Ask just about anybody, and they’ll tell you that new cars are too expensive. In the wake of tariffs shaking the auto industry and with the Trump administration pledging to kill the federal EV incentive, that situation isn’t looking to get better soon, especially for anyone wanting something battery-powered. Changing that overly spendy status quo is going to take something radical, and it’s hard to get more radical than what Slate Auto has planned.
Meet the Slate Truck, a sub-$20,000 (after federal incentives) electric vehicle that enters production next year. It only seats two yet has a bed big enough to hold a sheet of plywood. It only does 150 miles on a charge, only comes in gray, and the only way to listen to music while driving is if you bring along your phone and a Bluetooth speaker. It is the bare minimum of what a modern car can be, and yet it’s taken three years of development to get to this point.
But this is more than bargain-basement motoring. Slate is presenting its truck as minimalist design with DIY purpose, an attempt to not just go cheap but to create a new category of vehicle with a huge focus on personalization. That design also enables a low-cost approach to manufacturing that has caught the eye of major investors, reportedly including Jeff Bezos. It’s been engineered and will be manufactured in America, but is this extreme simplification too much for American consumers?
The specs on the website don’t have the number one statistic I care about: Can I, a 6’3" (190cm) man, fit comfortably inside without being forced to drive with my knees? It says it is 69" (175cm) tall which is not a promising sign. The website does not have warranty information yet either, the next most important thing for me. The fact it is mostly made in America, implies that it will probably break within a year which makes the price irrelevant. The lack of infotainment is a huge plus, I don’t understand how those things are even legal. A laptop dock would be much more beneficial in my opinion. One which can easily slide out of sight, like when I’m actually driving and not just watching porn while stuck in a traffic jam. The option for hand crank windows pretty cool, so I can re-enact that one scene from the movie The Game if I want.
After really taking a deep look at the customization options I can’t help but wonder, Am I dressing a Barbie or looking for a vehicle? Can I get the icon in cornflower blue? Is there an option to make the entire vehicle look like a 90’s geocities page, including gifs? I spent who knows how long looking at the options and went to see what the price would be. Well guess what? I can’t! Not without reserving one for $50. Even then I have no indication I’ll be told the price. Sorry but I don’t care what options there are, I’m not gonna pay one dollar, let alone fifty, if I can’t see what the final price will be, even just an estimate would be nice. Am I supposed to trust the word of random news articles that it’s actually under $20k with an asterisk? I don’t care if the $50 is refundable. Any company that requires I speak to someone for the price of their product, is a company that is lying about the price of their product.
Great idea and almost a step in the right direction for cars (in my opinion). However, I can all but guarantee this would be a bad car for me to buy, because car salepeople and car engineers simply can’t help but take any good idea and load it up with as much enshittification as they possibly can stuff in and then try to get the customer to pay more for heaps of shit on top, which they call icing but is really just shit, all while lying about every possible thing they can.