It seems if you’re one of the richest men in the world, your interests go to building rockets and electric vehicles. In late April, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos mimicked his rocket building competitor Elon Musk by starting up his own electric vehicle company. It’s called Slate.
This company has a very different approach to building vehicles than Tesla. To start with, it’s only building one model. But it can be either a small pickup or SUV. Converting it from one to the other is, believe it or not, a do-it-yourself project, which is another thing that sets it apart from other manufacturers.
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And that’s not the only DIY aspect. Adding accessories or an available vinyl wrap to make it something other than the bland grey colour all trucks arrive in is too. Slate is going to offer custom cut wraps that can applied without removing any body hardware.
The truck’s size is reminiscent of the early Japanese mini pickups that first began arriving here en masse in the 1970s. It has a 1,400-pound payload and 1,000-pound tow rating. Those ratings are pretty typical of today’s off-road side-by-side UTVs that have become popular but aren’t road legal.
In the last few years, there have been many voices calling for the introduction of small on-road vehicles like this in North America. In response, a few of the very small grey-market Asian mini trucks have made their way here. The major automakers have gone some way toward heeding that call and introduced smaller pickups, like Ford’s Maverick, which still have a healthy price tag. But it’s the low cost, basic, plain Jane features and design—and, of course, full electric drive—that really sets the Slate apart from anything else out there.
But before you get too excited, the Slate is so far only going to be available inside the U.S., Canadians are out of luck, for the time being at least.
The Slate will be sold just like Bezos’ direct delivery model for Amazon. No dealerships. Order it online and wait for it to show up.
When it comes to specifications, estimated range is 150 miles. A larger battery pack option will push that up to 240 miles. But those estimates are based on initial test results. There are no official EPA ratings for it yet. Battery voltage feeds to a single rear motor rated at 150 kW. So it’s just a rear-wheel drive.
There are no fancy bluetooth or infotainment screens. Slate engineers felt you already have a smartphone, which can do all those things any fancy built-in audio system can. So why pay for something you already have.
That philosophy makes good sense, actually.
The announcement introducing the Slate, however, appears to be well ahead of any actual production. The company said buyers can now put up a $50 deposit and reserve a vehicle, but there is no firm date indicated for when a Slate will arrive in anyone’s driveway.
A press release from the brand says manufacturing will take place in the U.S. Midwest, but the firm later confirmed to business media they settled on a location in Warsaw, Indiana,
Estimated retail price will be U.S.$27,000. If it were to be exported to Canada, a dollar conversion rate (at time of writing) would put that at around C$34,400. Add 25 per cent retaliatory tariff and that bumps it up to about C$43,000.
Nevertheless, my bet is this little vehicle will be popular in the U.S. market, and when the tariff problem with the U.S. is settled, it could still be available at an attractive price point in Canada, not much different than an off-road UTV. But it would have the advantage of being road legal and actually designed for highway travel.
We’ll have to wait and see if Bezos brings the Slate across the border, or launches one into space like Musk did with a Tesla.
