Early deliveries to be region based, with early reservations prioritized

[The Weatherman]

One of the question I ask the CEO was about early reservations and when an early day one reservation might be delivered. Below is the response I just received:


Hi Dean,
Thanks so much for submitting your question for our CEO Fireside Q&A. My name is Alysa, and I am part of the Slate team. We truly appreciate you taking the time to reach out and share your excitement and questions with us.

Thank you for being an early reservation holder and for your continued interest in Slate.

In terms of early reservation timing, deliveries will be region based as we begin production and scale. While we are not able to confirm exact purchase or delivery timing for individual reservation holders just yet, early reservations will absolutely be prioritized as we move through our rollout. We will be sharing more detailed timing and regional rollout information as we get closer to production and delivery milestones.

If you have not already done so, we…….

Not exactly the answer I was expecting or hoping for.

 

[KevinRS]

They are still nearly a year out.
What I figure is at the least they will email reservation holders in order of when we reserved, offering to convert.
They have to consider shipping efficiencies, and send full train cars of trucks to regional hubs, and send full car carriers to pickup locations. If your city has a full carrier worth of early reservations who convert, you will be in luck and be among the first to get a truck.
If you are the only one who converts in your area, you may have to wait a bit and see others who reserved days after you get their trucks first. They may offer earlier pickup if you are willing to travel to a more central area.
I'm sure they haven't got all the details worked out yet, and that is part of why they won't commit to anything on the timing.
I am hopeful they will be doing lots of testing soon, and will be able to ramp production up quickly enough that all this worry about reservation order becomes inconsequential.

 

[ScooterAsheville]

Automakers are not fair. They are efficient (or they go bankrupt fast). Fair is the mortal enemy of efficient. I'm sure Slate will respect order priority at any given location. But the order of locations will surely be whatever is efficient.

Here's the basic rule. It will drive everything Slate does. Every decision they make. In the absence of endless investment capital, a startup has to start generating revenue ASAP just to keep the lights on (and to obtain more capital). So Slate will determine what sales and delivery strategy brings in the mostest the fastest. And that's gonna determine who gets what when.

 

[cadblu]

Let me get this straight. It appears we have two factors to consider for delivery: date of reservation and regional rollouts, yet to be announced. If I pass on my reservation when it's time for order conversion, do I need to wait until the next regional allocation takes place? Could be a penalty of several months or more. How is my early reservation still prioritized? In effect, aren't we losing our place in line?

 

[KevinRS]

Let me get this straight. It appears we have two factors to consider for delivery: date of reservation and regional rollouts, yet to be announced. If I pass on my reservation when it's time for order conversion, do I need to wait until the next regional allocation takes place? Could be a penalty of several months or more. How is my early reservation still prioritized? In effect, aren't we losing our place in line?

We don't know the details yet. No one from Slate has used a lot of the words being used here.
A big part of it will depend on what kind of volume they are producing at. If they get to moderately high volume relatively fast, it's all going to be moot, if you are near any kind of major market, they will be making multiple deliveries a month, more out of the way areas sure less, but still often enough to not worry about.

The idea isn't you lose your place in line if you don't turn your reservation into an order when first offered, as soon as you order you will be next in the queue, where someone who didn't have a reservation has to wait until everyone ahead of them in the area has been offered to convert.

Hopefully they don't go purely by zip code, zip code is the only thing that has actually been mentioned, and some zip codes are tiny, others are huge, and even zip code ranges can be misleading, you might be less than an hour from a hub, but zip code range would indicate you are in a different region.

 

[Sl8rGrl]

It would be silly to think that a vehicle startup company would begin their delivery process by shipping cars across the entire US following on a singular "line" according to reservation number. It's simply inefficient and would cost millions of dollars to facilitate.

I remember when Tesla's first started Cybertruck deliveries, I believe they started in CA and TX first then expanded nationally as production increased (and they're not even a startup, and have 2 vehicle factories in the US).

I would imagine Slate probably delivering to Warsaw and surrounding states first, and through 2027 as production ramps up expand through the rest of the US. Or they go by geographic locations with highest reservation count (high reservations = better chance of # customers moving forward) then expand to lower demand areas.

But who knows, we still don't know what their plan is for delivery and we're a bit less than a year out until first deliveries begin.

 

[AZFox]

I see the reservations as a Conflict Resolution Tool for the early times when there's more demand for Trucks than there are Trucks.

Earliest Reservation -> Other Reservations -> No Reservation

Let's say you decline an ordering opportunity because you're not quite ready yet.
The next time an allocation is available for your geographic area you'll still have priority because you have the earliest reservation.

 

[danielt1263]

Sadly, considering they haven't even considered (AFAICT) an event down to Florida, I can only assume that it will be one of the last regions that will see deliveries no matter where my reservation is in line.

 

[AZFox]

Sadly, considering they haven't even considered (AFAICT) an event down to Florida, I can only assume that it will be one of the last regions that will see deliveries no matter where my reservation is in line.

If the Reservation Tracker is any indicator, I think FL will have some priority.

 

[pendek244]

One of the question I ask the CEO was about early reservations and when an early day one reservation might be delivered. Below is the response I just received:


Hi Dean,
Thanks so much for submitting your question for our CEO Fireside Q&A. My name is Alysa, and I am part of the Slate team. We truly appreciate you taking the time to reach out and share your excitement and questions with us.

Thank you for being an early reservation holder and for your continued interest in Slate.

In terms of early reservation timing, deliveries will be region based as we begin production and scale. While we are not able to confirm exact purchase or delivery timing for individual reservation holders just yet, early reservations will absolutely be prioritized as we move through our rollout. We will be sharing more detailed timing and regional rollout information as we get closer to production and delivery milestones.

If you have not already done so, we…….

Not exactly the answer I was expecting or hoping for.

We are still finilazing some details on our accessories such as trailer hitched, so stay tuned for more details. Additionally, we will not be offering the option of picking up your vehicle at this point in time. All vehicles will be delivered directly to your doorstep.

 

[nevermindkid]

We are still finilazing some details on our accessories such as trailer hitched, so stay tuned for more details. Additionally, we will not be offering the option of picking up your vehicle at this point in time. All vehicles will be delivered directly to your doorstep.

Where is this juicy detail from ? Do tell.

 

[KevinRS]

We are still finilazing some details on our accessories such as trailer hitched, so stay tuned for more details. Additionally, we will not be offering the option of picking up your vehicle at this point in time. All vehicles will be delivered directly to your doorstep.

Yes, we'd probably all like to know where this came from. As far as what Slate has released that the rest of us know, It's in the FAQ

How do I get delivery of my Slate?​

​

Slate has partnered with a national logistics and distribution partner making picking up your Slate friction free in most areas.

For an additional fee, your Slate can be dropped off right at your door.​

 

[WT_Door]

Sadly, considering they haven't even considered (AFAICT) an event down to Florida, I can only assume that it will be one of the last regions that will see deliveries no matter where my reservation is in line.

I live in Tampa also, but happened to be in Denver when the Slate roadshow was there (early August). I asked about them coming to FL and was told then it would be in Q1 26 - so in my view they aren't late, and can still make that window that was discussed nearly 5 months ago. Do I wish it was sooner? Of course.

 

[E90400K]

While nearly everyone on car internet forums hate the franchise dealership sales model, it does have advantages to the manufacturer. Those advantages lower the total operating cost to deliver the product to the customer.

The advantages are things such as:

Known, grouped and centeralized delivery endpoints. Meaning the production output has known, and therefore known cost, to ship to the dealership location.

Real estate. The dealership network gives the manufacturer a spot on the planet to store the production output. The real estate is owned/ leased by the dealership franchisee rather than the manufacturer.

The delivery costs and real estate costs are amortized over all the cars the dealership buys from the manufacturer.

The "last mile" is the problem here for Slate. With the dealership distribution system the buyer takes care of the "last mile" part; you go to the dealership to pick up your new car. The last mile is the hard part and expensive part of the cost to deliver the vehicle to the customer.

This isn't a dress in a little box being delivered to your porch by UPS like Amazon can do. Slate's response to the OP simply means Slate is still figuring out the logistics for the regional distribution endpoints of their delivery cost so you as the buyer can go the "last mile" to pick your Slate up and drive it home.

Delivery "to your door"? Sure, if you as the customer, have a few extra thousand to pay for it.

 

[danielt1263]

I received my answer email in which they said that they will be in Florida but "Specific locations and dates haven't been finalized yet..."

As a side note, I also asked about timing (i.e., when they expect to make the price more precise than "mid-20s") and was told "closer to when ordering opens", but I was not given any details about when they expect ordering to open (which was another question I asked.)