Slate first drive review video - Jay Leno's Garage!

[bloo]

The extended range battery is still listed as 240 miles on the Slate.auto website.


Any official range changes should be posted on this page.

Assuming the page is up to date.

BTW... I checked it right after the tubecast finished.

 

[Tran]

Well said.

This is by far the most important aspect of the video.

Now 86,000 views 5 hours in...

Now almost 180K views after 7 hours

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Now almost 180K views after 7 hours

That ought to bring some more reservations.

 

[bloo]

Slate doesn't need to fight that conspiracy. People who actively hate on EVs whenever they're mentioned aren't anyone's target market, they're just annoying.

Trouble is... those idiots are gaining traction. A conspiracy nut used to be the weird uncle at Thanksgiving dinner everyone ignored. Now they've an outsized influence on everyday life. People who "actively hate EVs" are now the majority. We have to convince them. Today's video didn't even convince me. And I am the target market.

I work in a tiny division of a huge automotive OEM. We sell electric motor drives for the industrial/utility market - no on-road applications. Even so, the custimers we work with are feeling the anti-electrification bias. It's so bad, a USA company I work with now sells most of its vehicles to Australia and France. In less than a year, the US market is virtually gone.

Electric vehicles of any kind are the new uncool. When I lose my job, it will be because if this sentiment.

 

[GaRailroader]

Whatever regen you get from simply letting off the accelerator is called neutral braking. It can be anywhere from aggressive (allowing one-pedal driving) to nothing (where the vehicle simply coasts recapturing no energy). I guess Slate chose some middle ground.

Footbraking is what you get when you step on the brake. Ideally, a lighter touch on the brake pedal will engage mild regen which gets progressively stronger as you push down. This feeds power back into the battery. Somewhere below the bottom half of travel, the hydraulic brakes kick in. This significantly reduces the amount of regeneration.

I'd hoped both neutral braking and footbraking levels would be user adjustable. It's unfortunate they won't.

I believe Tesla has changed the UI on my Model 3 where I don't have multiple regen settings. It still has 1 pedal driving which is toggled with a hold mode setting. Slate has reported earlier that they have 1 pedal driving so I am assuming that hasn't changed. The biggest adjustment for 1 pedal driving is not letting your foot completely off the accelerator until you are ready to stop. When I first started one pedal driving, I would take my foot off the accelerator in advance of a red light and end up coming to a full stop perhaps 2 car lengths before the desired stopping location. By continuing to lightly press the accelerator you can slow down and creep to the desired stopping location then take your foot off the accelerator.

 

[fuzzyweis]

I think it was a good review, the Slate prototypes are way more polished than the Scout test drive was so to me that says a lot.

Yes there were some clunks driving around but...it's a truck, with the De Dion tube it essentially has a live rear axle suspension, that and the short wheelbase means it's going to be a little hoppy on uneven pavement, also the lack of engine noise(or even a stereo) makes other noises seem louder.

The self repair under warranty is very interesting, like what if I don't torque something right, or overtorque it and strip it out, do they then charge for that?

I'm confused a little on the SUVs being finished at the factory away from the main assembly line, I'm wondering if the orders for one of the main options get big enough if they'll split the line, as putting the rear window and bed plate in, and then 300 feet later taking them off to put the kit on is a little double work.

I agree with others that overall this is great publicity, I work in the EV industry and a lot of people I work with haven't heard of the Slate, never mind the general public.

-Jim

 

[GaRailroader]

My favorite quote in the video.

"But you can't just make it affordable because if it's just affordable, people don't want to buy it. What we did was make it affordable and fun and exciting by adding the ability to accessorize and bringing DIY in to the equation."

This is why the Slate will succeed even though there are EV competitors that are as affordable and perhaps more affordable than the Slate. I really dig the color scheme on that truck with the white roof and satin red finish. Additionally, the proportions of the truck are perfect.

 

[1yeliab_sufur1]

That ought to bring some more reservations.

lol assuming it was not all of us rewatching it over and over XD

 

[1yeliab_sufur1]

I think it was a good review, the Slate prototypes are way more polished than the Scout test drive was so to me that says a lot.

Yes there were some clunks driving around but...it's a truck, with the De Dion tube it essentially has a live rear axle suspension, that and the short wheelbase means it's going to be a little hoppy on uneven pavement, also the lack of engine noise(or even a stereo) makes other noises seem louder.

The self repair under warranty is very interesting, like what if I don't torque something right, or overtorque it and strip it out, do they then charge for that?

I'm confused a little on the SUVs being finished at the factory away from the main assembly line, I'm wondering if the orders for one of the main options get big enough if they'll split the line, as putting the rear window and bed plate in, and then 300 feet later taking them off to put the kit on is a little double work.

I agree with others that overall this is great publicity, I work in the EV industry and a lot of people I work with haven't heard of the Slate, never mind the general public.

-Jim

yes i agree with it being a much further along prototype i have watched the telo one before this and i found it to be alot worse on sound in the cab and same with the scout but who knows they could have changed microphone in the i think 6 months now since the telo video

 

[cadblu]

I'm confused a little on the SUVs being finished at the factory away from the main assembly line, I'm wondering if the orders for one of the main options get big enough if they'll split the line, as putting the rear window and bed plate in, and then 300 feet later taking them off to put the kit on is a little double work.

I think the Slate team made it clear that only one single variant (base truck) rolls off the main assembly line. This is how they can achieve the efficiencies of "standard work" and "operational excellence" --- which has been drilled into anyone who has worked in aerospace.

For folks who order the SUV kit at time the order is placed, their truck will be routed to a special assembly operations area in the same plant, where they do the conversions, wraps, running boards, bumper upgrades, spare tire carrier, etc. I suspect the cost of the installed kits will include the factory labor piece, so definitely more expensive than the flat-pack, ala carte shipping option. You will most likely save a fair amount by having the kit flat packed inside the bed with the truck delivery as a DIY.

 

[E90400K]

Manual mechanism is literally a gear and toothed arm to lift and lower window. Electric has motor, drive belts, buttons, wires, etc. More parts, more money. Worked on both in my days. Glad they're offering power windows as option. I'll keep the cranks.

When suppliers (in the USA) make hundreds of thousands of eletric window mechanisms the part cost production is amortized over the like number of vehicles, thus making electric mechanisms cheaper at the supplier level. Not many cars, even inexpensive models, use manual crank windows.

 

[sodamo]

Tough crowd. Nothing earth shattering, but wasn’t expecting that. Am pleased to hear about the DIY philosophy and codes being in the app.

 

[KevinRS]

Yes it was a prototype, one of 78 hand built prototypes, most of which went into crash tests, and part of which probably weren't drivable at all. We won't be seeing even early production models until spring at the earliest, that's why they haven't let anyone test drive, fit and finish will be different. Most likely the buttons for traction control, instrument panel dimming etc are still fake. So the ride was a bit noisy, and that one bump was noticeable. It's a hand built x of 78 that has probably been all around the west coast, probably reaching the EOL of some of the short run parts, completely missing some rubber and seals and sound absorbing insulation that hadn't been manufactured yet when they built it.
They will probably have to be careful when they do start letting us test drive, because some will be SLAMMING doors, and being rough in other ways, that sure, happen in normal dealer test drives, but these test drive units have to survive hundreds or thousands of drivers. Closed course most likely and some ground rules. A dealer lot car probably only gets a couple of test drives on average before it is bought.
230 miles 240 miles range, probably a slip, even the 240 is an anticipated number, won't be final until they do the actual tests on actual line units with all the final parts, then it probably won't be such a round number anyway, it's a number generated from a number of tests to give an EPA estimated range.
DIY warrantee repairs has been mentioned before, of course those won't be HV, battery, powertrain stuff, probably stuff that can be done with a screwdriver, ratchet and 2 sockets at most, and most stuff will be that easy. For anyone with the tools, they would probably rather just swap a part out themselves than drop the truck off at a shop.
But really, what kind of warrantee type failures are expected on a simplified EV? AFAIK most current EV warrantee issues are with tech stuff Slate doesn't have at all, like the infotainment system.

 

[sodamo]

I have no doubt there are a few here that would be executing the ultimate stress test given unsupervised 15 seconds.

 

[fuzzyweis]

I think the Slate team made it clear that only one single variant (base truck) rolls off the main assembly line. This is how they can achieve the efficiencies of "standard work" and "operational excellence" --- which has been drilled into anyone who has worked in aerospace.

For folks who order the SUV kit at time the order is placed, their truck will be routed to a special assembly operations area in the same plant, where they do the conversions, wraps, running boards, bumper upgrades, spare tire carrier, etc. I suspect the cost of the installed kits will include the factory labor piece, so definitely more expensive than the flat-pack, ala carte shipping option. You will most likely save a fair amount by having the kit flat packed inside the bed with the truck delivery as a DIY.

I’m wondering if the flat packs for the body kits will fit in the bed, the roof may be too big, unless it’s 5’ tall, I guess that could still fit on a carrier.

Also on the comments on the electric vs manual windows, remember they’re looking to have removable doors for the open air kit, manual windows are much easier for that option, basically like the Wrangler then.

-Jim