The $24,950 Slate Truck Is About to Enter Production. Here's Everything We Know
The Bezos-backed pickup costs $26,400 with destination and promises 205 miles of range. Its tire supplier says production starts this month. Here's what's confirmed, and what isn't.
The Slate Truck is the cheapest new pickup on sale in America on paper: $24,950 before a $1,450 destination charge, for a two-seat electric truck with crank windows, no paint, and no touchscreen. The bigger news is timing. Slate itself still says only that first deliveries are planned for late 2026, but its tire supplier, Kenda, says the truck enters production this month.
What Slate hasn't published yet matters just as much: no official EPA range, no crash-test results, and no production-start announcement in its own name. Here's what is confirmed, who is saying it, and how the Slate fits into our electric pickup buying guide.
What the Slate Truck is
Slate Auto is a Michigan-based startup founded in 2022 and backed by Jeff Bezos and TWG Global, the investment firm run by Mark Walter and Thomas Tull. Its only product is a compact, two-door, rear-drive electric pickup that Slate calls the Blank Slate in base form.
The idea is to sell one simple vehicle and let owners add features over time. The body panels are unpainted composite, meant to be wrapped. There is no radio and no speakers. Instead of an infotainment system, the truck gets a mount and charging for your phone, plus a small driver display for basics like speed. An accessory bracket holds a tablet if you want a big screen.
The pickup converts into a five-seat SUV. Slate sells the parts for owners to do it themselves, and since June it also offers two SUV versions from the factory: the Squareback and the Fastback. An Open Air Kit seats five with no rear hardtop or rear windows.
Price and what it includes
Slate announced the $24,950 price on June 24, 2026, the same day it opened preorders. That figure excludes taxes, fees, and the $1,450 destination charge, so the real starting point is $26,400 before taxes. Both SUV versions start at $29,950, or $31,400 with destination.
When Slate revealed the truck in April 2025, it pitched it as costing under $20,000 after the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. That credit was eliminated in 2025, and the sub-$20,000 claim went with it. There is no federal incentive to subtract from the $24,950 price today, though Slate notes state and local incentives may apply.
For the money, the base truck includes automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, a backup camera, auto high beams, and side curtain airbags, according to Slate. It also carries a 10-year/110,000-mile battery and powertrain warranty and four years/50,000 miles of roadside assistance. How the price stacks up is covered in our list of the cheapest new EVs in America.
Timing: factory, production start, deliveries
Slate is converting a former R.R. Donnelley printing plant in Warsaw, Indiana. The company says it will invest nearly $400 million in the 1.4-million-square-foot site and create more than 2,000 jobs. When it chose the site in 2025, Slate said it was targeting an eventual capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year. In April 2026, it closed a $650 million Series C round led by TWG Global.
The company's leadership also changed this year. Peter Faricy is CEO, and Chris Barman, who led Slate at its 2025 debut, is now President, Vehicles.
| Date | Milestone | Source |
|---|---|---|
| April 24, 2025 | Truck revealed; $50 refundable reservations open | Slate |
| April 13, 2026 | $650 million Series C closed | Slate |
| June 24, 2026 | $24,950 price announced; preorders open; 180,000+ reservations | Slate |
| September 2026 | Some preorder customers told deliveries could start in December | Business Insider |
| October 2026 | First Experience Center opens in Chicago, with test drives | CBT News |
| Late October 2026 | Warsaw plant still building prototypes, moving to production units "soon" | Ars Technica, via Business Insider |
| November 2026 | Production start | Kenda (tire supplier) |
| Late 2026 | First customer deliveries | Slate |
| As soon as July 2027 | Delivery for new preorders | Slate website |
The November date comes from an October 28 press release from Kenda, which says its Klever S/T EV tire will launch on the Blank Slate when the truck enters production in November 2026. Slate has not confirmed a month itself. The last row matters if you haven't ordered: Slate's site currently tells new customers they could be driving one as soon as July 2027.
Specs
All figures below are Slate's own estimates for a truck still in preproduction. The range number is based on an approximation of the EPA test cycle and is not an official EPA rating.
| Spec | Slate Truck (pickup) |
|---|---|
| Motor and drive | Single rear motor, RWD |
| Output | 181 hp (135 kW), 195 lb-ft (264 Nm) |
| Battery | 65 kWh LFP (63 kWh usable) |
| Estimated range | 205 miles (Slate estimate; EPA rating TBA) |
| 0–60 mph / top speed | 8.0 seconds / 90 mph (est.) |
| Charging | NACS port; 11-kW onboard charger (20–100% in 4 hours); 120-kW DC fast charging (20–80% in about 30 minutes) |
| Payload / towing | 1,550 lb / 2,000 lb (SUV: 1,263 lb / 1,824 lb) |
| Curb weight | 4,048 lb (SUV: 4,335 lb) |
| Length / wheelbase | 174.6 in / 108.9 in |
| Bed | 60.5 in long (80.7 in with tailgate down), 35.1 cu ft |
| Frunk | 7.0 cu ft |
| Wheels and tires | 17-inch steel wheels, 245/65R17 tires |
The battery plan has changed since the reveal. In 2025, Slate quoted a 52.7-kWh pack with a 150-mile range target and a larger optional battery good for about 240 miles. The current spec sheet lists a single 65-kWh lithium iron phosphate pack. Slate says the range increase came at the same price, but it has not said whether a longer-range battery is still coming. Charging runs through a NACS port, and Slate says owners will have access to Tesla Superchargers.
Customization and accessories
Personalization is the business model. At the June launch, Slate said its marketplace would offer more than 200 accessories, with more than 80% priced under $500, including roof racks, stereos, and seat covers. It also promised more than 100 wrap colors, with full-vehicle wraps under $500. Accessories can be installed at delivery, by a service shop, or at home with Slate University (Slate U), the company's library of how-to videos.
The newest item leans into the no-screen theme. On November 12, Slate added a $30 "Screenless GPS" to its online store, InsideEVs and Gear Patrol reported. It's a paper map: Rand McNally's 2027 Road Atlas with Slate branding, which Slate calls "the original navigation system" and says is available in limited quantities. It doesn't plug into anything, and InsideEVs notes it works in any vehicle. For actual turn-by-turn directions, the truck's phone mount and your own map app are the plan.
How to buy one
Slate sells direct, with no dealers, and only in the United States for now. A preorder costs $300, or $250 for anyone who already paid the $50 reservation fee, and the deposit counts toward the purchase price. Several reports described the preorder deposit as nonrefundable. Final pricing, taxes, and fees are settled when you place the order closer to your delivery date.
You can see the truck at Slate's Experience Center in Chicago or at its traveling demo-ride events, which run in Raleigh, North Carolina, through November 15 and in Atlanta from November 18 to 21. Slate won't run its own service centers; repairs go to RepairPal-certified independent shops, more than 100 of which Slate says can handle high-voltage work. Direct sales still run into state franchise laws, which we track in our state-by-state guide to direct car sales.
If you're cross-shopping, the Slate's closest rivals in size are compact pickups like the hybrid Ford Maverick and Ford's coming electric Fathom, which we compare in Ford Fathom vs. Maverick.
What we don't know yet
- The real production date. November comes from Kenda, not Slate. Slate has not announced the start of production.
- Official range. There is no EPA rating yet; 205 miles is Slate's estimate.
- Safety ratings. Slate says the truck is designed for a five-star NHTSA rating, but neither NHTSA nor IIHS has published results, and Slate hasn't detailed its federal certification status.
- Order conversion. 180,000-plus reservations is the latest official figure, from June. Slate hasn't said how many became paid preorders.
- A longer-range battery. Slate hasn't confirmed or ruled one out.
What's next
The next milestones to watch are a Slate announcement that production has started, the first customer deliveries, and an official EPA range figure. Crash-test results from NHTSA and IIHS would follow once trucks reach the market. We'll update this page as each one lands, along with any change to the $24,950 price.
