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2027 Slate Pickup First Drive: Simplicity Might Be Its Superpower
The tiny EV pickup with big ambitions is fun and reasonably nimble from behind the wheel.
July 30, 2026
Link to Article
Forget the boring battery specs, the onboard NACS port, the money-saving body wraps in a choice of 100 standard colors. For a first drive of a pre-production 2027 Slate Truck, one question is on every mind: How ’bout those hand-crank windows?
Since you asked, the black plastic rollers work with silicone smoothness, winding us back to the ’70s like some analog time machine. And aside from requiring extra muscle at the fast-food drive-through, the hand cranks show how Slate lavished bonus attention on critical touch points, such as coated-metal interior door handles. The idea is to quell any sense of unacceptable cost-cutting for its “Blank Slate” pickup that starts from $26,400.
Getting Going
The Slate Truck’s emergence from a hotel garage in Newport, Rhode Island—home of gilded seaside mansions, including one owned by Jay Leno—reinforces the radical charm of this small, simple, unpainted pickup. If you root for underdogs and prefer the runt of any litter, the Slate may be adoption material. About 25 inches shorter than a Ford Maverick, with two front seats and a roomy 5-foot cargo bed, the Slate becomes a Rorschach test for Americans’ unconscious attitudes about basic transportation.
Yes, the Slate is bare bones personified, with utilitarian fabric on manually operated seats, a few well-damped rotary climate switches, and a universal dashboard mount to remind you that your smartphone will run nearly everything either on its own or via a Bluetooth connection. A rail system can append a personal tablet for people who aspire to a Mercedes Hyperscreen. Famously, there’s no onboard radio or infotainment. Air conditioning, cruise control, power locks, a minimalist driver information screen, and mandatory stability control are the only sops to modern convenience.
Optional Bluetooth speakers are among more than 200 à la carte accessories and more than 100 claimed “Slate Attach Points.”
But unlike, say, the abominable, stillborn Lordstown electric pickup, this pre-production Slate Truck doesn’t feel under-engineered or unfinished. Doors close with a professional ka-chunk. The tailgate, clad in composite like the rest of the quarry-gray body, is heavy but well-aligned. Rapping knuckles on the dashboard top does elicit a hollow boom, but company executives say this will be addressed in showroom models.
How Does It Drive?
I’m limited to a 45-minute drive here on Aquidneck Island, but I’m determined to get my money’s worth. And the Slate scoots smartly around town. A company-estimated 0–60-mph time of 8.0 seconds will outpace a Hyundai Elantra Hybrid, and off-the-line torque from a single rear electric motor makes this pickup feel quicker. Stomp the accelerator, and the Slate waves goodbye to stoplight dawdlers, like any EV. The company says there’s 181 horsepower and a maximum 195 lb-ft of torque. Top speed is governed to 90 mph.
The Slate Truck weighs about 4,350 pounds, roughly 600 or so more than a much larger Maverick Hybrid, with a 1,550-pound payload rating and 2,000 pounds of towing capacity. Pull a pair of jet skis with this adorable electric mite, and it will be easy to make new friends. Front MacPherson struts pair with a durable de Dion solid axle out back; the latter will let owners brag over a layout shared with a six-figure electric Mercedes G-Class. There’s a touch of storage between the seats and rear bulkhead, but the frunk holds a modest 7 cubic feet to keep valuables locked and out of sight.
Broken pavement and potholes elicit a touch of structural shake, which company executives suggest is part of the remaining to-do list. But even this level is nothing untoward for a body-on-frame vehicle, and this former Jeep Wrangler owner would argue it’s part of the Slate’s unpretentious charm.
And the Slate’s pert, balanced footprint—untroubled by a lumpen gasoline engine up front— makes for a reasonably nimble truck. Steering proves a pleasant surprise, with a fluid, showroom-ready feel, though it’s a bit shy in terms of self-centering. What feels like a lazy ratio in parking lots becomes more reactive as speeds climb, though the ratio itself doesn’t change. A few spins through roundabouts reveal decent grip from 17-inch wheels shod with Kenda Klever S/T tires.
Regenerative brakes are a high point. They’re a chef’s kiss in terms of tuning, including no-nonsense one-pedal operation. There’s no adjustable level of regen, but drivers can engage cruise control to defeat it on highways. A hill hold function requires a tap of the physical pedal to activate on an incline. That blended brake pedal feels a touch squishy as it segues into the physical four-wheel disc brakes, but stopping power is ample.
Charging Reality and Other Details
In keeping with global trends for affordable EVs, Slate switched from a high-nickel battery to a cost-conscious LFP design with 65 kWh of storage. That’s enough for a 205-mile driving range by company estimates, a potential sore point for range-focused buyers and surely acceptable to others. With its onboard NACS port, the Slate can charge at a somewhat tepid 90-kW maximum pace. The relatively small battery should still allow a 30- to 45-minute charge from 10 to 80 percent full and closer to five hours on an 11-kW Level 2 charger.
The truck I’m driving was built on a small, simulated production line in Warsaw, Indiana. That line was built in parallel with a main assembly line that’s expected to begin cranking out production Slates in October or November from a 1.4 million-square-foot factory that once famously housed the nation’s largest printer of magazines, catalogs, and other content. (Automaking isn’t the only business that took big hits in the Rust Belt).
Slate has taken 10,000 preorders via a $300 non-refundable deposit. Many come from a larger pot of 180,000 consumers who put down $50 on a refundable basis.
Company spokesperson Jeff Jablansky says those 10,000 buyers are still guaranteed to take delivery in the first two quarters of 2027. But people who’d like to see a truck later in 2027 still need to order sooner rather than later. Remember, there’s no brick-and-mortar, no plaid-jacketed salesman, only direct-to-consumer sales. Customers can already order the five-passenger SUV version for an additional $5,000, or $7,000 for a fastback model. Slate can perform the post-factory conversion through a per-hour labor charge, or buyers can choose the DIY route. A yearlong ramp-up will leave Slate with the capacity to build 150,000 units a year by roughly the end of 2027.
“We’re going to push and build as many as we can, but not at the expense of doing it wrong,” Jablansky says.
The Big Picture
Slate began as the stealth-mode “Re:Car” project in suburban Detroit in 2022, with backers including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. There’s nothing stealthy about the company now. Under a remorseless spotlight faced by any new automaker and with EVs caught in a geopolitical hurricane, Slate must now convert a novel idea and public goodwill into a genuine business. In March, Slate showed it’s feeling some pressure. It replaced CEO Chris Barman—the company’s first hire and one of only two female chief executives in the auto industry—with Peter Faricy, a former vice president of Amazon Marketplace. Barman, a former Chrysler engineer, stayed on as president of vehicles.
Slate initially said its truck would start at less than $20,000, explicitly counting on a $7,500 federal tax credit that’s since been kneecapped by Washington. Now the company says its business plan is designed to work without government subsidies.
However you do the math, $26,400 is a lot more than $20,000, especially for buyers that are keenly focused on monthly payments or willing to consider a used car.
I remain convinced that Slate can best improve its odds by tapping into a market that seems wildly receptive to a no-frills budget-friendly electric truck: municipal and other civic fleets, including parks and recreation, public works, or forestry departments. Urban or suburban police departments, fire departments and parking enforcement. And of course, landscapers, contractors, plumbers, and service techs.
Jablansky, in fact, says Slate has created a Fleet Team “that recognizes the power of fleet sales for light-duty vehicles.”
As for everyday buyers, Americans have long talked a big game on small, affordable cars. Putting money where their mouth is has usually been a different story, though the Ford Maverick has proven a pent-up demand for a practical compact pickup.
Can Slate take a page from Ford and steal some thunder from the folks who brought us the larger Lightning? On behalf of anyone who questions the value of $70,000 monster pickups, their appetite for resources, or their scarcely used capabilities, let’s hope the answer is yes.
2027 Slate Pickup Specifications
BASE PRICE
$26,400
LAYOUT
Rear-motor, RWD, 2-pass, 2-door electric pickup or 4-pass, 2-door electric SUV
MOTOR
181-hp/195-lb-ft permanent-magnet electric
TRANSMISSION
1-speed direct drive
CURB WEIGHT
4,350 lb (mfr)
WHEELBASE
108.9 in
L x W x H
174.6 x 70.6 x 67.5-68.0 in
0-60 MPH
8.0 sec (mfr est)
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON
Not yet rated
EPA RANGE, COMB
205 miles (est)
ON SALE
Late 2026
The tiny EV pickup with big ambitions is fun and reasonably nimble from behind the wheel.
July 30, 2026
Link to Article
Forget the boring battery specs, the onboard NACS port, the money-saving body wraps in a choice of 100 standard colors. For a first drive of a pre-production 2027 Slate Truck, one question is on every mind: How ’bout those hand-crank windows?
Since you asked, the black plastic rollers work with silicone smoothness, winding us back to the ’70s like some analog time machine. And aside from requiring extra muscle at the fast-food drive-through, the hand cranks show how Slate lavished bonus attention on critical touch points, such as coated-metal interior door handles. The idea is to quell any sense of unacceptable cost-cutting for its “Blank Slate” pickup that starts from $26,400.
Getting Going
The Slate Truck’s emergence from a hotel garage in Newport, Rhode Island—home of gilded seaside mansions, including one owned by Jay Leno—reinforces the radical charm of this small, simple, unpainted pickup. If you root for underdogs and prefer the runt of any litter, the Slate may be adoption material. About 25 inches shorter than a Ford Maverick, with two front seats and a roomy 5-foot cargo bed, the Slate becomes a Rorschach test for Americans’ unconscious attitudes about basic transportation.
Yes, the Slate is bare bones personified, with utilitarian fabric on manually operated seats, a few well-damped rotary climate switches, and a universal dashboard mount to remind you that your smartphone will run nearly everything either on its own or via a Bluetooth connection. A rail system can append a personal tablet for people who aspire to a Mercedes Hyperscreen. Famously, there’s no onboard radio or infotainment. Air conditioning, cruise control, power locks, a minimalist driver information screen, and mandatory stability control are the only sops to modern convenience.
Optional Bluetooth speakers are among more than 200 à la carte accessories and more than 100 claimed “Slate Attach Points.”
But unlike, say, the abominable, stillborn Lordstown electric pickup, this pre-production Slate Truck doesn’t feel under-engineered or unfinished. Doors close with a professional ka-chunk. The tailgate, clad in composite like the rest of the quarry-gray body, is heavy but well-aligned. Rapping knuckles on the dashboard top does elicit a hollow boom, but company executives say this will be addressed in showroom models.
How Does It Drive?
I’m limited to a 45-minute drive here on Aquidneck Island, but I’m determined to get my money’s worth. And the Slate scoots smartly around town. A company-estimated 0–60-mph time of 8.0 seconds will outpace a Hyundai Elantra Hybrid, and off-the-line torque from a single rear electric motor makes this pickup feel quicker. Stomp the accelerator, and the Slate waves goodbye to stoplight dawdlers, like any EV. The company says there’s 181 horsepower and a maximum 195 lb-ft of torque. Top speed is governed to 90 mph.
The Slate Truck weighs about 4,350 pounds, roughly 600 or so more than a much larger Maverick Hybrid, with a 1,550-pound payload rating and 2,000 pounds of towing capacity. Pull a pair of jet skis with this adorable electric mite, and it will be easy to make new friends. Front MacPherson struts pair with a durable de Dion solid axle out back; the latter will let owners brag over a layout shared with a six-figure electric Mercedes G-Class. There’s a touch of storage between the seats and rear bulkhead, but the frunk holds a modest 7 cubic feet to keep valuables locked and out of sight.
Broken pavement and potholes elicit a touch of structural shake, which company executives suggest is part of the remaining to-do list. But even this level is nothing untoward for a body-on-frame vehicle, and this former Jeep Wrangler owner would argue it’s part of the Slate’s unpretentious charm.
And the Slate’s pert, balanced footprint—untroubled by a lumpen gasoline engine up front— makes for a reasonably nimble truck. Steering proves a pleasant surprise, with a fluid, showroom-ready feel, though it’s a bit shy in terms of self-centering. What feels like a lazy ratio in parking lots becomes more reactive as speeds climb, though the ratio itself doesn’t change. A few spins through roundabouts reveal decent grip from 17-inch wheels shod with Kenda Klever S/T tires.
Regenerative brakes are a high point. They’re a chef’s kiss in terms of tuning, including no-nonsense one-pedal operation. There’s no adjustable level of regen, but drivers can engage cruise control to defeat it on highways. A hill hold function requires a tap of the physical pedal to activate on an incline. That blended brake pedal feels a touch squishy as it segues into the physical four-wheel disc brakes, but stopping power is ample.
Charging Reality and Other Details
In keeping with global trends for affordable EVs, Slate switched from a high-nickel battery to a cost-conscious LFP design with 65 kWh of storage. That’s enough for a 205-mile driving range by company estimates, a potential sore point for range-focused buyers and surely acceptable to others. With its onboard NACS port, the Slate can charge at a somewhat tepid 90-kW maximum pace. The relatively small battery should still allow a 30- to 45-minute charge from 10 to 80 percent full and closer to five hours on an 11-kW Level 2 charger.
The truck I’m driving was built on a small, simulated production line in Warsaw, Indiana. That line was built in parallel with a main assembly line that’s expected to begin cranking out production Slates in October or November from a 1.4 million-square-foot factory that once famously housed the nation’s largest printer of magazines, catalogs, and other content. (Automaking isn’t the only business that took big hits in the Rust Belt).
Slate has taken 10,000 preorders via a $300 non-refundable deposit. Many come from a larger pot of 180,000 consumers who put down $50 on a refundable basis.
Company spokesperson Jeff Jablansky says those 10,000 buyers are still guaranteed to take delivery in the first two quarters of 2027. But people who’d like to see a truck later in 2027 still need to order sooner rather than later. Remember, there’s no brick-and-mortar, no plaid-jacketed salesman, only direct-to-consumer sales. Customers can already order the five-passenger SUV version for an additional $5,000, or $7,000 for a fastback model. Slate can perform the post-factory conversion through a per-hour labor charge, or buyers can choose the DIY route. A yearlong ramp-up will leave Slate with the capacity to build 150,000 units a year by roughly the end of 2027.
“We’re going to push and build as many as we can, but not at the expense of doing it wrong,” Jablansky says.
The Big Picture
Slate began as the stealth-mode “Re:Car” project in suburban Detroit in 2022, with backers including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. There’s nothing stealthy about the company now. Under a remorseless spotlight faced by any new automaker and with EVs caught in a geopolitical hurricane, Slate must now convert a novel idea and public goodwill into a genuine business. In March, Slate showed it’s feeling some pressure. It replaced CEO Chris Barman—the company’s first hire and one of only two female chief executives in the auto industry—with Peter Faricy, a former vice president of Amazon Marketplace. Barman, a former Chrysler engineer, stayed on as president of vehicles.
Slate initially said its truck would start at less than $20,000, explicitly counting on a $7,500 federal tax credit that’s since been kneecapped by Washington. Now the company says its business plan is designed to work without government subsidies.
However you do the math, $26,400 is a lot more than $20,000, especially for buyers that are keenly focused on monthly payments or willing to consider a used car.
I remain convinced that Slate can best improve its odds by tapping into a market that seems wildly receptive to a no-frills budget-friendly electric truck: municipal and other civic fleets, including parks and recreation, public works, or forestry departments. Urban or suburban police departments, fire departments and parking enforcement. And of course, landscapers, contractors, plumbers, and service techs.
Jablansky, in fact, says Slate has created a Fleet Team “that recognizes the power of fleet sales for light-duty vehicles.”
As for everyday buyers, Americans have long talked a big game on small, affordable cars. Putting money where their mouth is has usually been a different story, though the Ford Maverick has proven a pent-up demand for a practical compact pickup.
Can Slate take a page from Ford and steal some thunder from the folks who brought us the larger Lightning? On behalf of anyone who questions the value of $70,000 monster pickups, their appetite for resources, or their scarcely used capabilities, let’s hope the answer is yes.
2027 Slate Pickup Specifications
BASE PRICE
$26,400
LAYOUT
Rear-motor, RWD, 2-pass, 2-door electric pickup or 4-pass, 2-door electric SUV
MOTOR
181-hp/195-lb-ft permanent-magnet electric
TRANSMISSION
1-speed direct drive
CURB WEIGHT
4,350 lb (mfr)
WHEELBASE
108.9 in
L x W x H
174.6 x 70.6 x 67.5-68.0 in
0-60 MPH
8.0 sec (mfr est)
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON
Not yet rated
EPA RANGE, COMB
205 miles (est)
ON SALE
Late 2026
