The biggest car news and reviews, no BS. Slate's electric truck offers affordability and customization, but the price hike challenges its value proposition. When it was originally announced last year, Slate said their new truck would be priced in the low $20,000s. At the time, federal incentives would apply, making the final price of the truck below $20,000. Now, federal incentives have been axed and the new automaker has had to pivot.
It seemed plausible way back in April 2025 that car buyers would be drawn to a simple, small, inexpensive truck that bragged about its customization opportunities and its ease of ownership. Indeed, Slate reminded us recently that they received 180,000 reservations for the truck, and they still emphasize the necessity of an affordable vehicle option for consumers.
View Price on AmazonBut what happens now that the basic, Blank Slate Truck will cost $24,950 to start (before an unknown destination fee) with no federal tax credit to help with pricing? Slate is optimistic and shared that after their web portal opened yesterday morning to accept pre-orders they immediately received 10,000 of them (remember, the pre-order designation requires a $300 deposit). Does this mean that all potential buyers are undeterred? Not necessarily, but there are 10,000 people who are willing to explore a future with the Slate Truck.
And here is your friendly reminder that certain states and localities are still offering incentives. Some states offer actual tax credits (though most of the time buyers need to qualify by not making more than a certain amount of money) and many incentives amount to discounted charging for a period of time or discounts for installing a home charger. It’s important to note that a buyer isn’t going to get more money back beyond their tax burden. And frankly, the majority of those incentives won’t come close to the $7,500 maximum tax credit Uncle Sam was doling out until last fall. So doing your homework may pay, but not very much. Slate has a link on its website you can click on to find your state’s available incentives.
The key issue here is not whether the Slate Truck is affordable, it is. The Truck is still one of the least-expensive new vehicles out there. But the rub is that the Truck is fairly bare-bones. What in 2025 seemed like an appealing value option may now seem less like a value. And It’s important to also discuss the top end of the spending.
The Slate Truck has a lot of positive attributes, to be sure. One is that you can drive this truck in an almost completely disconnected way. There are no telematics in the vehicle itself. The Slate Truck relies on its app to deliver information back to Slate. It’s not a natively connected vehicle, it only collects data it needs to refine driving characteristics and improve the vehicle over time, and collects the information through the Slate app. People looking to get a break from Big Brother may be up for spending more money to get that privacy, though who knows what the future will hold.
Source: thedrive.com
