The Slate Truck Can Become a Budget Defender SUV With Optional IKEA-Style Kit
The modular truck can also be converted into a sleeker Fastback or an open-air, doorless, Wrangler-type vehicle. The post The Slate Truck Can Become a Budget Defender SUV With Optional IKEA-Style Kit appeared first on The Drive.
The new Slate electric pickup aims to be everything to everybody, fiercely customizable—hence the name Slate, as in blank. This extends to the modular truck’s very bodystyle because the sub-$20K EV will be available with an SUV conversion kit that turns the two-seat pickup’s five-foot bed into an enclosed passenger-and-cargo area. And, get this—you can do it all yourself.
Described as a “flat-pack accessory,” the SUV Kit includes everything you’d need to turn your Slate pickup into a full-on, crashworthy, five-seat Slate SUV: a roll cage, airbags, and rear seat (singular, leading us to believe this is a one-piece, three-passenger bench). “Do it yourself or have it done for you,” reads the release. Can’t believe we really got IKEA-style DIY pickup trucks before GTA VI.
The company even sent over a single image of an open-air kitted Slate with the doors removed, Jeep Wrangler-style, although this kit was not mentioned at all in the written release.
To give you a visual, check out the blocky-roof Slate that almost makes it look like a Land Rover Defender, and how that compares with the slanty Fastback model.
Reportedly backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos, Slate will aim to pull off what Tesla, Ford, and countless other startups have so far failed to do: build a basic electric car that’s actually, honest-to-goodness Affordable. Said to cost less than $20,000 after incentives, the truck is decidedly barebones, featuring steelies, crank windows (!), simple three-knob climate control, and a phone mount in lieu of an infotainment screen.
While the base truck is said to start at less than 20 grand, it’s unclear how much the SUV Kit will cost.
Said to be made in the U.S., the Slate pickup is set to feature a single 201-horsepower, 195 lb-ft electric motor driving the rear wheels, a NACS port, and a 52.7-kWh battery targeting 150 miles of range. An optional 84.3-kWh battery is said to get 240 miles of range. It can charge at speeds up to 120 kW, getting from 20% to 80% in under 30 minutes with DC fast charging. Able to tow up to 1,000 pounds, the Slate gets from zero to 60 mph in eight seconds and tops out at 90 mph.
Got a tip or question for the author about the Slate SUV Kit? You can reach him here: chris.tsui@thedrive.com
The post The Slate Truck Can Become a Budget Defender SUV With Optional IKEA-Style Kit appeared first on The Drive.
