Fort Worth Showing - Who's Going?

[1yeliab_sufur1]

I was there yesterday around 1-3 and was the only one at the time so I was talking to 3 guys who answered a lot of questions.
They said everything is subject to change but is true as of now.

1 -Front seat will have airbag lockouts for car seats.
2 -No NACS bidirectional charging planned at this time, but they stressed that might change.
3 -Cargo kit will have the same topper as SUV but will have a safety partition.
4 -Back seats will be physically unable to be installed without the rollbar in place.
5 -Electrical "assess points" will be proprietary plugs.
6 -Start of production is planned for June, these early production cars will be heavily tested before retail production at end of the year.
7 -Production review units will be sent out to Media with an embargo lining up with start of sales.

I'm probably forgetting half of what we talked about, but those are the highlights.

Hell yeah

 

[1yeliab_sufur1]

I was there yesterday around 1-3 and was the only one at the time so I was talking to 3 guys who answered a lot of questions.
They said everything is subject to change but is true as of now.

1 -Front seat will have airbag lockouts for car seats.
2 -No NACS bidirectional charging planned at this time, but they stressed that might change.
3 -Cargo kit will have the same topper as SUV but will have a safety partition.
4 -Back seats will be physically unable to be installed without the rollbar in place.
5 -Electrical "assess points" will be proprietary plugs.
6 -Start of production is planned for June, these early production cars will be heavily tested before retail production at end of the year.
7 -Production review units will be sent out to Media with an embargo lining up with start of sales.

I'm probably forgetting half of what we talked about, but those are the highlights.

Am curious what "proprietary plug" they will use and how fast ill find them on Amazon

 

[ElectricShitbox]

Am curious what "proprietary plug" they will use and how fast ill find them on Amazon

Sixpack to whoever finds the Digikey part number first

 

[Trace26]

Am curious what "proprietary plug" they will use and how fast ill find them on Amazon

Yeah, I wanted to ask a followup question on that but the guy was talking pretty fast and then I forgot.

Sixpack to whoever finds the Digikey part number first

This is the way.

 

[sodamo]

Production starting June - how awesome

 

[KevinRS]

These plugs will probably be for things like the heated seat covers, and other add on accessories that haven't been added to the maker.

 

[Luxrage]

I was hoping to go Thursday but ended up only being able to go today. Good showing, spent more time talking to the Slate staff about the forums more than the truck. In my defense they asked me if ~I~ was on the forums!

Lasso'd the truck and got the swag bag and all that. They also confirmed with me you could get the cargo topper without the seats, but couldn't confirm if it was the windowed one or a solid one. I just want my two-door two seater SUV! I also grilled them on how the rearview mirror is mounted and my plans on upgrading it to the Gentex models (which I wrote about extensively in this post here), but they just told me it was DIY FRIENDLY.

I do like how the blank one's wheels look. I'd be down for keeping the straight up steel look without the cover.

That big access panel in the bed still concerns me, I hope they have a drop-in bedliner.

 

[AZFox]

I do like how the blank one's wheels look. I'd be down for keeping the straight up steel look without the cover.

Those Fifteen52 Analog HD wheels cost $325 a piece. 💰

White ones might look better.

 

[AeroWolf]

I have a question about the tonneau cover

Those Fifteen52 Analog HD wheels cost $325 a piece. 💰

White ones might look better.

I think they should have gone with full white rims and only bronze colored lug nut caps instead of that mini hubcap.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Something just struck me about the mobile phone holder. Is it fixed in place, or can the tilt/angle be adjusted? Because it might be difficult for the driver to see the screen in that position.

Thanks for the pictures.

 

[1yeliab_sufur1]

Those Fifteen52 Analog HD wheels cost $325 a piece. 💰

White ones might look better.

i think on the color skeem yeah white and gold and brown

 

[Luxrage]

Something just struck me about the mobile phone holder. Is it fixed in place, or can the tilt/angle be adjusted? Because it might be difficult for the driver to see the screen in that position.

Thanks for the pictures.

I believe that one was on a ball-mount, and it can be slid anywhere left-to-right on that track. Probably further over if you take that trim off along the bottom there.

e:

Correct. Here is a closeup of the phone dock mounted on a slide rail, which allows for adjustments. Will also be used for the tablet mount.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I believe that one was on a ball-mount, and it can be slid anywhere left-to-right on that track. Probably further over if you take that trim off along the bottom there.

So, you think the ball joint will allow angular adjustment up/down & left/right? That would be very handy, especially for a phone. I would imagine it might not be needed as much for a tablet.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[KJRaven]

I plan on being there thursday around noon with a friend of mine who is also a fleet manager.
They are also doing a Fleet demo with the City of Dallas that I will be at on March 3rd. Hopefully there are some good details that i can share from that event too.

So, after meeting with the fleet team and having some time to ask questions and explore the truck i was able to take some photos and get some information.

There is big news coming in June when the announce pricing, should also be able to put a more substantial reservation to lock in your order to get in line.

The price that they are targeting is under $25,000, and there will be some changes to the battery options, i was asked to not share specifically what, but the decision resulted in a cheaper option that makes the blank slate much more appealing.

They will be doing in house training for fleets to do warranty work, including high voltage certifications.

They will be touring with 99% final production units for ride/drive events in june/july, so we will be able to drive them.

They are working on some cool solutions for fleets including a medical response truck that removes the passenger seat to make room for a stretcher, lift gate options, ADA lifts.

The "Cargo-kit" van option should be something like 90% of the interior space that the Transit Connect had, and does not require the roll bar (which houses the air bags for the rear seats) to be installed. so you can have a 2 seater with enclosed storage behind.

Christian, is one of the lead guys on the fleet team, and came from Ford working on the Transit Connect, Transit bus, F150 lightning, and other products and knows what fleet operators need/want and is working with Slate to make sure that Fleets will be supported.

the truck will have an OBD 2 connection and work with telematics systems for fleets to monitor the vehicles remotely.

I asked about the trucks ability to survive if Slate fails, i didn't get numbers, but basically all of the components are commercially available, including the motors, and the truck wont need near as many software updates since there is significantly less computers in it that would require them. The ones that the will update can be done through the app from your phone.

Fleets are able to do a non binding letter of intent to lock in their orders, with $0 down and will get a free wrap, and some other fleet benefits like training, etc.

I am extremely excited to see this truck come to market, hopefully i am able to add a hand full to my fleet.

I did get to sit in the truck, it is comfortable, but very utilitarian and basic.

Here are a couple of photos that i took, nothing that we havent seen from the other guys that went to the Ft Worth show.
This truck is not a production truck and is very much an engineering sample so it didn't make sense to take a lot of photos. We will get a much better idea of what they are delivering in a few months.

 

[ElectricShitbox]

That's a lot of interesting info! I'm super curious about the battery update. It's good to hear they have an expert for trying to sell to fleets, because I get the feeling Slate's success will depend on fleet adoption.