How adventurous are you going to be orderiing your Slate?

[ScooterAsheville]

With leasing, most EV leases on affordable models seem to be real short, like 2 year closed end leases, and you are still putting 3k down, plus taxes registration and fees. The math just doesn't seem to work for me, as someone who keeps a car 10 years.
I am hoping to have most of the purchase price saved up by launch.
As a truck, and starting at a low price it seems probable that depreciation won't be so crazy.

Valid observation. You're spot on. Leases don't work for people who keep vehicles forever. They work for people who keep cars two or three years.

But a lease could be a really smart choice when you don't trust a new company or their product. Would you rather drop $30,000 on a Slate only to have the company go bankrupt in six months, no spare parts, no warranty, no service. Or would you rather be out a few grand? That's a call each person has to make for themselves.

I've never leased. But given my lack of trust in Slate's chances of being a going concern beyond an initial surge of fanboy orders, I might lean towards one. OTOH, I won't be buying for at least mid-2027. Maybe enough time to gauge if they're a success or not.

Nobody should misread my comments as being an anti-Slate troll. Love the company. Love the product. Love the mission. Just a realist with feet firmly planted on the ground.

 

[sodamo]

I'll get one asap because I think they'll be a hit like the Maverick Hybrid was. It took me three years of waiting before they stopped putting "dealer adjustments" on them. I love that Slate is direct to consumer. I'm afraid if I don't get one early, demand will outstrip production in short order and it will be a long wait. I'm too old to wait.

Too old to wait. I can relate.

 

[KevinRS]

Valid observation. You're spot on. Leases don't work for people who keep vehicles forever. They work for people who keep cars two or three years.

But a lease could be a really smart choice when you don't trust a new company or their product. Would you rather drop $30,000 on a Slate only to have the company go bankrupt in six months, no spare parts, no warranty, no service. Or would you rather be out a few grand? That's a call each person has to make for themselves.

I've never leased. But given my lack of trust in Slate's chances of being a going concern beyond an initial surge of fanboy orders, I might lean towards one. OTOH, I won't be buying for at least mid-2027. Maybe enough time to gauge if they're a success or not.

Nobody should misread my comments as being an anti-Slate troll. Love the company. Love the product. Love the mission. Just a realist with feet firmly planted on the ground.

The thing is when you calculate the cost of those leases, that ~3k down, works out to 125 a month on a 2 year lease, and they are closed end leases, where at the end you turn the car in, and pay for any excess mileage or wear. No buy out option. Sure it's fine for people who like to always have a new car, but that means perpetually making payments, plus paying those down payments every time. My preference is to at least have a chance at some time with the car paid off, so you can save up that money that was going to the car payment.

 

[null98115]

Not making a reservation because it seems like a waste of $50 right now.

You know the $50 is fully refundable, right?

 

[ScooterAsheville]

I'd take the $50 refundable with a grain of salt. I put $50 down on an Arcimoto some years back. Changed my mind, and suddenly my calls, texts and emails weren't returned. Companies in financial trouble have a habit of ghosting you. And we don't know that tomorrow morning's news story won't be "Slate folds". We literally don't know what tomorrow will bring - we're just hoping it's good.

I put down $50 because I just considered it a vote of encouragement. I don't expect I'll ever get it back. Personally, I think $50 deposits are just invester relations PR BS. "Look how many reservations we have!". Now make it $5,000 non-refundable. That's a reservation.

Speaking of finances, I read Slate was in a Series C fundraising round a few weeks back. Waiting to hear that it's complete and what their haul was. Hopefully a half billion or so, as it typically takes 1.5 billion (or much more) to reach market with a new model. Last I read Slate had raised 700 million, which they said was enough to reach market. Then (big surprise) they said they needed more.

Edit: I always like to fact check myself. I vividly recall seeing the Slate CEO mention a new Series C funding round in a video. But I just Googled "Slate Series C" and I can't find anything from the last month. Could be I'm hallucinating that.

 

[Letas]

I'd take the $50 refundable with a grain of salt. I put $50 down on an Arcimoto some years back. Changed my mind, and suddenly my calls, texts and emails weren't returned. Companies in financial trouble have a habit of ghosting you. And we don't know that tomorrow morning's news story won't be "Slate folds". We literally don't know what tomorrow will bring - we're just hoping it's good.

I put down $50 because I just considered it a vote of encouragement. I don't expect I'll ever get it back. Personally, I think $50 deposits are just invester relations PR BS. "Look how many reservations we have!". Now make it $5,000 non-refundable. That's a reservation.

Speaking of finances, I read Slate was in a Series C fundraising round a few weeks back. Waiting to hear that it's complete and what their haul was. Hopefully a half billion or so, as it typically takes 1.5 billion (or much more) to reach market with a new model. Last I read Slate had raised 700 million, which they said was enough to reach market. Then (big surprise) they said they needed more.

Edit: I always like to fact check myself. I vividly recall seeing the Slate CEO mention a new Series C funding round in a video. But I just Googled "Slate Series C" and I can't find anything from the last month. Could be I'm hallucinating that.

Looks like you were on the mark- quite a few articles post to being in the process of Series C funding.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/08/why-this-los-angeles-vc-firm-was-an-early-investor-in-slate-auto/
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/slat...rs-like-bezos-for-us-built-evs-134721632.html

Albeit, a bit concerning if they were public about Series C funding in May and it is not closed yet.... hopefully they are not undersubscribed.