Actively considering cancelling reservation.

[Cody122]

I have been very excited for this truck since I first learned about it. My reservation was on day 3 and I drove an hour to see a prototype. But I have been very seriously thinking about not converting to an actual order.

The brain math goes like this...

$2400 to eventually put a new battery in my '17 Fusion Hybrid(doesn't currently need one). Car is paid off and has zero mechanical issues. 42+mpg. Refurb batteries have a 2 year warranty but last much longer.

$25,000+, +options for the Slate.
- I am not rich. This would be my first new vehicle ever and the payment is not insignificant to me.
- New vehicle from a new company is going to have "new" issues. I have never bought year 1-2 of a new model.
- Repair Pal shops are everywhere but none are Slate certified. Mech or HV Electrical. You can't even look for Slate mechanics yet. Is there a timeline?
- No heat pumps initially. This is a terrible idea in Seattle. I don't want to buy the bigger battery just to run the heater 8 months out of the year. Very disappointed when I learned this.
- Insurance is still a ?. My insurance company doesn't even know Slate exists and cant give a quote. Do I want to lay down cash for a Slate without knowing how much the thing is to insure?

This is silly to toss in here but I was pretty turned off by the CEO AMA thing. I was hoping/expecting serious answers to questions from serious buyers. Nope. We got a Monte Python skit cold reading softball yes/no questions we already knew and some vague "good" answers. Almost no new info other than they are still on schedule.

Anyways. Have not cancelled yet and won't at least until whenever they convert to orders. Just putting my thoughts out there. I would still love to get one eventually but might wait a couple years. Anyone else having this dilemma?

 

[AZFox]

I would still love to get one eventually but might wait a couple years.

 

[GaRailroader]

I have been very excited for this truck since I first learned about it. My reservation was on day 3 and I drove an hour to see a prototype. But I have been very seriously thinking about not converting to an actual order.

The brain math goes like this...

$2400 to eventually put a new battery in my '17 Fusion Hybrid(doesn't currently need one). Car is paid off and has zero mechanical issues. 42+mpg. Refurb batteries have a 2 year warranty but last much longer.

$25,000+, +options for the Slate.
- I am not rich. This would be my first new vehicle ever and the payment is not insignificant to me.
- New vehicle from a new company is going to have "new" issues. I have never bought year 1-2 of a new model.
- Repair Pal shops are everywhere but none are Slate certified. Mech or HV Electrical. You can't even look for Slate mechanics yet. Is there a timeline?
- No heat pumps initially. This is a terrible idea in Seattle. I don't want to buy the bigger battery just to run the heater 8 months out of the year. Very disappointed when I learned this.
- Insurance is still a ?. My insurance company doesn't even know Slate exists and cant give a quote. Do I want to lay down cash for a Slate without knowing how much the thing is to insure?

This is silly to toss in here but I was pretty turned off by the CEO AMA thing. I was hoping/expecting serious answers to questions from serious buyers. Nope. We got a Monte Python skit cold reading softball yes/no questions we already knew and some vague "good" answers. Almost no new info other than they are still on schedule.

Anyways. Have not cancelled yet and won't at least until whenever they convert to orders. Just putting my thoughts out there. I would still love to get one eventually but might wait a couple years. Anyone else having this dilemma?

I think the math is always going to favor continuing to run the old car rather than buying new. Buying a car is a bad investment.

Yesterday I rented a truck from Home Depot and bought the supplies for a shed build I am working on. It came to $22 with tax and I am not certain how well the Slate would have handled the 12’ length 2x6s. It would be wiser for me to continue to drive the 2018 Tesla and rent a pick-up when needed but I want the truck and so when it is available I’ll be taking the plunge.

 

[Luxrage]

I'm in the same boat as you, the Slate would be replacing a very beat up, thrice hail damaged Honda Fit. Getting that Fit mechanically sound is still a lot less than a Slate would be. The Slate would also be my fist 'new' car, and after seeing some of the teething issues other OEMs have went through on first model years, it's always a little concerning. The AMA did also turn me off a bit, I had a question answered but was only half-answered and the first part of my question was modified to make it more vague. Even in the south, it was 24 last night so I'll definitely be using that PTC heater on many of my commutes.

I'm not gonna pull out until the bitter end, though, a lot can change in that amount of time and maybe mother nature will take the Fit THIS tornado/hail season and I can start cross shopping the Slate against used craigslist pickups. The small pickup form factor is the biggest selling point to me by far, next only to the lack of all of the 'modern convenience features,' so it does stop me from jumping into something like a CMAX or Fusion or Escape Hybrid*.

*one of the mid 00s ones that came in that metallic lime green.

 

[SichuanHot]

I haven't put any money into the reservation so I'm simply spectating. It'll be nice if they succeed and deliver on something affordable, but I'm not holding out for anything.

 

[Adam W]

Unless you need that $50 back, I'd just let it ride for a while. Even after orders go live, Slate has said you can hold off on pulling the trigger until the time it makes sense for you. I'd suggest keeping your place in line, wait for real people to start getting their trucks, and make a final decision then when we actually know what the end product is.

A lot of the concerns you have can be attributed to the fact we're still a year out. The factory is still going together, the final production truck is still being tweaked, the RepairPal shops just got an initial introduction last week or so, so they haven't even begun the registration/training process. Not sure why any insurance company would know anything about rates yet.

That said, if the truck doesn't fit an immediate need, waiting until version 2 is probably a smart move. You'll get the AWD version all us early adopters will be envious of.

 

[KevinRS]

Unless you need that $50 back, I'd just let it ride for a while. Even after orders go live, Slate has said you can hold off on pulling the trigger until the time it makes sense for you. I'd suggest keeping your place in line, wait for real people to start getting their trucks, and make a final decision then when we actually know what the end product is.

A lot of the concerns you have can be attributed to the fact we're still a year out. The factory is still going together, the final production truck is still being tweaked, the RepairPal shops just got an initial introduction last week or so, so they haven't even begun the registration/training process. Not sure why any insurance company would know anything about rates yet.

That said, if the truck doesn't fit an immediate need, waiting until version 2 is probably a smart move. You'll get the AWD version all us early adopters will be envious of.

Exactly. No reason not to let it ride, all these concerns are things we will know more on later, the "Serious" questions people are complaining that didn't get answered probably do not have answers yet.

 

[MotoGary]

Cody - Your arguments for canceling your reservation are convincing. We all have different situations and the Slate doesn't seem like it will be a good fit for you. Why wait? I'd cancel now and move on.

 

[AZFox]

This begs a question...

Do you suppose the MY 2028 Truck will start being produced at the same time other manufacturers start producing their MY 2028s?

New models sometimes ship as early as August.

If so, Slate may not make a whole lot of MY 2027s compared to subsequent years.

 

[E90400K]

I was really turned off by the silliness of the Dec. 16th Q&A session. I was really game for the Slate to replace my aging-out GM midsized pickup truck until that Q&A event. When the Slate was "under $20K" I saw it as an opportunity to buy an EV on the cheap just to satisfy my engineering curiosity. At $26K or nearly $30K (with the 84kWh battery) and considering the lack of content, or better put, the mix of content along with its very poor tow rating, I am starting to wane on the value proposition of the Slate.

The silliness of the Q&A event was an error on Slate's part in my opinion. This is serious shit to start a new car company and build a brand new EV platform from the ground up. Doing it on a $700M budget is even more questionable in my book. Slate is asking us to buy its $26K product and not consider the company's long term sustainability? I want the CEO to be serious as shit about answering questions rather than stupidly joking about 9' surfboards. I just question the long-term viability of their business model. She did nothing to convince me this whole idea is going to work.

The more Slate answers questions the more I see this as a smoke and mirrors proposition. But it's just $50. Not a big risk to give Slate another year to gel and get the production-ready product out for serious consideration. Based on what you've stated as concerns, my advice is to just give up on following the gestation period for the next 12 months and come back to it in October 2026 or so and see where Slate is.

 

[E90400K]

This begs a question...

Do you suppose the MY 2028 Truck will start being produced at the same time other manufacturers start producing their MY 2028s?

New models sometimes ship as early as August.

If so, Slate may not make a whole lot of MY 2027s compared to subsequent years.

I've read the Federal regulations regarding the assignment and production of model years by manufactures. Geeky, yeah I know, but I was curious during the time of the Bronco's production hickups back in 2021, so I dug into the topic

The regulations allow a manufacturer up to 24 months to complete a production run of a particular model year. That means if Slate designates 150,000 VINs for model year 2027, they can produce those VINs through the 24th production month sometime in calendar year 2029 if need be.

 

[cadblu]

I was really turned off by the silliness of the Dec. 16th Q&A session. I was really game for the Slate to replace my aging-out GM midsized pickup truck until that Q&A event. When the Slate was "under $20K" I saw it as an opportunity to buy an EV on the cheap just to satisfy my engineering curiosity. At $26K or nearly $30K (with the 84kWh battery) and considering the lack of content, or better put, the mix of content along with its very poor tow rating, I am starting to wane on the value proposition of the Slate.

The silliness of the Q&A event was an error on Slate's part in my opinion. This is serious shit to start a new car company and build a brand new EV platform from the ground up. Doing it on a $700M budget is even more questionable in my book. Slate is asking us to buy its $26K product and not consider the company's long term sustainability? I want the CEO to be serious as shit about answering questions rather than stupidly joking about 9' surfboards. I just question the long-term viability of their business model. She did nothing to convince me this whole idea is going to work.

The more Slate answers questions the more I see this as a smoke and mirrors proposition. But it's just $50. Not a big risk to give Slate another year to gel and get the production-ready product out for serious consideration. Based on what you've stated as concerns, my advice is to just give up on following the gestation period for the next 12 months and come back to it in October 2026 or so and see where Slate is.

I also found the Q&A session silly, childish, insulting and even condescending to prospective buyers with reservations.

Eg. Q. “will a bench seat be available?” A. Yes, in the back row of the 5 passenger version

Q. “What about emergency power for a job site?” A. Check your frunk.

Either Barman is completely out of touch, but everyone knows the bench seat reference was for the front row, a 12v power tap is not a power supply for a job site, etc. Lately I’m beginning to think that’s just her quirky personality coming through. This was not a message to the board of directors or an investment firm. This was a low budget YouTube piece that helps fill the void of any new information on the truck. Some journalists have found her charming in other interviews. Maybe not the polished look and dynamic personality of some CEOs and executives we expected, but that’s the image she portrays. I accept that. And it really doesn’t matter much, as long as the Slate team delivers on its mission.

 

[E90400K]

I also found the Q&A session silly, childish, insulting and even condescending to prospective buyers with reservations.

Eg. Q. “will a bench seat be available?” A. Yes, in the back row of the 5 passenger version

Q. “What about emergency power for a job site?” A. Check your frunk.

Either Barman is completely out of touch, but everyone knows the bench seat reference was for the front row, a 12v power tap is not a power supply for a job site, etc. Lately I’m beginning to think that’s just her quirky personality coming through. This was not a message to the board of directors or an investment firm. This was a low budget YouTube piece that helps fill the void of any new information on the truck. Some journalists have found her charming in other interviews. Maybe not the polished look and dynamic personality of some CEOs and executives we expected, but that’s the image she portrays. I accept that. And it really doesn’t matter much, as long as the Slate team delivers on its mission.

I'm a big proponent for having fun at work and kind of have a class-clown personality about me (ask the Nuns...) and I get it was an inside-the-house video, so they were having some fun with it, but as a first presentation to us Reservationists, it still left me with a not-to-serious aftertaste. Maybe I'm just being a bit over reactive to her shtick. But like I said, I'm not out yet and I'm waiting to see how it plays out. I just hope a meet-the-production-slate event is held close to my locale, which is more of a BroDozer combustion market than an EV market, so fingers crossed.

Barman is a bit of a Maverick, which is good and needed for the project she has taken on. She's impressive from that perspective. (Sorry, just couldn't resist...). I like her a hell of a lot more than Jim Farley at FoMoCo.

Though I'm still contemplating the business model; I'm not convinced it is going to work for them long term.

 

[E90400K]

I think the math is always going to favor continuing to run the old car rather than buying new. Buying a car is a bad investment.

Yesterday I rented a truck from Home Depot and bought the supplies for a shed build I am working on. It came to $22 with tax and I am not certain how well the Slate would have handled the 12’ length 2x6s. It would be wiser for me to continue to drive the 2018 Tesla and rent a pick-up when needed but I want the truck and so when it is available I’ll be taking the plunge.

Trust me on this. Once you have a pickup truck in your personal fleet of automobiles, you'll never want to be without one for the rest of your driving life.

 

[ScooterAsheville]

I kind of like the Slate CEO. I think she has that dry, sardonic, "keep it real" Rust Belt persona. I think of her as the Anti-Elon.

I empathize with both the optimists and pessimists on this forum. In the absense of facts, human beings will invent them. 99% of every posting on this forum seems to be invented fact. Again, because there are very few new facts since the initial reveal. Just the same vague promises, about as susbstantial as the passing clouds.

The optimist in me hopes Slate makes it to production, catches the attention of an iconclastic class of auto buyer, and makes it into a bright and shiny future as a renegade maker of "built in the USA", "back to basics" vehicles.

The pessimist in me believes that Slate failed the day the BEV incentives were canned. And all that's happening right now is that Slate employees are collecting their paychecks, feeding their families, and going through the motions until the last dime of that $700 million is gone.

I think the Q&A was a bad idea. If you didn't have anything meaningful to say, shouldn't have held it. I wonder if the whole motivation was simply to have the CEO be filmed in front of a few factory robots on pedestals to hint at progress.