Intrasting video

[fuzzyweis]

I feel like they needed to open up for reservations to gauge interest before going full production, and then going full production does take some time. They built 70 beta trucks and did the tours last year with them so that's not 'hot air'. Now they have a production facility and are getting a wrap shipping facility, still just within a year. We're also seeing some design changes in the maker hinting at the production design vs the beta, so they are moving pretty quick.

Compare this to Telo who started taking reservations 3 years ago, and literally have 2 trucks, or Aptera that have strung people along for over a dozen years now, or Scout that announced 2 years ago, is still building a factory from scratch, and is now saying 2027 for their launch. I still hope they all make it, but Slate is at least seeming more grounded in reality.

-Jim

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I feel like they needed to open up for reservations to gauge interest before going full production, and then going full production does take some time. They built 70 beta trucks and did the tours last year with them so that's not 'hot air'. Now they have a production facility and are getting a wrap shipping facility, still just within a year. We're also seeing some design changes in the maker hinting at the production design vs the beta, so they are moving pretty quick.

Compare this to Telo who started taking reservations 3 years ago, and literally have 2 trucks, or Aptera that have strung people along for over a dozen years now, or Scout that announced 2 years ago, is still building a factory from scratch, and is now saying 2027 for their launch. I still hope they all make it, but Slate is at least seeming more grounded in reality.

-Jim

Great points - thanks for this perspective.

 

[IanNubbit]

I feel like they needed to open up for reservations to gauge interest before going full production, and then going full production does take some time. They built 70 beta trucks and did the tours last year with them so that's not 'hot air'. Now they have a production facility and are getting a wrap shipping facility, still just within a year. We're also seeing some design changes in the maker hinting at the production design vs the beta, so they are moving pretty quick.

Compare this to Telo who started taking reservations 3 years ago, and literally have 2 trucks, or Aptera that have strung people along for over a dozen years now, or Scout that announced 2 years ago, is still building a factory from scratch, and is now saying 2027 for their launch. I still hope they all make it, but Slate is at least seeming more grounded in reality.

-Jim

Seriously... People are praising Scout and Telo, yet they have been around 2 to 3 times as long as Slate, and have produced a fraction of a percentage of actual progress. But somehow Slate gets ridiculed like they have done nothing after only a year.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Seriously... People are praising Scout and Telo, yet they have been around 2 to 3 times as long as Slate, and have produced a fraction of a percentage of actual progress. But somehow Slate gets ridiculed like they have done nothing after only a year.

But we're all so impatient! That's why we're all spending so much time here on this forum engaging each other in wishful thinking lol.

 

[IanNubbit]

But we're all so impatient! That's why we're all spending so much time here on this forum engaging each other in wishful thinking lol.

Oh same! I just don't get the attitude of people on a forum dedicated to a vehicle that has only been known for about a year, and people, on that forum, are annoyed the vehicle is "taking too long" and "not enough updates" are coming. Wait till you see YouTube comments... I totally want my Slate now, but there is nothing to annoyed by? They said end of 2026, if more than a few dozen trucks land in real buyers driveways before 12/21/26 I'm perfectly content with their progress. If they get thousands sold before December, I would say they are destroying expectations.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Oh same! I just don't get the attitude of people on a forum dedicated to a vehicle that has only been known for about a year, and people, on that forum, are annoyed the vehicle is "taking too long" and "not enough updates" are coming. Wait till you see YouTube comments... I totally want my Slate now, but there is nothing to annoyed by? They said end of 2026, if more than a few dozen trucks land in real buyers driveways before 12/21/26 I'm perfectly content with their progress. If they get thousands sold before December, I would say they are destroying expectations.

What do you mean, there's nothing to be annoyed by??? Don't tell me what to do. This is bs. 🤣

 

[E90400K]

Seriously... People are praising Scout and Telo, yet they have been around 2 to 3 times as long as Slate, and have produced a fraction of a percentage of actual progress. But somehow Slate gets ridiculed like they have done nothing after only a year.

For me swapping out the C-suite from Barman to Faricy is a bit of a red flag. No one has made a convincing argument for the CEO change.

 

[fuzzyweis]

For me swapping out the C-suite from Barman to Faricy is a bit of a red flag. No one has made a convincing argument for the CEO change.

It's not a red flag for me as my company did this just last year. We had just a CEO the first couple years when we were less than 50 employees, as we ramped up and our customer base grew we got a CEO to focus on the business operations, and our current CEO became President to focus on customer relationships and growth. And it was not a hostile maneuver, it was just a step in the company growth, our previous CEO/now President is busier than ever.

To me that's what it looks like with Slate, Chris became President to focus on finalizing production, and the new CEO can focus on all the other business operation related items, supply, distribution, repair partnerships and all that.

-Jim

 

[dotcom]

This video is from July 2025, right? I know it was just uploaded to YouTube last week, but Reindustrialize 2.0 was 9 months ago. (And Chris is in a different role now.)

Not surprising that there's nothing new here. But I still enjoy hearing it told in different ways.

 

[dotcom]

It's not a red flag for me as my company did this just last year. We had just a CEO the first couple years when we were less than 50 employees, as we ramped up and our customer base grew we got a CEO to focus on the business operations, and our current CEO became President to focus on customer relationships and growth. And it was not a hostile maneuver, it was just a step in the company growth, our previous CEO/now President is busier than ever.

To me that's what it looks like with Slate, Chris became President to focus on finalizing production, and the new CEO can focus on all the other business operation related items, supply, distribution, repair partnerships and all that.

-Jim

I agree -- I think it's a smart and humble move for them to make. Chris seems more focused on engineering and manufacturing whereas Peter's background is Amazon which, I'm sure you're all aware, has operations nailed and is pretty good at moving product. Also as a bonus, there's no consumer-facing tech in this truck that they can F up like a Fire tablet.