The Slate Truck is an electric two-seater with 150 miles of range and no stereo. | Image: Slate Auto
Ask just about anybody, and they’ll tell you that new cars are too expensive. In the wake of tariffs shaking the auto industry and with the Trump administration pledging to kill the federal EV incentive, that situation isn’t looking to get better soon, especially for anyone wanting something battery-powered. Changing that overly spendy status quo is going to take something radical, and it’s hard to get more radical than what Slate Auto has planned.
Meet the Slate Truck, a sub-$20,000 (after federal incentives) electric vehicle that enters production next year. It only seats two yet has a bed big enough to hold a sheet of plywood. It only does 150 miles on a charge, only comes in gray, and the only way to listen to music while driving is if you bring along your phone and a Bluetooth speaker. It is the bare minimum of what a modern car can be, and yet it’s taken three years of development to get to this point.
But this is more than bargain-basement motoring. Slate is presenting its truck as minimalist design with DIY purpose, an attempt to not just go cheap but to create a new category of vehicle with a huge focus on personalization. That design also enables a low-cost approach to …
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There is a very good reason we have tried to put basically every type of audio system in a car at least once. Driving in silence all the time fuckin sucks donkey balls, and bring-your-own phone/ speaker is a garbage solution, even for a truck that’s barely more than a harbor freight special.
Otherwise, this is a pretty sick idea, and it might help solve some of the other more important problems the automotive industry has been having.
I’ve installed a very good audio system in my car for $200, there’s no way an extra $500 or so on top of the $20k was breaking the bank for consumers or the company. Really weird concession to make.
Honestly, $20k for something this barebones is reaaallly pushing it. The more I think about it, the more it feels like an $80 remaster of a 35 year old game with half the dlc missing. Maybe for $12-15k and a basic am/fm, and I’d be less irked.
I had the same primary objection lol, you can leave the thing with a very minimal radio + speakers and thereby leave room for the buyer to add stuff themselves. But including zero inbuilt stereo at all just makes for a big project to have a normal-feeling ride. Solid yes from me until that, and then a definite no.
Why can’t techbros just be normal? WHY YOU MUST DISRUPT EVERY TIME JUST BE NORMAL!!1
This is why China is winning.