Build Quality

[Redpepper31]

Placed my pre-order and this will be my first EV. I'm a car guy and never imagined I would buy an EV,but the Slate really appealed to me with its simplicity, design, and customization concept.
The only concern I have at this point is that this cheap truck isn't built with cheap materials and questionable fitment of parts. I've mostly had high quality vehicles like my current 5th gen 4Runner and my old air cooled Porsche 911SC. I don't expect that level of quality but hopefully it is much better the prototype and pre-production models that have been reviewed by so many.

 

[ScooterAsheville]

Anything any of us say would just be opinion. I've seen a whole span of predictions on this site. The more skeptical minded would say that it's a first vehicle from a new OEM in a new factory, developed in a rush, and engineered and tested and built on a tight budget - so don't expect much. But there's an opposing narrative that the Slate crew is experienced, the vehicle is simple, they're only building one variant, and they stuck with proven tech - so it will be super reliable and high quality.

So you kind of have to choose the narrative you want to believe and wait for the thing to hit the road. And even then, we won't know until a few years have passed. That's just cars. They have to hit the road by the thousands and be driven by us abusive humans in the ice and snow and potholes and heat. We have to slam the doors and scratch the plastics, spill our drinks, have the dog pee on the seats, or the kids barf. All that fun stuff. And don't forget that we have to smash into each other now and then to see how safe it really is, and how expensive or not it is to repair.

I wish I could give a more reassuring answer. I say choose the narrative that lets you sleep well and run with it.

 

[EV Trek]

Placed my pre-order and this will be my first EV. I'm a car guy and never imagined I would buy an EV,but the Slate really appealed to me with its simplicity, design, and customization concept.
The only concern I have at this point is that this cheap truck isn't built with cheap materials and questionable fitment of parts. I've mostly had high quality vehicles like my current 5th gen 4Runner and my old air cooled Porsche 911SC. I don't expect that level of quality but hopefully it is much better the prototype and pre-production models that have been reviewed by so many.

I have noticed the build quality seems to have improved quite a bit already, I am sure by the time it actually hits production they will have the fine details worked out. Remember all the trucks taken on the latest drive videos are still prototypes in the validation phase. That is when they find and come up with a plan to work out the bugs on the vehicles.

 

[Trace26]

Placed my pre-order and this will be my first EV. I'm a car guy and never imagined I would buy an EV,but the Slate really appealed to me with its simplicity, design, and customization concept.
The only concern I have at this point is that this cheap truck isn't built with cheap materials and questionable fitment of parts. I've mostly had high quality vehicles like my current 5th gen 4Runner and my old air cooled Porsche 911SC. I don't expect that level of quality but hopefully it is much better the prototype and pre-production models that have been reviewed by so many.

I would expect cheaper materials, but I think it should be built well. They expect this truck to be used a fleet vehicle so they should be building it to be fairly robust.

 

[Kopsis]

I would not expect any significant materials changes from the design validation units that the press got a look at after the price announcement. The main purpose of those builds is to make sure that the final versions of the components from suppliers can be assembled into a fully functional vehicle. They're only going to change something if there's an actual fit/function problem. If you're expecting anything other than inexpensive hard-touch plastic in most of the interior, you're likely going to be disappointed.

Fit and finish, however, will likely improve. The design validation units are largely hand assembled with large tolerances to have the best chance of making everything fit. They'll use them measure and tighten tolerances as they transition to automated assembly. But even so, I'm expecting fit and finish much more along the lines of 90's Hyundai than 80's Porsche.

 

[ClayJar]

But even so, I'm expecting fit and finish much more along the lines of 90's Hyundai than 80's Porsche.

My best car ever was a 1998 Hyundai Tiburon FX, so if the Slate's along those lines, I'll be content. (I may never forgive Hyundai for renaming the Tib the "Genesis Coupe", jacking the price up into the heavens, and then ruining the styling, but hey.) I took the Tib all the way to Deadhorse, Alaska, at Prudhoe Bay on an 11,333-mile, 12-day solo road trip, and it made the miles fly by.

I'm planning to be really happy with a Slate truck, even if it can't take winding roads as hard or go for insane distances with only utterly minimal gas-and-go stops. Of course, my biggest adjustment won't have anything to do with performance or styling or build quality. My biggest adjustment is going to be going from proper 3-pedal driving to 1-ish pedal EV driving.

Oooh, heavy mod idea: Add a "clutch" pedal that, when pressed, commands the motor to run at a level that approximates the feel of coasting out of gear. It's a necessary safety feature to prevent inadvertent clutch-foot brake application, I tells ya! 🤣

 

[Mr. X]

I really hope the cab is sealed better on the final units. You can see daylight coming through in the corners of the back of the cab on all the influencer videos from the price reveal event!

 

[EV Trek]

I really hope the cab is sealed better on the final units. You can see daylight coming through in the corners of the back of the cab on all the influencer videos from the price reveal event!

Yes it will be along with other flaws you might have caught in the ride along videos, those were not production intent trucks. It was mentioned by several of the Slate reps.

 

[Mr. X]

Yes it will be along with other flaws you might have caught in the ride along videos, those were not production intent trucks. It was mentioned by several of the Slate reps.

Makes me hopeful about the cab being pretty quiet. Influencers sounded fairly impressed with what they experienced even with those massive gaps.

 

[cadblu]

I really hope the cab is sealed better on the final units. You can see daylight coming through in the corners of the back of the cab on all the influencer videos from the price reveal event!

I’m willing to give Slate a ‘free pass’ on fit, finish, and minor cosmetic flaws on early production vehicles. But there are certain things I cannot accept, like water intrusion in the SUV kit through seals and the rear glass.

And the last thing we want to hear from Slate is, “well… we made it, you build it, you installed it, it’s on you.”

 

[E90400K]

Using some of Demming's quality axioms, quality of a product is a result of good engineering design and proper monitoring and control of the manufacturing process.

From what I have seen with the Slate presented information is the design seems to be very thought out and worked through. The good here is, as a startup with a small engineering crew and limited org chart, good ideas don't get filtered out of the design process. Understanding Slate is delivering a Blank Slate, it is also delivering a "clean slate" design. Having staff from Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid, which all were clean slate startups, there is a lot of institutional knowledge as what not to do as a startup building its first EV. The best of both corporate worlds, knowledgeable people working in environment with little to no preconceptions or pre-conditions to adhere to.

Even better IMO is the fresh start with a clean sheet assembly facility. No labor union to contend with (no mention of the UAW so far) and Indiana is a right-to-work state, enacted into law in 2012. That means Slate can incorporate as much automation as it sees fit and does not have to contend with preconceived and preconditioned UAW job classifications. Let's hope Slate follows industry good practices of "quality roundtables" where the assembly line technicians have input into the assembly design and process. It appears Chris Barman has good experience here based on her past career positions.

Being a car guy too, I think you need to be cautioned as to how to consider the "build quality". The Slate is an unpainted, plastic-bodied truck, built to a price point, with the intent not to offer amenities. EVs are more expensive to build than ICEV. Slate has stated they have taken part content (part count) out of their design and will build just one single configuration to attain its production cost targets. An example I will use is the Ford Bronco with its plastic, reinforced glass-fiber injection molded, hard top. Scan the internet and the consensus is the Bronco Hard top sucks. I have one going on 4 years now, and my view of the hard top is, it is a quality piece of engineering art. But it's plastic, lightweight, and has been subject to manufacturing defects. But that is a quality control issue of not good monitoring and control of the manufacturing process. Injection molding of large plastic fiber-reinforced, molded-in-color parts (MIC) is somewhat difficult to achieve consistency.

Based on the data presented by Slate so far, the spaceframe "Slateboard" chassis appears to be a well-engineered piece and the build of it seems to be nearly completely automated. The suspension and EV driveline are not new designs. All which points to a high-quality automotive product based on what has been presented so far. But I would not expect "beauty" from it, that most snooty car aficionados are used to.

Try to see the beauty of it from the minimalist point view as a Slate is indented to be.

My 2-cents.

 

[E90400K]

I’m willing to give Slate a ‘free pass’ on fit, finish, and minor cosmetic flaws on early production vehicles. But there are certain things I cannot accept, like water intrusion in the SUV kit through seals and the rear glass.

And the last thing we want to hear from Slate is, “well… we made it, you build it, you installed it, it’s on you.”

I'd still like to know how the bulkhead wall and bed footwell cover is designed to be sealed and remain sealed over time and heavy pickup truck use. None of the knucklehead cyber influencers has thought to ask that question, even now some 14 months past the initial Slate reveal.

 

[EV Trek]

I'd still like to know how the bulkhead wall and bed footwell cover is designed to be sealed and remains sealed over time and heavy pickup truck use. None of the knucklehead cyber influencers has thought to ask that question, even now some 14 months past the initial Slate reveal.

I would expect that things like that are pretty high priority with the engineering team.

 

[E90400K]

I would expect that things like that are pretty high priority with the engineering team.

Agree, but it would be nice to know how it was executed. That is what I can't stand about most internet automotive content creators, they really don't know shit about how cars are built and operate. LOL.

The sealing implementation is literally the first question I had upon first seeing the Slate and its intended SUV conversion design. All I can point to is Chevy's mid-gate design from the Avalanche. And I've never seen it.

 

[Nivek]

They seem to be quite a talented and experienced team taking this on. Based on the new ASMR video they posted, it looks like the quality is pretty high. The door shut sounded quality, the gaps looked good, the material finishes and textures looked good, and no glaring quality issues were noticeable in the injection molded parts. Im hopeful, and I think there is a beauty in its simplicity.

Likely the validation prototypes in their price release video were using 1st run injection molded components that may not have met fit and finish standards but are functional. It's also possible some of the parts came off of soft tooling.