’s great to provide people who actually need a pickup with an alternative to the F-150+ behemoths currently available stateside.
*Yes there are some urban farms that totally could operate via ebike/other form of micro mobility, however most farms, even small ones, are located >10 miles outside urban centers, usually in areas only accessible by roads and highways that are currently very dangerous for non-motorized transportation modes. Fixing this problem would take decades and hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars even if the government were fully on board with the transportation network and/or land use changes necessary to allow for a true car-free society (which of course they aren’t). I’m not such an idealist as to poo-poo a significant short-term improvement to the “oversized working vehicle” problem.
Sounds like the consumer version of the DHL StreetScooter Work (L), with those even the passenger seat is an optional extra. Trouble was that while it’s the perfect vehicle for last-mile distribution routes most companies doing that kind of thing (like bakeries) don’t have the finances to back up an actual car producer, and DHL didn’t want to become a car producer. Taking over the company to get their hands on the trucks, yes, but bringing it to scale so they wouldn’t have to subsidise it? Not their business. And German car manufactures don’t want to build it because small bare-bones vehicles don’t have margin, anything smaller and less fancy than an actual van doesn’t make sense to them given the fixed cost of their production lines. Don’t worry, though, the inventor got the rights back, production is moving to Thailand, new vehicle is in the pipeline, with the core components (chassis etc.) designed for a 50 year lifetime. I’m sure DHL will figure out how to deliver delivery vans.
Aside from being backed by Bezos, this seems like Lemmy the car. Under 20K, an EV, no stupid touch screen, designed to be repaired and modded, and even crank windows.
I bet the catch, aside from Bezos, is the range or charge speed.
As long as it gets 50+ miles range reliably in winter, it’s perfect as a commuter/weekend project truck. I generally look for 150 miles range for this, since winter can cut effective range in half. I don’t care about charge speed since I’ll just plug it in at night.
I mean Bezos backed Rivian too. Or Amazon did, anyway.
I don’t think that it has a cell modem, either, because it sounds like it eschews a baked-in entertainment computer:
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a64564869/2027-slate-truck-revealed/
Roll-down windows come standard, as do manually adjustable rearview mirrors. An audio or infotainment system is noticeably missing, too. Instead, your cellphone or tablet serves these functions, with a dock for the former included and one for the latter available as an optional accessory. Better like the sound coming out from your phone or tablet’s speakers, too, because the Slate lacks speakers, though the brand’s accessory division will gladly hook you up with a set.
Honestly, if you took my last year of comments complaining about privacy-infringing cars and those complaining about changes to what a truck is, this does kind of look to be addressing both. Gotta see what the actual production vehicle is like in real life, of course, but…
When I say the truck is small, I mean it. At 174.6 inches, it’s about 2 feet shorter in overall length than the 2025 Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz. And to use the Wayback Machine to a time when compact pickups were actually compact, it’s roughly the same size as the compact pickups of 1980: the Toyota truck, Chevy LUV and Ford Courier. Notably, no other automakers have offered trucks of this size in America since the mid 1990s.
Yeah, like the “inexpensive, no-frills utility vehicle” that pickups originally were.
because the Slate lacks speakers,
I mean, I get they need to cut costs, but come on… a damn radio wouldnt have killed them
The Citroen AMI doesn’t have speakers either, it comes with a Bluetooth speaker instead, which you can use outside the car. It makes sense if you just think of the entertainment stuff as something that shouldn’t be part of the car and can easily be upgraded/replaced down the line.
You spent hours in that thing and phone speakers are not made to be louder than traffic and drive noises, especially not for so long. Also a radio offers traffic and accident news from local stations. And if they cheap out on speakers I am quite sure they also don’t offer USB ports to charge the phone you run in lieu of a build in system
I don’t think that it has a cell modem, either
So it’s not coming to Europe then.
Is there a requirement for big brother data tracking over there?
No but the emergency assistant system is required, and for that you need a cell modem.
Cars must be able to autonomously call emergency services. You don’t need a SIM for that, or for that matter have the modem switched on all the time.
I’m from the states, but what’s stopping one from removing the modem or snipping the antenna?
Possibly, technical inspections. I’m not sure whether it’s a requirement for cars to be street legal or just a requirement for cars to be sold on the market. The regulation only mentions that it’s about type approval but it’s not like modifying a car automatically nullifies its type approval.
Certainly would be hard to argue for authorities that snipping the eCall would endanger others, similar situation as with seat belts I don’t think legislation is unified there.
No, the catch is that it isn’t real.
@ me when it rolling off the production line.
Until then…it will have
you will be able toYeah they said they’re hoping to be producing them by 2026. So likely won’t be available till 2027/28
Until then…
it may have
you may be able toNothing they say exists until it exists
Standard Range (52.7 kWh) (est.): 150 miles
seems like but manageable for most people
That’s not 150 miles of actual driving range, it’s more like 75-100miles of actual range.
They do say that they also offer a larger battery pack with a 240 mi range, but yeah, even so, it’s not gonna be a great vehicle for long-distance highway travel compared to a current ICE vehicle. Fine for a commuter, though.
Don’t buy a truck if you’re just a daily commuter, that’s just plain dumb. Get a BEV with much better efficiency and a tow hitch for the occasional needs.
A bacon egg vehicle?
Battery Electric Vehicle
But…it has a battery? What makes the difference?
I very much doubt their target market is people commuting to the office.
I want it as a commuter because it’s cheap and can be used as a weekend project truck. The second part isn’t necessary, but it’s nice to not need to rent one.
well its less it doesnt have a touch screen, the touch screen is an optional purchase.
the range iirc in some overview is 2 options, one was i think 150mi, the other was 240mi
From my other link, I don’t think that the touch screen is an optional purchase. I don’t think that they’re selling any entertainment computer to have a screen on. It says that they come standard with a smartphone mounting point or optionally with a tablet mounting point. But the car computer is bring-your-own, and not built into the car. Which…is what I’ve wanted, because computers age out a lot more quickly than cars do.
I assume that there’ll be an OBD-II slot that one can hook up to to feed data about the car to the phone/tablet. There’s software that can make use of that. Dunno if there’s any other data typically exposed to car computers other than what that provides.
Please keep in mind that this is after tax incentives. So let’s just assume the tax incentives are zero and call it 27,000 just to be on the safe side.
Elon: I’m going to rule America to make people buy my shit.
Trump: I’m removing EV tax credits.
Elon: Why is nobody buying my overpriced deathtraps?
Looks about right.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a64564869/2027-slate-truck-revealed/
The Slate Truck is a bare-bones EV that’s expected to cost a little under $27,500, which can drop to less than $20,000 with the federal EV tax credit included.
No mention of safety in the article. Does a manufacturer of this size have to do crash tests?
Also, this sounds like the Spirit/Ryanair of cars. Everything costs extra.
For years, I drove ~10-20 minutes to and from work. Mostly stroads and freeway. I could never justify buying an extra nice car because I didn’t use it that much. Same for a nice car stereo. I’d just listen to NPR and talk radio for news, traffic reports, and maybe a quirky story about some cultural oddity or eclectic artist. If I spend thousands on a sound system it goes in my house, where I live and vibe. Now I work from home, ride my bike everywhere, and a tank of gas can easily last me a month. My current car was purchased for about $20k. If my car died for some reason, I don’t even know if I’d be willing to part with 20k to replace it. I appreciate that these guys are building something for ordinary people and not another faux luxury lifted minivan the size of a garbage truck.
I can see a lot of retired people buying one of these to drive to their once a week bridge tournament or bingo night.
I can see a lot of retired people buying one of these to drive to their once a week bridge tournament or bingo night.
They would be far better served with a regular car instead of a pickup
If you need a car just once a week you shouldn’t own a car at all. Take the bus!
You are assuming everyone lives within a mile of a bus stop and has a safe road with sidewalks or bike lanes to get to that bus stop.
Indeed
The majority of people in the US don’t have access to busing.
Whoa, now that raised an eyebrow. Doesn’t look like the truck bed is ridiculously high. This checks a lot of boxes, and my crap vertebrae agree.
Definitely following this company.
What if, and here me out here, what if, and that’s a crazy thought, what if cars don’t have be ridicules in size and battery capacity is actually used more efficiently rather than carrying dead weight.
But I need my land barge to potentially carry 9000 pounds and 6 people for at least 400 miles without a break, even if I can barely manage to satisfy one of those criteria once a year. Otherwise it’s a miserable failure that must be mocked.
Fuckin’ seriously. I’ve got friends who are like “I wouldn’t even consider an electric car until they have 1000 miles of range and can charge in fifteen minutes,” like bruh, you make two road trips a year and have four kids; even if we pretend you weren’t a two car family that takes the minivan anyway when you’re traveling, there’s no way your kids are making it a quarter of the range you “need” without stopping.
Is this a $20k kit car or a $20k truck that they build for you?
Both options available
Hmm, apparently so. I am going to assume if they build it for you it’ll cost more. Also I found the configurator
availability slated for Q4 2026
I see what you did there.
