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Slate Auto’s sub-$30,000 EV pickup is due next year
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2025
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I'm really curious what the different add-ons will end up costing. The long range with a bed cover and speakers could be my next car.
The Slate, R2/R3, and Telo are all intriguing to me for different reasons, but the minimalism of the Slate is definitely a draw.
I want a truck as a truck. I don't need power windows, leather seats, or other luxury features. I need something I can jump in with muddy shoes, greasy clothes from whatever machine I was working on, and just go. The limited tow capacity (1000lbs - there are compact cars that can do that!).
I prefer driving small cars, there is no way a truck can handle as well as a car, there are too many compromises needed to be a truck. However a truck is often what I need for the real world and this is just another small car on a truck body giving the worst of both worlds.
WRT tow/haul capacity, you need to think of it along the same lines as the mini trucks that existed up until the 1990s. Yes, those capacities are still lower than, say, a 1992 Hilux, but the (short bed single cab 2WD) Hilux is ~900 lbs lighter than a base Slate. Payload capacity on the Slate is still just a couple hundred pounds less than that base Hilux. I'd bet that towing is more limited on the Slate because of it's "not really body on frame" construction, where the Hliux was traditional full frame.
The 1992 Hilux has 3x the towing capacity. Other small pickups of the era had even more capacity.