Slate sets $24,950 starting price for bare-bones electric pickup
Slate Auto’s stripped-down EV truck is headed for production in fall 2026, with preorders opening at a $24,950 base price.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
Slate Auto has put a starting price on its pared-back electric pickup, giving the EV startup a clearer test of whether buyers will trade features for a lower sticker price. The company’s truck will start at $24,950, The Verge reported, with production planned for autumn 2026 and deliveries expected to begin in late 2026.
Customers can place preorders with a $300 non-refundable deposit, according to The Verge. Slate says buyers who order within 30 days can secure a delivery date, while later preorders will be assigned later delivery windows.
The price lands above the original sub-$20,000 target Slate had discussed when federal EV incentives were still part of the calculation. The Verge reported that Slate later shifted to a mid-$20,000 range after the Trump administration moved to end the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.
A truck built around subtraction
Slate’s pitch is centered on removing equipment that has become common in new vehicles. The truck does not include a touchscreen, stereo or speakers, The Verge reported. Instead, it has a phone mount on the dashboard, and its windows use manual cranks.
The vehicle is a two-seat electric pickup with 150 miles of range, according to The Verge. It comes in gray, lacks paint in the conventional sense, and has a bed large enough to carry a sheet of plywood.
The truck is also much smaller than many pickups sold in the U.S. The Verge reported dimensions of 174.6 inches long, 70.6 inches wide and 69.3 inches tall, with an approximate curb weight of 3,602 pounds.
Slate plans to sell customization around that basic design. The Verge reported that customers can add 3D-printed accessories and choose from many colored wraps to change the truck’s appearance.
Factory and funding
Slate Auto emerged from a project called Re:Car inside Re:Build Manufacturing, which The Verge described as a domestic manufacturing effort backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The company’s low-feature design is also part of its manufacturing plan, aimed at keeping complexity and cost down.
The company will retrofit a 1.4 million-square-foot factory in Warsaw, Indiana, The Verge reported. Slate has said it plans to eventually produce 150,000 trucks a year at the site.
Slate also raised $650 million in a Series C funding round to support the truck program, The Verge reported in April. The round was led by TWG Global, headed by Guggenheim Partners founder and Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and financier Thomas Tull.
The Verge reported that Slate did not disclose its valuation in that funding round. Bloomberg reported the company was valued at $1.2 billion as of January 2025.
Early interest has been strong, though reservations are not the same as sales. TechCrunch reported in May 2025 that Slate had passed 100,000 reservations after about two weeks, with a $50 fully refundable reservation fee at that stage.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.