Slate Auto Unveils Refreshingly Simple And Small Two-Seat Electric Truck Designed To Be Customized, Starting Under $27,500

After a brief but very buzzy teaser campaign, Jeff Bezos–backed startup Slate Auto just revealed its electric pickup at an event in Long Beach, California. The extremely simple, refreshingly small truck is designed to be a blank slate for owners to easily customize how they want — hence the Slate name — with a wide variety of more than 100 accessories available at launch. You’ll even be able to transform the two-seat truck into a five-seat SUV, and the rear-wheel-drive Slate will have a range of up to 240 miles. Slate says the truck will proudly be made in the U.S. “as part of a commitment to re-industrializing America,” and it’ll cost less than $20,000 with federal incentives factored in when it starts production late next year.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about Slate, like exactly where the truck will be built and what other corporations it has partnered with. But if the company is able to pull this thing off, it could really make a difference in the American market — not just in terms of EV adoption, but for the industry as a whole. Alright, there’s a lot to cover here, so let’s dive in.

I’ll get the powertrain specs out of the way first. You can choose from a 52.7-kWh battery pack that offers 150 miles of range or an 84.3-kWh pack that aims to get 240 miles of range. Regardless of battery size, the Slate has a single electric motor putting out 201 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque to the rear axle, with a MacPherson strut front suspension and De Dion rear axle with coil springs. It’ll have a 0-to-60-mph time of 8 seconds and a top speed of 90 mph. The Slate will be able to tow 1,000 pounds, and it’ll have a 1,433-pound payload. There’s an NACS charge port on the driver’s side rear fender, with DC fast charging of up to 120 kW that can get you from 20 to 80% in half an hour, or a full charge in 4-8 hours with the 11-kW AC charger.

Slate quotes a curb weight of 3,602 pounds, which is about the same as a Ford Maverick. It will have traction control and electronic stability control, and while ABS isn’t mentioned on the spec sheet I’m sure it’s included. Slate says it’s aiming for (and currently meeting or exceeding in testing) a five-star NCAP safety rating, and to that end it has automated emergency braking, forward collision warning with pedestrian detection, and up to 8 airbags.

At 174.6 inches long the two-door Slate truck is more than two feet shorter than a Ford Maverick and almost five inches shorter than a Honda Civic Hatchback; Slate makes the comparison that it’s sized closely to a 1985 Toyota pickup. The Slate is 69.3 inches high, a bit taller than a Maverick, and its 5-foot bed is half a foot longer than the Ford. This is the tiny truck y’all have been begging automakers to build. Slate wanted the design to tug at your heart and be desirable for everyone, plus have the truck be easy to drive and get in and out of. Despite the Slate’s diminutive size, it can fit a lot of stuff. There’s a drainable frunk that fits 7 cubic feet worth of stuff, with the hood extending to part of the nose to give you a better opening, and the bed has 35.1 cubic feet of volume, with a width between the wheel wells of 42.9 inches and a max width of 54.9 inches.

While I wish the truck had more character and flair to its design, there’s enough detail in its simple styling to make it interesting, like the flared fenders and chamfered surfaces. The round headlights and plastic bumper give it a cute face, and I like how squared-off and upright it is. A rear window that flips open is a nice touch. The shoulders are strong, the overhangs are short — it’s just a great-looking ‘lil truck. And the possibilities for customization help add some of that character I’m wanting.

If you want your Slate to come in anything but plain gray, you’ll have to do it yourself. The company says it’s the first new vehicle that is designed to be wrapped — vinyl wrap kits already cut will be available from the factory, and the truck’s cutlines make it easy to apply the wrap without taking off body panels. Slate will even wrap it for you, and it’ll take mere hours. There will be partial wraps too, from doing just the roof or rear end to cool two-tones that look like trucks from the 1970s. Slate has all sorts of decal and stripe sets, too, and it says the wrap kits will start at around $500.

The accessories extend to body parts and other components as well, with more than a hundred Slate Attach points throughout the car. There’s gear racks, a spare tire carrier, beefier bumpers, fender flares, upgraded headlights and taillights, different grille designs, running boards, and all sorts of other stuff. Slate will even offer a 2.0-inch lift kit and a 1.0-inch lowering kit, and a few different 17-inch (standard) or 20-inch wheels with either road or all-terrain tires — plus decals to make the wheels look even cooler. If it’s all too much for you to decide on by yourself, Slate already has over two dozen “Starter Packs” to choose from that bundle together all sorts of accessories, like the one pictured above. You’ll be able to buy accessories individually or in bundles, and either at time of purchase or later.

Though the Slate leaves the factory in a singular body style, it doesn’t have to stay that way. Slate will offer a flat-pack accessory kit that turns the truck into a five-seat SUV, complete with a roll cage, more airbags and a bench seat. (No word on if the seats can be added to the truck bed Subaru BRAT–style.) There are two different SUV rear ends to choose from, a traditional squared-off tailgate or a slanted fastback one. You can also choose to drive the Slate without doors on no matter which body style is on.

Now, Slate doesn’t say how easily this can be done, but given the truck’s design I doubt it’ll be that bad. The company does say there’s no mechanics certification required. For both the SUV transformation and all the other accessories, there will be a Slate U platform (I’m assuming an app) with step-by-step video tutorials to show you how to put everything together. With electric cars requiring much less maintenance than internal combustion cars, the Slate will let you get your wrenching fix in.

The interior is where I think the Slate gets a little too simple. Don’t get me wrong, the rectangular design is great, with a flat dashboard that opens into a huge glovebox and an overall look reminiscent of the really cool stuff IKEA made back in the middle of last century, just with a lot less color. The door panels have cool fabric armrests, and the air vents, steering wheel, climate controls and column stalks have a great ’80s vibe. You’ll be able to buy all sorts of interior accessories too, like decal kits, different metal or wood accents, and other colors for the interior panels and seat covers. There are also things called Slatelets, cute little badges that clip onto the air vent that runs across the dash. 

As you’ll notice, there’s a small display in front of the driver, but no infotainment screen at all. Slate is instead making you get a phone or tablet mount and using your preferred tech. Problem is, you can’t just get Apple CarPlay or Android Auto as an app on your phone, so either you’re just driving with maps up the whole time, or you’re swiping through your actual phone to change the song or respond to a text. It also doesn’t come with speakers as standard, offering them as accessories or giving you a mount for your own Bluetooth speaker. A set of Bluetooth controls for the steering wheel and an extra row of auxiliary buttons are found in the accessory catalog, as are a center console with an armrest, door pockets, power windows — it’s got cranks as standard.

Already building and testing prototypes, and a factory in Indiana is tooling up now in anticipation of trucks reaching the first customers in Q4 of 2026. The trucks will be bought online in a direct-to-consumer model, but the company will have a nationwide lineup of service centers and places that can help with all the accessories. Exact price hasn’t been announced yet, but Slate says it will start at under $20,000 with incentives included, which means it’ll carry an MSRP of less than $27,500. The Slate is available to reserve right now for $50; the company says the earlier you reserve one the earlier you’ll get one, and the deposit is “refundable if you chicken out.”

Slate’s website is pretty excellent, and there’s already a fantastic configurator that will let you go through every single accessory that’ll be on offer at launch. I can’t think of a better way to waste your Friday.