Keep It Simple: New Slate Truck Could Be Next Year

The bare-bones Slate Truck is designed to be customizable and affordable, with a flat-pack DIY SUV kit that turns the 2-seat pickup into a 5-passenger SUV.

Antuan Goodwin started out in the automotive industry the old fashioned way, by turning wrenches in a driveway and picking up speeding tickets. Antuan now has 16 years of expertise and experience behind the wheel of hundreds of cars including electric vehicles, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, hydrogen, and traditional combustion cars. For each car tested, Antuan covers over 200 miles behind the wheel and evaluates driving dynamics, acceleration and braking performance, range and efficiency. Antuan’s goal is to use his extensive car knowledge to educate CNET readers with their next car-related buying decision. Whether you’re EV-curious, EV-enthusiast or combustion-car loyal, Antuan will bring you the unbiased advice, reviews, best lists, and news you need. You can reach Antuan at antuan.goodwin@cnet.com

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Meet the Slate Truck, a simple new electric pickup from an emerging American electric vehicle manufacturer backed by Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, among others.

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According to Slate CEO Chris Barman, the 176-inch long compact electric truck is designed to be customizable and affordable.

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The Slate Truck is targeting an post-incentive price of “under $20,000” when it arrives.

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The Truck will come standard with 150 miles of range, courtesy of the standard 52.7-kWh battery pack. An add-on 84.3-kWh pack bumps that target to 240 miles per charge.

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Slate keeps the price down with a minimalist approach to the Truck’s features, bells and whistles, as well as keeping its scale small.

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Instead of a massive touchscreen display, the Slate Truck features a smartphone dock. Owners can also opt to install a dedicated tablet.

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Allow me to direct your attention to what appear to be hand-cranked windows!

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Slate will eventually offer “over 100 accessories” to customize the blank-slate electric pickup.

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The most interesting accessory is a flat-pack SUV Kit that allows owners to transform the pickup into a five-seat small SUV.

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The SUV mod features a roll cage, airbags and, of course, rear seats. Owners can have the kit installed at a service center or do it themselves.

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Check out our full first look at the Slate Truck for more details, specs and reservation info.  

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