Slate invited press to a first drive event at its design studio in Gardena, California, and the number everyone showed up for was the one the company set a year ago and then had to defend. The base truck, which Slate calls the blank slate, is $24,950, according to Gjeebs, who attended the event and drove it. Every truck leaves the line identically equipped: a two door pickup with a five foot bed, steel wheels, crank windows, and no infotainment screen at all. The video reports a 65 kWh pack rated at 205 miles, raised from the 150 miles Slate floated at the original reveal. Two accessory kits convert it into an SUV, a squareback at $29,950 and a fastback at $31,950.
What makes the sticker notable is what happened around it. When Slate first showed the truck, a federal EV tax credit worth up to $7,500 was still on the table, and that credit is gone. Holding the same price without it is the real accomplishment, and the host makes that point directly. The truck also arrives in a segment that barely exists. New EVs in the US generally start well above thirty thousand dollars, and the cheaper things on sale tend to be low speed quadricycles rather than trucks. Buyers should look hard at what was removed to get here. There is no touchscreen, no all wheel drive, and no dealer network. The video says service is routed through independent shops, roughly three thousand of them, found through the Slate app or RepairPal. Resale value for a one build, one price vehicle that owners wrap themselves is a genuine unknown, and nobody can price that risk yet. It is a two door with a five foot bed, which rules out a chunk of the families who cross shop trucks.
Gjeebs reports the truck drives better than its spec sheet reads. Slate advertises a 0 to 60 time around eight seconds, which the host calls unimpressive on paper, but he chirps a tire pulling away and says nothing about the low speed response feels slow. He puts curb weight near 4,000 pounds, cites a 50/50 weight distribution, and describes minimal body roll through a lane change and a suspension that absorbs a rough stretch of road without complaint. Tires are 245/65R17 on steel wheels, a common size that should keep replacement cheap. The interior details are deliberate rather than cheap: crank windows with real resistance, a removable center console that doubles as an armrest, a large frunk with weather stripping, and a phone mount where a screen would be. According to the video, the truck ships with native NACS charging and Supercharger access, and the host cites a battery warranty of 10 years or 150,000 miles and a five star crash test rating. Customization runs through decals and wraps rather than paint. Buyers pick a color on the Slate site, the wrap ships to them for $500, and they either install it themselves or take it to a shop Slate designates. The host also confirms on camera that the SUV kits can be bought later, so a $24,950 truck can become a squareback for about $5,000 whenever the money exists. Inside the squareback he finds a flat floor, usable rear seat space for three, a real trunk, and a roll cage with airbags built into it.
Bottom line: The interesting thing about Slate is not that it is cheap. It is that it is honest about being cheap. A phone mount instead of a bad screen, steel wheels instead of curbable alloys, one build instead of a trim ladder that exists to move you up it. That works beautifully if you treat this as a tool: a shop truck, a delivery vehicle, a second car for short trips. Ask it to be your only vehicle and 205 miles, rear wheel drive and two doors will start negotiating with you. Watch the wrap and accessory business. That is the whole company, wearing a truck as a disguise.
Commentary on a third-party video. Figures and claims are as presented in the source and have not been independently verified. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it.