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Whereas I consider the Slate to be the inheritor of my 2010 Ford Ranger XL, single cab, manual shift, 4 cylinder, rollup windows, manual door locks, and the cheapest parts and pieces available on the planet Earth.

Sandy Munro had some thoughts on battery swapping years ago. He pointed out that anything mechanical breaks. It is not if, it's when. He also hates fasteners, which are the #1 failure points in automotive. Battery swapping is a lot of fasteners and moving parts. Now if you really want to go...

The long term cost/performance improvement curve in batteries makes this a short term solution at best, just like hybrids and EREVs. They're both engineering dead ends. You can already charge some vehicles in the same time. Charging speed is on a relentless improvement slope. Gravimetric and...

Last time I checked, Slate was a for-profit enterprise. Meaning they're here to empty your wallet just the same as every other company. If Slate can suck you in with their narrative, hooray for Slate. The proof is in the pudding, not the recipe. As of 25 April 2026, we will have experienced a...

It's the standard engineer lament. You design something solid. Then the bean counters take over. Crazily, I saw this as a software engineer. They took a five cent LED out of the disk drives for our high end enterprise storage units. And then we spent millions in man hours on the software side...

I've been following Quantum Scape for years now. They're very real, but also not truly solid state. The good news is that they've been slowly but deliberately marching towards scale manufacturing. The thing about Quantum Scape is that they don't make batteries. They make a production line for...

I'd be very grateful if you could ask your buddy next time you see him for some more details on the Mavericks. Hybrids or the turbo engine? A particular model year? What's he doing to them? I know this isn't Slate-related, but I'll repost your information over on MTC and we'll all benefit...

I love the enthusiasm, but Slate's main product so far has been hot air.

That's a pretty big statement about Maverick engines blowing up before 50K in large numbers. Got any numerical (or even anecdotal) evidence behind that? We'd all love to hear the details over on the Maverick forum. I've been a Maverick forum member (and owner) for 3+ years now and I've seen...

There sure are a lot of Slate sales narratives (both pro and con, and I've spun some myself) on this site. I would posit that trying to predict the behavior of 15.5 million annual American auto buyers in a highly uncertain future (CY 2027 and beyond) is an exercise in futility. What will...

Just an idle thought. It would be cool if somebody eventually starts an online "Slate parts and accessories swap" site. Just not me - I'm far too lazy. Could be part of a "Slate Club of America". As an old Miata owner (3 of them), I was part of the Miata Club of America, which had all kinds of...

New England already has Little Blue People. Watched Blue Man Group in Boston plenty of times.

Let's be honest about Slate. They are very slippery, seemingly coated with oil, when it comes to making any factual statements that can pin them down or obligate them. Not saying that's a bad thing. Just a fact. I can see how they'd be reluctant to make promises they might later have to break...

The Slate comments on battery that I watched were mixed on why they chose NMC. And they also said they were reassessing that choice after "liberation day". They siad it was a mix of capability, specs, cost, and that it had to be sourced in the USA. They really haven't said anything since "we're...

It would be an interesting bet. Who will be around longer? Demuro or Slate. Most would bet on Demuro.

I'm assuming 3,602 lbs is with the smaller battery. Not all that bad. Just a hair heavier than my Maverick (3,550). As a rule, BEVs can really get up there in weight, chewing through tires really fast. But at 3,602, the Slate looks not half bad.

One of the things I love about this forum, truly, is hearing from people with incredibly different wants and needs and feelings about the Slate. Some here are really into simple. Some into small. Some into BEV. Some into cheap. Others into maintaining and customizing it themselves. Or all kinds...

The short answer to the OP's question is that nobody on this forum has a clue. Because we don't have access to Slate's internal cost figures. It's all fanboy or skeptic narratives invented out of thin air. We don't know their costs per unit. We don't know their overhead. We don't know how the...

Nah, I was enamored of the Bolt until I test drove one. It has horrific torque steer. But my PhD buddy on the test drive bought one a few years later.

"Doug the Annoying" has annoyed his way into 5 million subscribers, which is probably, 4,900,000 more than Slates that will be produced before Slate goes bankrupt. Just saying... Hate the guy if you will - he can be grating in a teenager sort of way - but he totally found his online crowd.