- Slate Auto, a Jeff-Bezos-backed startup, had planned a small electric truck priced under $20,000
- With Congress ending the clean vehicle tax credit, its price goes up significantly
Electric vehicle (EV) startup Slate Auto says it won’t be able to sell a pickup priced under $20,000 after all.
The company, which broke cover in late April, pitched itself as the antidote to truck bloat. For decades, pickups have grown in size and price, leaving Americans without a truly small, affordable truck.
Compact trucks like the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz have appeared in recent years, but both now routinely sell at prices in the mid-$30,000 range.
Slate promised a compact electric truck you could turn into an SUV with do-it-yourself parts, priced under $20,000. All-electric, it promises a range of between 150 and 240 miles, depending on which of two battery packs a buyer chooses.
However, that price depended on the $7,500 federal clean vehicle tax credit, which both houses of Congress recently passed bills to eliminate.
A note on Slate Auto’s website now promises a price in the “mid-twenties.”
That cuts significantly into the value argument for the truck, though it would still make the Slate Truck (yes, that’s its official name so far) the least expensive pickup in America.
