Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 1001 posts

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

#41

Post by brad0 »

I put down $50 to reserve one. I grew up with an old car that I tinkered with endlessly. Mostly because it was simple enough for me to get my head around! This car reminds me of that time.

I'm hoping that they go with a lot of "off-the-shelf" electronics and mechanical parts. Standards are a blessing.

It feels like they're going with a different business model to traditional car manufacturers. AFAIK most manufacturers make a lot of their money via servicing. I'd love to take a look at what their long-term business strategy is.

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

#43

Post by taylodl »

I LOVE it! THIS is the kind of truck I'd be looking at to replace my 1998 Ford Ranger.

Here is what could be potential deal-breakers:

- Lack of a mobile app. Minimalist design is great, but I still want an app to manage charging and be alerted to any vehicle issues.

- Lack of good charge management and battery conditioning. Either that, or a cheap and easy to replace battery pack. I'd really like both!

- Comparable hauling and towing capacity to the 1998 Ford Ranger. Those numbers aren't exactly impressive, but I do use the truck as a truck, and I occasionally need the hauling capacity (weight).

- Bucket seats. I need a bench seat so I can take my wife and dog. Think weekend glamping trips. Picture 8 shows a bucket seat. It doesn't look like that would work.

If anyone from Slate is reading this, this is how I'm looking at this truck. FYI, I'll be comparing this to the Ford Maverick.

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

#45

Post by _aavaa_ »

Invictus0 wrote: post #31

If Slate succeeds, it would be the total inversion of Tesla's original masterplan strategy of starting with a supercar and then slowly working their way down the value chain. And what's really astonishing is that, not only is this the cheapest electric car in the country, it's one of the cheapest new cars in the country, period. https://www.cars.com/articles/here-are-the-10-cheapest-new-c...

Slate’s plan is only possible because they have the benefit of almost 2 decades of advancements (read incredible price drop) in batteries and EV related components.

Exact same car 2 decades ago would have cost a hell of a lot more. At which point the lack of bells and whistles would have been a huge problem.

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

#47

Post by neural_thing »

ryandrake wrote: post #38
dogline wrote: post #11

It's a $20k, street-legal, EV modding platform. Sounds like you can mount your own infotainment system. Just an electric motor, battery, and chassis, and the rest is up to you. Isn't this what we've been asking for?

Yea, it's pretty exciting. I'd like to see how much more they could strip out to reduce the price and still have a viable commercial product. I guess I'm living firmly in the past, but $20K still seems to be a high price for a car. Then again, I haven't bought a car new since the 90s, so I'm probably just an old fart who hasn't grokked what things cost today. I still remember the day when the base-model Corolla start…

According to this, there is only one new car model of any kind selling for under $20K in the US these days

https://www.carfax.com/rankings/cheapest-cars

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

#48

Post by linkregister »

seanalltogether wrote: post #24

Hand crank windows is a weird choice, are the locks manual as well?

In a 2-door vehicle, you can just lean over and roll up the window and toggle the lock on the other door. If you've ever had an old car then you'll know the annoyance of a broken electrical motor.

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

#49

Post by iamben »

Absolutely love this. Love brands taking the SLC (simple, lovable, complete: https://longform.asmartbear.com/slc/) approach - minimalism is an absolute delight in a world where everything is crammed with unnecessary/unused feature bloat.

(That said, I'd love a stereo - even if it was just a built in bluetooth speaker/aux-in, which feels like a perfect compromise!)

Post reply on HN