America's Cheapest New Truck? The Slate EV, Inside and Out

MotorTrend

Crank windows and no touchscreen—what? This tiny all-electric truck is ultra-inexpensive

Transcript

00:00This is the Slate truck and it's a small American-made inexpensive electric pickup and the

00:14reason it's inexpensive is because it doesn't come with much it only comes with this one color

00:18and it even has crank windows inside but that's where the beauty of the Slate truck begins because

00:23what Slate is all about is developing an accessory ecosystem for you to design and build and customize

00:28your truck into whatever you want it to be let's take a look the Slate truck is going to leave the

00:35factory just one way and you're looking at it here it's a two seat cab with a four by five foot bed

00:42and a single motor electric powertrain from there Slate is going to offer a huge range of accessories

00:48for you to customize the truck how you want it different color wraps different wheels even a

00:53bed cap you can turn this into a five seat SUV that's what Slate is all about is letting you

00:58customize and build the car however you want Slate has looked at the market and seen a lot of bulk and

01:04overhead go into cars making them unaffordable for average Americans but with federal tax incentives

01:09Slate is targeting a starting price of under $20,000 for the truck saving you money for you to build it

01:15however you want whether that's for fun or for business or somewhere in between you can customize

01:20and modify it however you like to suit those needs so this being an EV there is a spacious frunk under

01:27the hood and I want to point out there are some molded in beverage holders here so when you are

01:31wrenching on your slate truck you have a place to put your drink and I want to call your attention to

01:36some other key customization areas for the slate like this front panel and these running light covers

01:41both of these can be taken off and modified adjusted redesigned to put them in your business or your

01:47favorite sports team or to put a design that you love right here it's all part of the interchangeable

01:52customizable nature of the slate truck this slate is a compact pickup truck with a bed that measures

01:58four by five feet in overall length the truck is even smaller than a Ford Maverick but still has this

02:03spacious bed and part of Slate's vision with affordability and keeping things simple is in their

02:10design and engineering and what I want to call out for that is with these tail lights these are actually the

02:14exact same unit on either side just flipped upside down with some very small modifications so that

02:19things can be taken apart interchange and even from the factory built in the most simple and cost

02:24effective way possible crank windows when was the last time you saw a new car with crank windows but

02:29if you don't want crank windows slate is going to give you that option they will sell you a module that

02:34allows you to install yourself power windows for that level of convenience and that's just the start of

02:39what you can do with your slate truck so look at this interior it is just incredibly simplistic you

02:44don't see a lot of things that you really do see a standard in a lot of modern cars the only screen you

02:50have is this teeny tiny little thing right here that's going to function as your main gauge display and

02:54your backup camera when the vehicle goes in reverse there's no touchscreen whatsoever you can add one

02:59if you want but what's going to come as standard if you take a closer look here is just above these analog HVAC

03:04controls there's this phone mount here that will allow you to dock your device whatever it may be and use

03:10that for all of your navigation needs or infotainment needs as well as some extra bins and storage in the

03:17dashboard but again you can add accessories and customize this space however you want with additional

03:23storage solutions bluetooth speakers decorative accessories up here in the air vents the slate is all about

03:29making it what you want it to be every slate truck is going to leave the factory just one way with a

03:35single motor rear wheel drive powertrain a dual motor all-wheel drive powertrain could come at some

03:39point in the future but for now slate is targeting a 52.7 kilowatt hour battery that will deliver about 150

03:45miles of range and it's all going to recharge with the max north american charging standard plug pioneered by

03:52tesla that's becoming more common among today's evs so slate is all about accessorization and

03:59personalization and i'm not just talking about wheels and tires it's going to go a lot beyond that

04:03so what we're looking at here are different covers for the running lights these are 3d printed and slate

04:09is going to make these open source so that you can design and fabricate these yourself if you so choose

04:15and it extends beyond just the outside uh as we move into the inside of the vehicle too here we're looking

04:21at some more premium materials that you can upfit and option into your slate to have a different feel

04:27and look so this is a lot nicer than the basic black plastics and gray plastics that we're seeing

04:33inside the base spec model that we sat in and again this is all going to be open source so you can

04:39design these yourself if you want to do a one-off or even tool up for your own small production run to

04:44share with others in the slate community i want to highlight the level of detail and granularity that you

04:50can get in the slate and just how basic it comes off the factory line this is interior trim so this

04:56is just one little strip that you can use to add some color to the inside of your slate and here is

05:01an ipad type device like if you wanted to add an infotainment system this is just a simple bluetooth

05:07speaker right here maybe you have one that you at home already you can just choose to put it in this

05:12holder which mounts to the bottom side of the dashboard and look down here as well these are in large door

05:19panel pockets so if you want to have a cup holder or a phone holder a map pocket that's the type of

05:24thing that you can add to your slate even here 3d printed decorations to slide into the air vents of

05:31the dashboard and different buttons that connect through bluetooth so you can actually control the

05:36screen that you put into your slate and even down to accessorizing the key with functions like a small

05:43screwdriver that you can use to add all the exterior panels and accessories that you want

05:48these are wraps that the company is going to offer pre-cut on templatized decals so it's really easy

05:54for you to apply yourself now if you've never wrapped a vehicle it's quite an involved process but slate

06:00like with these wraps and any other accessory that you might want to add to your truck they're going to

06:05have an online library of videos and support that you can access so that you have the skills and aptitude

06:12and confidence to take on these projects on your own and really make this truck yours

06:16so to highlight the reconfigurability of the blank slate this is the exact same vehicle as that we

06:22were looking at a little while ago but it's been completely transformed it's no longer a gray pickup

06:26truck but it's sort of a beige suv with new wheels and tires all-terrain as well as a whole bunch of

06:32other accessories inside so let's take a closer look in there back inside the slate it's been completely

06:37transformed from the truck we were sitting in a little while ago you can see that there's some more

06:41upscale materials now applied some nice green textures and browns on the doors as well slate

06:47has also added a built-in speaker to these empty cubbies in the dashboard along with some extra storage

06:54and the smartphone built in for navigation but what's really key here is that this is now an suv no

07:01longer a pickup truck so this seats five people and if we just suit the seat forward a little bit you can

07:05see that there's space for some passengers in the back too so it's really all about building the vehicle to

07:11your needs whether it's a pickup truck or an suv or somewhere in between you will be able to change

07:15that at any given time depending on what you needed to do take fit with a grain of salt i'm six foot

07:21ten so you're probably going to fit in here a lot better than i do but it really just shows the

07:25versatility of this platform there are some now armrests with door bins installed along with some glass

07:30windows and a removable roof this is all about personalization and customization depending on your own

07:36needs and this is absolutely a platform for anyone to build out a small electric vehicle to serve

07:44exactly the function they need it to we've seen two configurations of the slate built in different

07:49forms but the company's also provided some renderings of ideas of how the truck can be built ranging from

07:55a stylish street truck to a work truck to an adventurous suv more of a street styled suv here we have

08:02an suv cap and a fastback cap to give the vehicle a different look here's another truck built for a

08:09small business owner and at the end here here's a sporty street style truck that's been lowered so it

08:15has a higher level of performance it's all just giving you ideas of how the slate can be built depending

08:20on your own dreams wishes and desires with this suv you've now seen the slate transform so you get an

08:26idea of the vast potential that this vehicle platform offers and you have a little bit of time to think

08:31about how you're going to configure your dream build as the company gears up to start production

08:35by the end of 2026. until then head to motortrend.com for the full story on the slate truck

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