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Earlier this month, Slate’s final pricing strategy “leaked” via the company’s own web site (in the public-facing metadata with a giant note that basically said “HEY, YOU! DON’T YOU DARE LOOK HERE!”). Sure enough, the Bezos-backed firm officially announced Wednesday morning that its new, bare bones electric truck will start at $24,950; the “Squareback” and “Fastback” SUVs will start at $29,950.
If you’ve been following this saga since the beginning, you already know that Slate originally promised that its truck would start under $20,000, but that price point factored in electric car incentives that are no longer in the picture. In other words, inflation alone isn’t entirely to blame this time around.
Speaking of inflation, there’s good news on the range front. Rather than the 150 miles originally promised, Slate is now saying its small truck will offer 205 miles of range from its 65-kilowatt-hour (63 kWh usable) battery pack; a range estimate for the SUV wasn’t given, but we expect it won’t be far off. Slate also managed to coax some more towing and payload capacity out of the platform. You can now haul 2,000 pounds behind the pickup, or put 1,550 pounds in the bed. GVWR is 5,689 lbs., so with a curb weight of 4,048 lbs, you’ll need a svelte operator to sneak in under the pickup’s max rated weight with a full bed.
Since the SUV is heavier out of the box, it’s rated to tow 1,824 lbs or haul 1,263 lbs of payload. After the adjustments, the cargo-to-human weight ratio works out the same as it does in the pickup.
Slate Pickup and “Squareback” SUV -Slate
There’s no free lunch, of course, and Slate’s upgrades come with some drawbacks. The pickup’s curb weight is about 450 lbs heavier than Slate’s initial target (3,600-ish lbs). Its power output is also slightly lower, down from 201 to about 181 (135 kW). Slate is still estimating the truck will hit 60 mph in 8.0 seconds—about what you’d expect from something you’d rent from the “subcompact or similar” category at the airport counter. Sadly, even the most worn-out Nissan Versa will beat the Slate’s 90 mph top speed.
There’s also no mention of the previously suggested battery extender; it seems the larger battery (previously, Slate was suggesting about 53 kWh of usable capacity) is being treated as a one-size-fits-all solution.
Slate has an opportunity to slip into the lower end of the electric truck market while Ford is still busy developing a more full-featured truck that it plans to sell for only a little bit more money. Remember, Slate’s promising something with no screens and crank windows; even Ford’s fairly spartan Maverick pickup has that spec sheet handily beat.
On top of its new-market competitors, Slate will also have to compete with the growing surplus of off-lease used EVs that are slowly beginning to enter the used market. Nevertheless, even prior to disclosing the truck’s boosted specs, Slate says it managed to scare up 180,000 reservations for its little trucks. Maybe its headwinds aren’t that stiff after all?
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Byron is an editor at The Drive with a keen eye for infrastructure, sales and regulatory stories.
