American electric-vehicle startup founded in 2022 and backed by investors including Jeff Bezos. Its first product is the Slate Truck, a sub-$25,000 modular electric pickup that converts into an SUV, built around radical simplicity and customer customization.
American startup Slate added five Crayola-branded wraps for its electric pickup and SUV, sold as dealer-installed accessories rather than factory paint. The Blank Slate concept - an unpainted grey base built for post-purchase personalization - stays intact.
Slate's $24,950 electric pickup is real: a two-seater with 205 miles of range, unpainted body panels, hand-crank windows and no infotainment screen. The options catalogue is where the money goes, and a fully loaded build has been configured past $46,000. Here is the price ladder.
Slate Auto has confirmed it will not sell its sub-$25,000 electric pickup or SUV conversion in Canada. The company has not given an official reason, but a 25% retaliatory tariff on US-built cars would push the truck's Canadian price to roughly $44,500 CAD ($31,100 equivalent before conversion), undercutting the model's entire value pitch.
Slate Auto is an American electric-vehicle startup founded in 2022 and backed by a group of investors that includes Jeff Bezos. After developing in relative quiet, it emerged with a single, deliberately contrarian idea: instead of chasing range, power and ever-larger touchscreens, build the most affordable electric vehicle possible and let owners add what they actually want.
That idea takes physical form in the Slate Truck, the company’s first product. It is a two-seat electric pickup priced from $24,950 that can be converted into a five-seat SUV with bolt-on kits. The body panels are molded from unpainted grey composite, removing the paint shop from the factory, and the cabin drops the central screen and standard audio in favour of physical controls and a phone mount.
Slate is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, plans to build in Indiana and Michigan, and sells directly to customers rather than through franchised dealers. Deliveries of the Truck are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026.
