Meet the Slate Truck: A $20K, 2-Door Electric Pickup With Crank Windows and No Touchscreen

Five years ago, Ford promised America its cheapest new offering: a pickup truck under $20,000. And not just any pickup, but a hybrid. We scoffed, but then it happened. Unfortunately for Ford, it happened at the worst possible time, and today it’ll cost you 33% more to get the same basic pickup without the fancy hybrid powertrain. Given that, you can imagine our skepticism for Slate—the new EV startup supposedly backed by Jeff Bezos—and its Truck. That’s literally the model name—”Truck”—and it’s a modular, all-electric pickup that the company intends to sell for less than $20,000 after federal incentives.

Slate’s ambition doesn’t end there. Not only is it aiming to launch what would become one of the cheapest vehicles on the market, but it’s also claiming that this truck will incorporate a degree of modularity that is unheard of in the modern auto industry. Effectively, Slate intends to let its customers convert the pickup to an SUV with what amounts to an accessory kit that includes the rear bench seat, a roll cage, and plug-and-play airbags. Slate says the installation can be DIYed (the jury’s out on how easily), but you can also have the dealer do it for you. You can just hear NHTSA’s crash test gurus sweating.

Setting aside all of that, Slate seems to be honing in on the simple truck formula that so many of us claim to want. While it doesn’t offer a full eight-foot bed, it is exclusively available in a single-cab configuration with just one box size. At 60 inches deep and 42.9 inches wide, this pickup won’t even fit a 4×4 post laid down, but it’s no worse off in this regard than the Maverick, which offers a shorter bed despite being 15 inches longer. (That crew cab eats up a lot of space.) Plus, this pickup also has a frunk.

It’s going to be cheap, electric, and customizable—a legitimately compelling combination—so what’s the catch? Well, it’s going to be basic. We’re talking make-a-Maverick-look-fancy basic. Infotainment? Sorry, this is a B.Y.O. situation. Slate provides a universal mount and a USB power port, but it’s up to you to provide the device. The setup can supposedly accommodate anything from a smartphone to a dedicated tablet, if that’s what you want.

That simplicity will extend to its powertrain. The standard setup will comprise a 150-kW motor powering the rear axle, with energy being stored in a 52.7-kWh battery pack. If that sounds small, that’s because it is; projected range for the base model is just 150 miles. An available accessory battery pack will extend that range estimate to 240 miles, but we suspect it’ll come at a penalty to the truck’s otherwise impressive specs.

For starters, it’s pretty lightweight in RWD guise, packing just 3,602 pounds. The Truck offers 1,433 pounds of payload capacity and 1,000 pounds of towing. The former is respectable, but the latter is a bit uninspiring. Slate is aiming for 201 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque for the RWD model, which could easily tow significantly more weight, suggesting that the limitation here is imposed by either the vehicle’s frame or the way its hitch receiver is attached.

It may not tow a ton, but 201 hp is enough to get the Slate to 60 mph in eight seconds flat, on the way to a top speed of 90 mph. It should feel pretty good at that speed too, thanks to its MacPherson strut front suspension. The truck will be able to do 3.6-kW Level 1 AC charging, 11-kW Level 2 AC charging, and 120-kW Level 3 DC fast charging. A Level 2 charger will top the standard battery off from 20%-100% in five hours while a Level 3 setup will replenish from 20%-80% in under 30 minutes.

So, is the market there for a truly electric pickup truck? We’re optimistic, but there’s a caveat here that could threaten Slate’s positioning: The company is relying on the $7,500 federal EV tax credit sticking around to hit that sub-$20,000 base price. There’s no way to predict if it will, but rumors leading up to Slate’s reveal suggested the pickup could cost $25,000 before incentives. If Slate can hit that target, then it might be able to weather a loss of federal support. Either way, we do know this for sure: Nobody’s tried to sell anything quite like this before.

Deliveries are planned to start around late 2026, and Slate is now accepting refundable $50 deposits for vehicles through its website.

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