Will believe it when I see it unfortunately looks like very early stages
A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
621–630 of 1001 posts
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#622For anyone curious, if you made a similarly sized gas-powered pickup with an i4 engine, it would be penalized more than a full-sized pickup for being too fuel inefficient, despite likely getting much better mileage than an F-150 because, since 2011, bigger cars are held to a lesser standard by CAFE[1]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy...
Automotive industry is one of the biggest scams on planet earth. One of my favorite cases recently is how Suzuki Jimny is banned in Europe and US because of emission standards allegedly, so the little Jimny is emitting 146g/km but somehow there is no problem to buy a G-Class that is emitting 358g/km oh and surprise surprise Mercedes are going to release a smaller more affordable G-Class [1].
[1] - https://www.motortrend.com/news/2026-mercedes-benz-baby-g-wa...
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#623Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even finer print: the $7,500 federal incentive is a tax rebate. If you don't have a $7,500 tax liability, you won't get the full amount. (this also applies if you transfer the credit to the dealer at point of sale). I mean, money is fungible and all, but your particular tax dollars aren't going to people who buy EVs, they are just paying less in taxes.
>this also applies if you transfer the credit to the dealer at point of sale No, it does not. See Q4 at the following link: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/topic-h-frequently-asked-questi...
My understanding is that the dealer has to have the tax liability. IANATL, YMMV.
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#624The fact that it’s so bare bones (no stereo, etc. unless you put one in) makes me really hope that it doesn’t phone home with a firehose of telemetry like pretty much every other new car. If so, they’ve got my interest
I've seen that it doesn't have the ability to phone home on it's own but that OTA updates and other connectivity relies on you using their optional phone app and your phones internet connection.
That's the killer feature for me, if this actually comes out the after market mods are going to be amazing, having a test bed for creating your own self driving rigs is going to be a complete game changer.
It's so hackable (in a good way) that this platform could foster a whole knew segment of the population getting into EV manufacturing and dramatically increase the talent pool the same way the VW beetle and the Lisa Computer did, hobbyist hackers are the greatest pool for technical founders.
Not to mention replacing the exterior panels with custom displays and other amazing "Art Car" opportunities.
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#625I 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…
The Maverick is also kind of dumb because of the choice to do unibody instead of body on frame. I'm sure there's some weight savings or whatever, but at least on a body on frame truck, I can opt to change the bed out even on a short bed truck and add a flatbed when it makes sense. When someone using it like a truck inevitably beer cans the bed, they're going to be really sad that it's not a relatively quick and simple thing to fix (by just going and getting another bed).
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#626I 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…
Yes. I want this truck...but with a 4 cylinder ice engine. Nothing fancy. No needed stereo or seat warmers or complicated anything. I want a small, simple, and affordable truck with good reliability. Before anyone asks, I can't drive the tiny Japanese trucks in my state. They are cool, but look too small when people are driving what are essentially container ships with wheels these days.
Kind of sounds like the Toyota IMV, but we'll probably never see that truck ever in the US, unfortunately.
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#627Earlier quoted context omitted.
feature, not a bug, they want you to buy their $4000 BOSE upgrade which is actually $500 of equipment.
Do you have any proof or even a hint of a reason that this will be the case? Or is this just nonsense? Their FAQs even state: > Built-in infotainment systems raise a car’s price, and they become outdated quickly and have high failure rates. It seems unlikely that a company saying this will throw in a $4,000 infotainment system in a $20,000 vehicle.
I read this as the parent complaining about other car manufacturers selling you crappy default stereos so that you'll upgrade, not that Slate is excluding a stereo on this truck to upsell you.
In fact, I would be rather surprised if you could buy $4,000 worth of stereo equipment for this car, given their promo materials seem to include a $100 bluetooth speaker below an iPhone.
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#628The issue with this is they claim the cost savings came from not having a screen and other silly features, but that’s not where money is spent. The real cost savings came a tiny, 150 mile battery. It could easily be <100 miles loaded up after a few years of use, which means there are very few use cases for this truck, and it certainly doesn’t make sense without the tax credit. Cool idea, but there’s no getting around…
There are plenty of use cases for a ~100 mile truck.
Right, but it needs to be competitive with ICE cars that travel several hundred miles per tank and fill up in minutes. Literally 0 of my friends have been willing to transition to electric due primarily to range anxiety, and that's for vehicles that achieve over 200 miles per charge. I drive an EV and even I would simply never, ever consider this vehicle based on the range.
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#629Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Yes, definitely. It being a 2 seater is kind of a deal breaker for families. What you need is not a pickup truck. Catering to families means expensive bells and whistles, like entertainment systems, etc. > Back in the day, we'd stuff 3 kids between two adults, but these days the Safety People would have a heart attack just thinking about that. Rightfully so. Back in the day we did so many things we shouldn't have,…
> Catering to families means expensive bells and whistles, like entertainment systems, etc. It absolutely does NOT mean those things. Cars didn't have entertainment systems for nearly a century and families did just fine. My entertainment system was the window. Observe the world, not just whatever AI-generated garbage some algorithm pushes to a small screen 8-10 inches away from your eyes.
I respect the “old person yelling at clouds” disclaimer lmao.
Honestly, I got bummed when I found out this was an electric vehicle, I wish there wasn’t a chance for my vehicle to get bricked through an over-the-air update, and I personally would like to have a basic stereo with an aux input just so I can listen to FM stations or Spotify while I haul a bunch of DIY materials around without having to install my own speakers.
My friend keeps telling me to get a truck for my next vehicle, and while this truck doesn’t make the cut for me, hopefully future trucks made either by Slate Auto or other manufacturers inspired by them will add juuuust the right amount of creature comforts to win me over.
Re: A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen
#630I 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 h…
> - 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. Noooooooooo! No apps, please ! Finally a car not tethered to and dependent on your phone, and we already have our first request to app-ify it! EDIT: Ughhh, according to the video that another user posted, it looks like there's an app, and yes, "updates" go through it :( > - Lack of go…
> - Lack of good charge management and battery conditioning.
Why should it lack that? That's a tiny piece of software in the charge controller, which on this vehicle ought to be some tiny microcontroller.