Range
- Small battery range: 240km
- Big battery range: 385km
Motor
- Motor: Single motor, rear wheel drive
- Power: 150kW
- Torque: 264Nm
- 0-100km: 8s
- Top speed: 145km/h
Dimensions
- Bed length: 1.5m
- Vehicle length: 4.4m
- Vehicle height: 1.8m
- Vehicle width: 1.8m
Comparison
- 2025 Kia Niro length: 4.4m
- 2025 Ford Maverick length: 5.1m
- 1985 Toyota Pickup/Hilux length: 4.7m
Weights
- Curb weight 1634kg
- Max payload 650kg
- Max towing 454kg
Charging
- Port: NACS
- Onboard charger: 11kW
- Level 1 AC, 3.6kw, 20-100%: 11h
- Level 2 AC, 11kW, 20-100%: under 5h
- Level 3 DC, 120kW, 20-80%: under 30m
Safety
- Traction Control
- Electronic Stability Control
- Forward Collision Warning
- Automatic Emergency Braking
- 2-stage Driver/Passenger Airbags
- Full Length Side Curtain Airbags (Truck 2) (SUV 4)
- Seat Side Airbags (2)
- Backup Camera
- Pedestrian Identification
- Auto High Beam
More info
Aside from being backed by Bezos, this seems like Lemmy the car. Under 20K, an EV, no stupid touch screen, designed to be repaired and modded, and even crank windows.
I bet the catch, aside from Bezos, is the range or charge speed.
It will need to have a screen to comply with safety standards. A back up camera is mandatory.
The Citroen Ami is a “cycle car” under French law and doesn’t have to meet the same standards.
I don’t think that it has a cell modem, either, because it sounds like it eschews a baked-in entertainment computer:
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a64564869/2027-slate-truck-revealed/
Honestly, if you took my last year of comments complaining about privacy-infringing cars and those complaining about changes to what a truck is, this does kind of look to be addressing both. Gotta see what the actual production vehicle is like in real life, of course, but…
https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/advice/mini-truckin-returns-slate-unveils-old-school-style-affordable-electric-pickup
Yeah, like the “inexpensive, no-frills utility vehicle” that pickups originally were.
100% in agreement with all your points. Simplicity and modular! Look how well the original mustang did, because you could actually get what you wanted. That has disappeared completely now
I mean, I get they need to cut costs, but come on… a damn radio wouldnt have killed them
You can get them, but I kind of like the idea of just a Bluetooth third-party speaker
Didn’t some Scions come with no radio? The idea being they were targeted at younger folks who were more likely to customize their stereo, so “no stereo, but all the speaker grilles and mount points for one” is a bit like the “no operating system -$211” option on a Laptop. Happy Linux user noises.
Honestly, as long as it’s easily DIY upgradable (accessible speaker mounting locations, standard DIN panels, etc) I am all for this. Most OEM audio systems are stupidly overpriced and suck complete donkey balls compared to what you can get for a few hundred bucks at Crutchfield and install in an afternoon.
For the last 20 years or so, most factory audio systems are so integrated into the rest of the electronics that they can be an absolute nightmare to upgrade unless you are a pro, which means you get the worst of both worlds: garbage audio, AND a steep upgrade path.
The Citroen AMI doesn’t have speakers either, it comes with a Bluetooth speaker instead, which you can use outside the car. It makes sense if you just think of the entertainment stuff as something that shouldn’t be part of the car and can easily be upgraded/replaced down the line.
Agreed. It’s a car. I have an entertainment system at home and great speakers for listening. Cars suck for actual listening quality anyways.
You spent hours in that thing and phone speakers are not made to be louder than traffic and drive noises, especially not for so long. Also a radio offers traffic and accident news from local stations. And if they cheap out on speakers I am quite sure they also don’t offer USB ports to charge the phone you run in lieu of a build in system
I definitely read an article somewhere where it says that they provide USB power for the tablet/phone.
kagis
This article has it:
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a64580484/slate-truck-ev-pickup-truck-suv/
EDIT: I think that a better criticism is that this thing is just a prototype, still almost two years away from mass production, assuming everything goes right for them. Like, they could have any number of things go wrong (the Trump tariff situation, for one…hard to have any idea where things will be). It could be that they crash into problems trying to get mass production going. It could be that they can’t hit their target price point.
Speakers are optional. I built one on their site. Speakers are available.
They shouldn’t be an upgrade. Basic speakers are like 50 bucks, for an item that costs 20k, thats a drop in the bucket
You can buy a mid-range loudspeaker for like $5 at an electronics store.
This vehicle is clearly meant as an errand truck, not a roadtripper. It wasn’t that long ago when base model work trucks didn’t have a radio or speakers installed.
Quit getting pissy over something that doesn’t even exist yet.
So it’s not coming to Europe then.
Is there a requirement for big brother data tracking over there?
Cars must be able to autonomously call emergency services. You don’t need a SIM for that, or for that matter have the modem switched on all the time.
…and that system is only activated in case of an accident. The spec explicitly states that there is no continuous tracking of vehicle position or other parameters.
I’m from the states, but what’s stopping one from removing the modem or snipping the antenna?
Why would you?
Possibly, technical inspections. I’m not sure whether it’s a requirement for cars to be street legal or just a requirement for cars to be sold on the market. The regulation only mentions that it’s about type approval but it’s not like modifying a car automatically nullifies its type approval.
Certainly would be hard to argue for authorities that snipping the eCall would endanger others, similar situation as with seat belts I don’t think legislation is unified there.
No but the emergency assistant system is required, and for that you need a cell modem.
As long as it gets 50+ miles range reliably in winter, it’s perfect as a commuter/weekend project truck. I generally look for 150 miles range for this, since winter can cut effective range in half. I don’t care about charge speed since I’ll just plug it in at night.
Good news, its range is 150 miles.
I mean Bezos backed Rivian too. Or Amazon did, anyway.
No, the catch is that it isn’t real.
@ me when it’s rolling off the production line.
Until then…
I love this truck. I want one. It’s just that it’s a VC pump and dump.
Yeah they said they’re hoping to be producing them by 2026. So likely won’t be available till 2027/28
Until then…
Nothing they say exists until it exists
Standard Range (52.7 kWh) (est.): 150 miles
seems like but manageable for most people
That’s not 150 miles of actual driving range, it’s more like 75-100miles of actual range.
It’s 150 miles of rated range, presumably according to the EPA standard, just like every other EV is rated. The EPA standards have recently been updated to reflect more accurately.
Yes, and yet it is still so very far from reality when it comes to BEVs. It’s fine when comparing cars because it’s a well defined standard, but it’s terrible at indicating actual range especially if you don’t live in dry warm climate.
It’s really not. You can’t account for climate with a single number. That’s why standards exist.
They do say that they also offer a larger battery pack with a 240 mi range, but yeah, even so, it’s not gonna be a great vehicle for long-distance highway travel compared to a current ICE vehicle. Fine for a commuter, though.
My car doesn’t even go >200mi but I’ve driven it on multi-thousand mile trips with no problem.
Don’t buy a truck if you’re just a daily commuter, that’s just plain dumb. Get a BEV with much better efficiency and a tow hitch for the occasional needs.
Point me to an electric sedan I can buy for $20k and I will.
A GWM Ora is about the equivalent of US$20K in Australia (no subsidies). So its doable.
A bacon egg vehicle?
Battery Electric Vehicle
But…it has a battery? What makes the difference?
This truck is also a BEV, didn’t say it wasn’t. I’m saying go buy a BEV that’s not a truck (and they all have better efficiency than trucks) that has a tow hitch instead of this if you’re just commuting.
The truck form is just one of the body options for it. I mean, you can’t get it in sedan form, but the website configurator thing has options for small SUV and fastback.
All are tall models with shit efficiency.
I do have a concern about that; a lot of pickup truck missions are go-and-get-it. The best lumber yard in my area just happens to be about 75 miles away. Not a problem for my S10, right on the cusp of what this thing can do.
I very much doubt their target market is people commuting to the office.
I want it as a commuter because it’s cheap and can be used as a weekend project truck. The second part isn’t necessary, but it’s nice to not need to rent one.
well its less it doesnt have a touch screen, the touch screen is an optional purchase.
the range iirc in some overview is 2 options, one was i think 150mi, the other was 240mi
No, there is no optional touch screen. The one featured in their media is a phone/iPad running the Slate app.
From my other link, I don’t think that the touch screen is an optional purchase. I don’t think that they’re selling any entertainment computer to have a screen on. It says that they come standard with a smartphone mounting point or optionally with a tablet mounting point. But the car computer is bring-your-own, and not built into the car. Which…is what I’ve wanted, because computers age out a lot more quickly than cars do.
I assume that there’ll be an OBD-II slot that one can hook up to to feed data about the car to the phone/tablet. There’s software that can make use of that. Dunno if there’s any other data typically exposed to car computers other than what that provides.
China is already making better cars for way less, but I guess the good thing for them is that they won’t sell to the US.