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A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

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Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#101

Post by LeifCarrotson »

bko wrote: post #53

This looks great. But isn't there a long history of new car companies over the last few decades that have an impressive car, take pre-orders and never deliver? Something about production hell?

Slate is financially backed by Bezos [1] and Eric Schmidt [2] so it's not like they're going to run out of money unless they choose to do so. And it's staffed by a bunch of Detroit automotive engineers, so it's not like they're going to be surprised to learn that building and selling automobiles is harder than launching a CRUD app or SAAS.

I do expect a steep price jump when they realize that all this customization (especially post-purchase) makes crash testing really difficult and expensive, $20k is not going to happen but hopefully it will be under $30k MSRP and under $40k with typical options, at least targeting a different market than Rivian.

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/08/inside-the-ev-startup-secr...

[2] https://www.fastcompany.com/91322801/bezos-backed-slate-auto...

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#102

Post by dylan604 »

connicpu wrote: post #51
swagasaurus-rex wrote: post #10

Very exciting! Electric vehicles have the ability to be very simple, much simpler than an ICE. Although electric can't be 100% analog, I miss the old days when a car has no software updates, no telemetry, no privacy issues, no mandatory subscription for features.

I don't mind too much if there's still microcontrollers in the car, but I'd really rather they didn't have internet connectivity. The only antenna should be for AM/FM radio.

AM is on its way out with EVs though. there's no reason that a car that has all of that internet connectivity cannot have the same features just without sending the telemetry. upgrades do not need to be OTA, and be upgraded through a USB or even bluetooth from a device. the only reason for it is that there's money to be made from that telemetry.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#104

Post by meonkeys »

This'll seem a like an odd question given the obvious bare-bones approach, but still: Is or could be instrumented for self-driving? I can't imagine us humans driving forever. Otherwise this looks like a dream truck to me. Easy DIY repair, electric, fewer distractions, meant for work not showing off.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#105

Post by ty6853 »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #94
ty6853 wrote: post #35

I love it. However I wonder about the overlap between people that need a truck and this particular truck. I have only owned trucks when I needed to go out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere with a payload, in places with poor access to electricity. If I need to go in bumfuck nowhere without payload then there is no need for the truck, and if I need a payload in the city it's just way way cheaper to have it delivered wh…

In my experience "bumfuck nowhere" has better access to electricity than the city. Every farmer has a welder plugged into a handy accessible high amperage socket.

Definitely depends. Most my neighbors in the country have 100 amp service and they are sucking that dry already now that they have heated water and electric HVAC. Many more run solar only since it can cost $30K+ for a half mile extension.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#106

Post by carlgreene »

Man this is so awesome. I do really think they need to consider the fold down bed sides like the kei trucks have.

The bed being plastic doesn’t give me much confidence either. The payload may be similar to a mini truck, but a mini truck’s metal bed will take a significant beating over plastic.

This is very, very close to what I want, but I worry that those two things may prevent me from actually pulling the trigger. While all of the modular features are cool and neat, I don’t really consider them very useful for what I would actually use this truck for.

The purpose of this seems to be a fleet or Personal utility truck, but I still feel like I would be leaning towards a used old Ford Ranger or similar.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#107

Post by cityofdelusion »

InitialBP wrote: post #79
ty6853 wrote: post #35

I love it. However I wonder about the overlap between people that need a truck and this particular truck. I have only owned trucks when I needed to go out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere with a payload, in places with poor access to electricity. If I need to go in bumfuck nowhere without payload then there is no need for the truck, and if I need a payload in the city it's just way way cheaper to have it delivered wh…

I think that you're looking at extremes exclusively when it comes to your assessment. I live in a "city" in WV and need my truck all the time to get to rural areas, but that doesn't mean that I don't have reasonable access to electricity. Furthermore delivery around my city really isn't affordable or available in a lot of cases. That being said, I really wish we had a small ICE truck in the USA, or an equivalent to t…

I bought a Maverick and it wasn't noticeably larger than my extended bed ranger, I actually feel like it is smaller, especially considering modern A pillars and such are very thick and rigid compared to the death trap of the old ranger.

I have had no issues moving construction materials with the Maverick. I've moved around 12ft boards and stacks of drywall. The only real difference I noticed is I can't lazily hang things off the tailgate, which tailgate latches aren't specced to do anyways.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#108

Post by ziddoap »

nimbius wrote: post #58

what is the point of this? a used car for 10k does more, costs less, and has a lower carbon footprint.

Customization, no previous owner that you have no idea how they took care of the vehicle, less chance of complications and expensive fixes, warranty, it's a new pickup that doesn't cost $50k+, etc.

Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

#110

Post by 9rx »

spiritplumber wrote: post #50

Electric cars make personalization so much easier, glad someone's doing this. And it's a pickup truck that is an actual pickup truck.

> that is an actual pickup truck.

Which is its ultimate downfall, unfortunately. It being an actual pickup truck means that for all practical purposes you will also need a car, with all the additional headaches of owning more wheels to go along with it, and at its price point plus the price of a car you may as well buy one car with some truck-like features (i.e. the pretend pickup trucks that have become so popular).

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