Slate Auto, the EV startup backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos, has lastly revealed the beginning worth of its electrical truck: $24,950.
That’s excluding taxes, title, license, registration, governmental charges, vacation spot costs, documentation charges, and any non-compulsory tools, based on the corporate. Slate began taking pre-orders for the truck on Wednesday.
Crucially, Slate additionally stated that it has boosted the estimated vary of its base mannequin from 150 miles to round 205 miles.
The aggressive pricing — half the typical price of a brand new automobile in the USA — places Slate in place to seize a share of the bottom finish of the brand new automobile market, which has few fuel and fewer electrical choices nowadays. The Chevrolet Bolt is one among Slate’s closest EV opponents on worth, beginning at round $29,000, whereas the Nissan Leaf begins at round $32,000. Ford has been teasing a $30,000 electrical truck that’s due in 2027.
The value reveal comes greater than a yr after Slate Auto emerged from stealth. Since then, the corporate has been steadily detailing the extraordinarily primary, reworking EV, which begins as a two-seater pickup truck, however could be modified right into a five-seater SUV. The SUV model will begin at $29,950, Slate stated Wednesday.
Slate has stated the conversion could be performed by professionals or by homeowners themselves. On Wednesday, it lastly confirmed off a few of its first of its “Slate College” how-to movies, which information folks via the steps for doing all the pieces from the SUV conversion to including headlight covers.
The whole lot else in regards to the truck is naked, although it’s customizable. It has hand-crank home windows, lacks an infotainment system, and all orders begin with the identical grey composite materials, with no paint choices, as Slate plans to let patrons order customizable wraps for the car. That seemingly helps reduce out a serious price middle, as manufacturing unit paint outlets can run within the tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
The corporate didn’t supply extra particulars in regards to the shopping for course of. Slate has stated it “received’t have conventional dealerships,” and plans to promote on to prospects, much like different EV corporations like Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid Motors.
Earlier this month, TechCrunch first reported that Slate Auto has granted on-line used automobile large Carvana a warrant to purchase its shares, suggesting the 2 would possibly collaborate on promoting the low-cost truck. Carvana just lately revealed plans to promote new vehicles, shaking up its present enterprise mannequin. (One among Slate’s lead buyers, Guggenheim Companions CEO Mark Walter, is a serious shareholder in Carvana.)
Slate has been promising the car could be priced within the mid-$20,000 space earlier than it got here out of stealth, as TechCrunch first reported early last year. The corporate’s objective is to create one thing like Ford’s Mannequin T, or Volkswagen’s Beetle, and a beginning worth of round $25,000 has been the goal for a very long time.
However the path to these objectives has been difficult by the second Trump administration and Republican management of Congress. Coverage adjustments have loosened emissions requirements, and eliminated a $7,500 federal EV tax credit score. In consequence, many main automakers have delayed or shelved plans for brand spanking new EVs within the U.S.
The startup has raised a good sum of money because it chases these formidable objectives. To this point, buyers have thrown round $1.4 billion into Slate throughout three main funding rounds. The corporate has been tight-lipped about these backers, although together with Walter’s agency TWG World, we all know the cap desk contains Common Catalyst, Jeff Bezos’ household workplace, VC firm Slauson & Co., and former Amazon govt Diego Piacentini, as TechCrunch first reported last year.
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