Absolutely buying, but worried about this one thing...

[thespacecowboy]

I'm buying, but I have questions about how hooking up speakers will work, and how the speakers available from Slate will sound. Not looking to do the removable bluetooth speaker option, just the speakers in either corner of the dash. People have speculated that it will be pre-wired for them which is good, but curious how the connection actually works, is it wired through the mount or will I ultimately need some kind of head unit?

I'm happy something won't be pre installed, happy to go on crutchfield or the like once others have tried out some speakers.

I am worried about actual range at various speeds, temps, and city vs highway.

 

[sodamo]

I'm buying, but I have questions about how hooking up speakers will work, and how the speakers available from Slate will sound. Not looking to do the removable bluetooth speaker option, just the speakers in either corner of the dash. People have speculated that it will be pre-wired for them which is good, but curious how the connection actually works, is it wired through the mount or will I ultimately need some kind of head unit?

I'm happy something won't be pre installed, happy to go on crutchfield or the like once others have tried out some speakers.

I am worried about actual range at various speeds, temps, and city vs highway.

Answers will come - eventually

 

[thespacecowboy]

As a side note, if anyone spots a Slate with a radar detector mounted on the windshield, that needs to be posted here for our amusement. 😀

Are you telling me I don't need to spend $4,000 for a custom fit radar detector and laser jammer in my 90mph max Slate? Blasphemy.

 

[GrizzlysGhost]

Like most of you folks, I will be buying sight-unseen. I do have several "concerns" but will still be buying regardless.
My two main concerns for where I live (NW Montana) are the winter and tall mountain passes and their effect on my battery (specifically distance able to travel). I will get the extended battery, but the frame will be lifted and will be rolling on large tires (which will effect range).

How will it handle in the snow (i.e. 1-foot unplowed; I have about 1/2 mile of gravel between any asphalt and my front door). Will the CoG be balanced enough that I don't need to load the back with sandbags every fall?

A regular pass near me could present a challenge, as it's in the middle of a National Park and not really near any charging stations (which in this state are already pretty scarce anyway). My daily commute is very short, and will recharge in my home garage, but I do worry about trips over the pass if just getting over the pass leaves me at 30%.

I've never owned an EV, so am not really sure if these are valid concerns but... you asked

 

[danielt1263]

A regular pass near me could present a challenge, as it's in the middle of a National Park and not really near any charging stations (which in this state are already pretty scarce anyway). My daily commute is very short, and will recharge in my home garage, but I do worry about trips over the pass if just getting over the pass leaves me at 30%.

I just saw a YouTube video about the subject. If a charge can get you to the top then you will be fine, it's mostly regen on the way back down.

 

[KevinRS]

On speakers, we will have to see what Slate actually comes with, AFAIK everything shown will be bluetooth based, but some bluetooth speakers actually sound really good, surprisingly good for their size and price.

 

[pdxmotorhead]

I'm looking forward to the learning curve of charging infrastructure. I'm sure there will be a few fails along the way. I'm a little concerned about reliability, and finding a good place to get it wrentched on. Again it's just a matter of sorting it.

Go on one road trip after you have had the car for a month or so, all the anxiety will be gone there ar multiple apps for phones to find the chargers, and if it comes with CCS/J1712 just buy a tesla charger adapter.. youll be fine.. I did Portland Oregon to Houston TX last summer and never had issues with finding a charger except for a spot where it got tight north of hte grand canyon on the way home, I was down to 10% as I pulled in to the charger (All on me I ran around too much chasing photo opps. )

 

[thespacecowboy]

Go on one road trip after you have had the car for a month or so, all the anxiety will be gone there ar multiple apps for phones to find the chargers, and if it comes with CCS/J1712 just buy a tesla charger adapter.. youll be fine.. I did Portland Oregon to Houston TX last summer and never had issues with finding a charger except for a spot where it got tight north of hte grand canyon on the way home, I was down to 10% as I pulled in to the charger (All on me I ran around too much chasing photo opps. )

I’ve done the math on a cross country road trip and plugged it into a couple ev route planning apps and it should be easily doable. ~10,000 miles, starting at 100% and then doing mostly 10-80% and then factoring in a blanket 5% range reduction (for things like climate control, terrain, weather variations, etc) it should be about 53 charging stops. It’s almost entirely possible on the Tesla Supercharger network alone, and there are a great many more charging stations out there than just the Tesla ones.

A Better Route Planner already has the Slate truck added based on the battery size and manufacturer estimated range. It lined up within just a few stops of my rough math, which came out to about 58-60 stops based on a worst case scenario range situation with the larger battery.

 

[Johnny5]

Go on one road trip after you have had the car for a month or so, all the anxiety will be gone there ar multiple apps for phones to find the chargers, and if it comes with CCS/J1712 just buy a tesla charger adapter.. youll be fine..

That sounds like a perfectly good excuse for road trips! I could call it "battery practice." I could totally explain to my sweetie that we need to go to Reno because. . "electric trucks are just like that. " I'll just calmly explain how charging stations are like Pokémon Go, or some such. I'm on it!

 

[LoneWolfo6]

Haven’t followed this forum too much, has there been much safety forums on crash results?

Highway speeds and in town?

Slate vs 3500 pickup, slate vs similar size SUV?

There were many small one crunch wonders put out by ICE domestic and overseas that didn’t make the cut on survivability in the past.

 

[GaRailroader]

Keep in mind slowing down is the best way to get better range when you are in a pickle. We went to Jersey Shore a few years ago and Tesla Model 3 just sat in the driveway of rental house for the entire week in the sun. At the end of the week we were way lower than where it was when I parked it. I looked where the closest Supercharger was on our way out and it was about 10 mile further than what it showed I had range to get to. We headed out and I set cruise at 45 mph on a 65 mph road. I kept the HVAC on, my wife suggested that I turn the HVAC off, I told her that I would slow down to 40 MPH before I was turning the AC off. We got to the Supercharger with like 6 or 8 miles of range remaining.

Kyle from Out of Spec recently did a cross country trip in a new Chevy Bolt with the goal of only using Ionna charging stations for refueling stops. Apparently, there was a large gap and they ended up going 350 miles between charging stops by slowing down. They had previously tested the Bolt in a 100-0 65 mph cruise and it could go 220 miles.

 

[NH425]

Sounds petty but the EV warning sound worries me. We had a Niro EV that had a backup sound that made neighbors think they were getting deliveries. The Fiat 500E has an Italian song. Some sound like space ships. I love EVs but wish they had no sound at all.

Anybody know what noise our trucks will make?

 

[thespacecowboy]

Keep in mind slowing down is the best way to get better range when you are in a pickle. We went to Jersey Shore a few years ago and Tesla Model 3 just sat in the driveway of rental house for the entire week in the sun. At the end of the week we were way lower than where it was when I parked it. I looked where the closest Supercharger was on our way out and it was about 10 mile further than what it showed I had range to get to. We headed out and I set cruise at 45 mph on a 65 mph road. I kept the HVAC on, my wife suggested that I turn the HVAC off, I told her that I would slow down to 40 MPH before I was turning the AC off. We got to the Supercharger with like 6 or 8 miles of range remaining.

Kyle from Out of Spec recently did a cross country trip in a new Chevy Bolt with the goal of only using Ionna charging stations for refueling stops. Apparently, there was a large gap and they ended up going 350 miles between charging stops by slowing down. They had previously tested the Bolt in a 100-0 65 mph cruise and it could go 220 miles.

It makes sense. The biggest issue that EV’s need to worry about is drag. Combustion engines are already pretty inefficient, it’s just less of a problem at a consistent speed like on the freeway because they’re so bad around the city, so drag isn’t the main factor limiting range for them. But an EV being basically equally efficient at all speeds in terms of the motor means that drag plays a much bigger role, and it increases exponentially with speed.

 

[cadblu]

We went to Jersey Shore a few years ago and Tesla Model 3 just sat in the driveway of rental house for the entire week in the sun. At the end of the week we were way lower than where it was when I parked it.

I guess you had “cabin overheat protection” -COP - enabled? That will reduce your range quite significantly. I turned mine off, and lose typically one mile per day. But keeping your speed low while traveling to a supercharger was a wise decision.

 

[Shrink36s]

Sounds petty but the EV warning sound worries me. We had a Niro EV that had a backup sound that made neighbors think they were getting deliveries. The Fiat 500E has an Italian song. Some sound like space ships. I love EVs but wish they had no sound at all.

Anybody know what noise our trucks will make?

No idea what sound Slate uses.
The sounds are necessary, though, for safety. Especially in big cities where you have people with visual impairment who rely on hearing cars at cross walks for safety. EVs can be so quiet they would have no chance otherwise.
I believe all EV’s have to have a sound under 20MPH and in reverse.