Slate is close to doing what American customers have been begging for and delivering an electric pickup truck for under $25,000. The first Slate vehicles are expected to be delivered in the next couple of months, but what exactly will the people receiving them be getting?
Obviously the truck itself, which retails for as little as $24,950, is going to be quite basic. You have to save money somewhere. But some of the cuts that have been made in the base “Blank Slate” version are pretty drastic. With affordable competition from the likes of the Ford Fathom also on the way, let’s take a look at exactly what you’re getting when you order a “Blank Slate.”
It’s an EV pickup with no electric windows
The Slate truck is likely to provide a nostalgia hit to anyone who has driven something from the 1990s or earlier. Pretty much every major electrical control in the cabin has been ditched for mechanical options.
This means you’ll be adjusting your seat via a bar underneath it or a knob on the side. There’s no multi-point electrical adjustment on the base model. As an added bonus, those seats will be made of cloth. No powered seats, or heated seats for that matter, will be available from the factory.
Mirror adjustments are also manual rather than electrical. But arguably the biggest difference is in the windows. The window crank essentially died out around 25 years ago, but Slate are bringing it back. So expect a minor arm workout every time you hit the drive thru.
Infotainment has also been stripped out
While you may expect Slate to provide a stripped down infotainment system rather than the large displays you see in higher-end vehicles, the truth is you don’t even get that. The vehicle comes with a four-inch driver’s display which contains the instrument cluster and a smartphone mount. So any “infotainment” the vehicle has is centered on your smartphone, and either enhanced with a bluetooth speaker or an aftermarket sound system if you want to fit one.
There are no connectivity options either. So anything resembling WiFi or GPS is going to have to come from a smart phone or dedicated third party device too.
So what do you get with a Blank Slate?
While the Slate truck is about as stripped down as things get, a few of its features are up to modern standards. The company hasn’t skimped on safety, and obviously the vehicle meets all of the requirements set by the NHTSA in 2026.
This means you get forward collision warning, traction control, electronic stability control, and a backup camera. As a bonus, you also get a HVAC system, though it is just a simple single zone climate control. On the plus side, it is operated by analog knobs which a lot of vehicles are lacking these days.
The base Slate truck may be basic, but the customization options are endless
If you’re reading this and wondering why on earth someone would buy one of these when a relatively modern truck like the Ford Maverick is available for just a few thousand dollars more, this isn’t the whole story. The “Blank Slate” is just that. It’s a platform owners can build on thanks to the already large and growing number of customization options.
Slate has dotted over 100 “Slate Access Points” around the vehicle, making it easy to bolt on, snap in, or wire up various modifications. At launch, over 200 modular “parts” will be available, which people can buy and add on as they please. The parts are, for the most part, pretty affordable too with over 80% costing under $500.
This includes an easy to install dashboard color swap for around $60, upgrades for various bits of trim, a drop in stereo system for $250, and things like roof racks provided by various OEM partnerships.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The biggest news is the fact Slate has decided to essentially “open source” the vehicle and its accessories. This means the company has made CAD files for its various mounting points available, and customers are free to design and share their own parts. Those parts can then be produced via a 3D printer or CNC machine.
If you’re reading this and thinking “I don’t actually own a 3D printer and have no intention of buying one” then don’t despair. There are plenty of companies who will 3D print pretty much any CAD file you send them for a small fee. More popular parts will likely be sold by hobbyists and small businesses too.
This isn’t a novel idea, and it has worked to some degree before. The Ford Maverick, which is ironically enough one of Slate’s closest current rivals despite being an ICE vehicle. The Maverick has had a dedicated 3D printing community for years, producing everything from better phone mounts to cup holder mounted dog bowls.
At AutoNotion, we think this is probably the most exciting thing about the Slate truck. Customization has been central to car culture for decades, but in recent years manufacturers have gotten a bit greedy and many have demanded pretty much everything comes from or through them. This is the opposite, Slate is basically providing a canvas and telling its customers to make it their own. A vehicle truly tailored for them, down to the finest detail and available at a very low price.
This is how you build a community. This is how you get your customers talking together, sharing ideas, and centering an entire culture on your product. Yes, it’s not Slate’s idea, but it’s something we really need to see a lot more of across the board.
