Will Slate Auto Out Ford Ford?

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Today I want to talk about Slate Auto. If you’re unfamiliar with the company, you’re not alone. It’s been working in secret for several years now and is funded — in part — by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Despite all the other news happening, I find this incredibly interesting, and if the company can deliver on the promise, it’ll do something nobody else has managed to do in the United States yet: make a sub-$30,000 EV.

To get caught up on Slate, you should check out the TechCrunch article which is well-researched and has all the receipts. Since its publication, I have learned through several social networks that the company is having an event before the end of the month going live, so this reporting isn’t just a guess. It’s the real deal.

With offices right now in the Detroit area and the Los Angeles area, the company has been picking up tons of auto industry veterans. It’s gone on several hiring sprees, and the company is predicted to have several hundred jobs already filled. When it comes to producing the vehicle, a factory in or around Indianapolis, Indiana, is where it’ll happen. That would put it in an interesting spot, especially with battery producers utilizing the region to build factories.

Here are the topline details:

• What is it? A compact, regular single-cab, electric pickup truck.

• How much will it cost? It’s projected to start at $25,000 USD.

• When will it be available? As soon as late next year, 2026.

Any $25,000 electric vehicle would be a first for the United States. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has talked about delivering a vehicle of that price for quite some time now, but has been unable to deliver. There is talk about Hyundai Motor Group having an offering at some point, but I haven’t seen anything substantial yet. This would be, as the kids say, “an big deal.”

How will it be able to afford to make a vehicle that cheap? Well, my theory is that Jeff Bezos knows a thing or two about logistics and working with suppliers. In much the same way that Tim Apple (I mean Tim Cook) was one of the best things to happen to Apple (even before becoming CEO), I think Bezos and company can figure out how to secure the components as cheaply as possible.

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Additionally, reporting suggests that the company is going to lean heavily on the maker mindset and have tons of accessories and apparel — which all have significantly higher margins — to help offset any losses on the truck itself.

Also, being an affordable small truck might just be what Amazon is looking for in helping build out its fleet of logistics options. The Rivian RDV is a great van, but it’s not cheap. Not everything can be done with a van, either, so I’d expect Amazon to be one of the first customers for this offering.

I also expect some development costs to be taken care of. I’d be willing to bet that it’ll run some variation of the Rivian software stack, as it’s ready to go now and being quickly rolled out in Rivian, Volkswagen, and Scout vehicles. I’d also expect it to lean heavily on Amazon Alexa and be a personal data collection nightmare. But with built-in Google already on a ton of new cars, the idea of personal privacy is an afterthought with auto manufacturers. Why? Because that data is worth money.

I think it’s also wise to start with a small pickup truck instead of a small crossover. Being a small truck, the Total Addressable Market (TAM) is smaller than that of a small family car. Trust me, the volume would be there to make this worthwhile, just it won’t be out of control right out of the gate, meaning Slate Auto has time to work out any kinks and get its manufacturing sorted.

The commercial uses are huge. Being a regular-cab design, it’ll be more appealing to contractors, small businesses, auto parts stores, and the like than the Ford Maverick because many of those businesses don’t need the extra seats. Lots of those owners also don’t need a ton of range since they work around town. There’ll be situations that don’t make sense, of course, but going on data that Ford uses for its Ford Pro products, a hundred-ish miles of range would be more than enough for those consumers in the real world, where we all live.

It’ll have strong consumer demand, as well. People do miss trucks like the S10 and the Ranger (the 2011 and older one), and this would help scratch that itch. It’ll be limited some by cab size, but that built-in throttling of demand is smart, because people are going to want this regardless and you can’t have people breaking down the doors on a first generation product.

The key thing to look at here is the Ford Maverick, though. When it first went on sale, the base XL trim — a hybrid, mind you — started at under $20,000 before delivery charges. Ford couldn’t keep them on the lots. Prices have gone up, but demand for a compact, affordable vehicle — of any type — is there, and Ford is selling Mavericks to customers from every walk of life.

Now a competitor comes along with huge financial backing and a built-in customer base at the start, takes the Maverick formula, makes it an EV and drops the price. Slate Auto isn’t going to take a big chunk of Ford’s business, but I’m of the belief that they better pay attention. They can’t afford to let hubris blinders prevent them from viewing this startup as a potential competitor.

It’s also important to note that Ford is still saying it’ll have a midsize-type electric pickup truck in 2027.

Will Slate Auto be able to sell in the current climate? When the company first started getting things sorted, Donald Trump wasn’t president of the United States. Since Trump assumed power, he’s made it clear that things like climate change aren’t only hoaxes but a scam against the American people. Federal support for incentives, infrastructure rollout, and just making the world a generally better place are no longer a thing. To hit that $25,000 price target, Slate Auto likely won’t have any federal tax credit to help buyers get there, so it’ll have to do it on its own.

The company is also expected to not make its own battery packs, which will be fine if companies make their timeline targets for opening battery plants in the United States. But tariffs and an unpredictable trade situation can only complicate Slate Auto’s plans to source what it needs to build these EVs.

Realistically, you should always add a quarter or two to manufacturing estimates for a new product or new model line, even if that timeline is from an established automaker. That means that Ford’s electric offering could be coming out around the same time as Slate Auto’s truck hits the streets. This could also be around the time that Scout’s trucks also roll out, which targets a different type of customer but is still worthy of note.

If Bezos and company can deliver a sub-$30,000 electric pickup truck with a decent amount of range (it doesn’t need to be 300 miles, but 200 would be nice), it could have a very successful product on its hands, even if the form factor isn’t appealing to the largest segment of automotive buyers; the crossover.

We should know more in the coming weeks.

Do you work for Slate Automotive or have information on the company and its plans and want to talk? You can reach me on Signal, through ProtonMail, or via a Tor network secure dropbox. You can click here for more information. We can speak off-the-record. I also promise to not add you to a Top Secret war planning group. Unless you’re into that.