This Tesla Competitor Just Unveiled a $20,000 Electric Pickup
This Jeff Bezos-backed EV startup is making an electric truck with roll-down windows and an approachable price tag...
Everyone,
I’m on a bunch of EV news groups, and usually inundated with press releases about high-performance, high-price Electric Vehicles. But this one is different. It’s a very basic pickup truck that’s supposed to hit the streets at around $20,000 with incentives.
From INC. Magazine
Read the full article on INC. HERE
Slate’s first truck is a two-seater with steel wheels, an HVAC system, and 1,400 pounds of payload in the bed. A five-seat SUV conversion kit is an option. It’s rear-wheel drive and expected to get 150 miles on one charge; an accessory battery pack boosts that range to 240 miles. It charges up with a Tesla Supercharger-style NACS port to 80 percent in about 30 minutes or can be recharged overnight on a household outlet.
The best feature of all may be the price tag, which Slate says will be under $20,000 for a base model after current federal incentives.
Back to me…
You’ll be able to install or remove all kinds of options like the SUV kit yourself, plus there will be a “wrap” available for around $500 to change its color. Sort of like changing the case on your cell phone.
What’s it good for?
Of course, the Slate truck isn’t built for towing an RV trailer. But I pondered that it might qualify as aTOAD if it could be towed 4-wheels down. So I contacted Slate over the weekend and they confirmed that it would be capable of flat towing. But they couldn’t answer if there would be a way to use its regenerative braking to self-charge the battery while it was being towed to a campground behind a motorhome.
Plus I asked if it would have an optional TOAD mode and tow bar, and a way to automatically interface with the 7-way trailer connector on the tow vehicle for turn-signals and brake control, plus brake-away emergency brakes. But they didn’t have any information yet.
Read more on the Slate website HERE.
I’ll try to get an interview with Slate engineering/marketing so I can ask more TOAD related or daily-driver questions. Please leave any questions you would like me to ask them in the comments below.
Let’s play safe out there… Mike
Curb weight is 3,602 lb (1.634 kg), max payload is 1,433 lb (650 kg), and towing capacity is rated at 1,000 lb (453.6 kg)
More info at https://newatlas.com/automotive/slate-auto-ev-pickup/
Mike, I will be following this subject closely. Last year I spent $40,000 on a Chevy Equinox to tow 4 down and it has lived in the shop since purchase do to electronic issues. I now believe most "new" vehicles are too electronic heavy with electronic transmissions, shifting, autostart/stop, etc. A simpler rearwheel drive vehicle (EV , Hybrid or ICE) as a toad option is greatly needed.