Now that the dust has settled...

[cvollers]

Really though, a well-balanced car (such as a BMW 530i) with near 50/50 weight balance is best for driving in snow when equipped with the proper tires. Weight balance is key to controlling moments of inertia, which is key to stability in inclement weather. It will be interesting to learn of the Slate's weight balance when announced. But in general, 2WD ICE pickups suck in the snow. LOL.

My BMW had terrible tires for winter driving. I once did a 360 driving uphill.

 

[Letas]

I'm pretty sure skiers are not the target for this vehicle.

I’d agree in principle, but 2 of their 25 prebuilt customizations feature skis/snowboards (ones even called a snow dog! Isn’t that trademarked?!)

 

[cvollers]

I’d agree in principle, but 2 of their 25 prebuilt customizations feature skis/snowboards (ones even called a snow dog! Isn’t that trademarked?!)

Hmmmm…maybe just targeting skiers that don’t drive roads requiring chains. Happily we have plenty of those in Washington.

 

[JeffVA]

Fortunately I don't have to drive in that much snow here in Virginia and when I do I take the AWD SUV. If the electric motor drives both rear wheels and the battery is centered it should be relatively good in snow. May have to swap out snow tires like I did decades ago in upstate NY during the winter.

For you skiers in the Sierra Nevada I would be more concerned about getting stranded like I've seen on TV numerous times and not having a gas engine for heat. Not the best choice if you ask me

 

[cvollers]

Fortunately I don't have to drive in that much snow here in Virginia and when I do I take the AWD SUV. If the electric motor drives both rear wheels and the battery is centered it should be relatively good in snow. May have to swap out snow tires like I did decades ago in upstate NY during the winter.

For you skiers in the Sierra Nevada I would be more concerned about getting stranded like I've seen on TV numerous times and not having a gas engine for heat. Not the best choice if you ask me

Agreed. I really don’t think you want to be taking this rig into the mountains…despite the aspirational nature of the mods being promoted. With the right tires it should be able to get you around in a snow storm.

 

[GreatLakes]

For you skiers in the Sierra Nevada I would be more concerned about getting stranded like I've seen on TV numerous times and not having a gas engine for heat. Not the best choice if you ask me

Several years ago I was in agreement with you, it seemed like gas would be better if stranded. (No personal EV experience). But then there was that big blizzard(?) in NJ(?). Lots of people spent two days not moving on a major highway. Seems like the EV people were fine, while the gas people drained their tank and suffered in the cold.

I think the concluding remarks were that even an EV with only 3-4% charge could keep the cabin warm for several days. And that was before heat pumps were popular.

 

[SlatePower]

I think the concluding remarks were that even an EV with only 3-4% charge could keep the cabin warm for several days. And that was before heat pumps were popular.

From what I can gather and have purchased myself yet not tried; you're better off saving either your dinosaur oil or electrons and taking along one of these and a small LiP04 power source just in case. At least you'll have enough fuel to get home when the problem passes:

 

[SlatePower]

Revisiting the obvious (price being everything for some of us).
Here is but one example of another $20K 'car' where an American-based engineering team held absolutely nothing back in an effort to compare their new offering to all current/future comers on value alone. This car was poised to destroy the entire worldwide SxS industry not 6 months ago if they could pull it off.
Two months after this was filmed last fall(?)...the Chinese took one look at what was already happening/worsening fast (the current economy/possible regime change) plus the glut of used machines sure to follow...and halted all production/shuttered a brand new Mexican factory poised to pump them out like hotcakes.
I had a deposit down yet will likely wait for the succeeding much more powerful models supposedly already in testing up in MN...yet who knows if we'll ever see these groundbreaking machines or not due to two bullseyes obviously missed...price and demand:
Watch this engineer proudly make the case for (t)his car and ask yourself how many questions would already be answered up here already if any competing carmaker dared go in to this kind of depth concerning their 'baby':
I'm not sure if they could have ever sold this for $20-23K in the first place but to a few of the first people in line.

 

[SlatePower]

Not trying to throw water on our party here as I'd love to see a video from one of these upcoming Slate gatherings featuring an engineer this passionate about comparing the Slate to everything else out there for the price...yet I think that it is a pretty good example of how fast that things change in the 4-wheeled market given current conditions.

 

[SlatePossible2028]

Folks getting hung up on the 150 mile range are experiencing range anxiety. Which is typical for someone going from an ICE vehicle to a BEV. You get hung up on needing to find a "gas station" when in reality you treat this vehicle just like you treat your cell phone. You plug it in every night and wake up to a full charge (or 80/90% if you're concerned about proper battery treatment depending on chemistry).

The point is, 150 or 90 miles is going to be fine for the vast majority of people for a daily driver/work commuter vehicle. I honestly cannot see this vehicle as anything more than that. I wouldn't want to go long distances in it. That short wheel base is gonna be bumpy.

I have a 2021 Mach E with 103,000 miles on it. We lived remotely for most of those miles and a 50 amp charger and max charge set to 90% worked perfectly fine. We had a 150 mile round trip to a decent grocery store or restaurants. Charge to 100% when needed. We drove it all over the eastern US. Just took a little extra planning. Now we live in a city and our house has only a 100 amp service and 1 20 amp outlet in the garage. So, I plug it in to 20amp and set max charge to 80%..............and guess what...it works perfectly fine for city driving. Granted I have a larger battery pack and 80% gets me roughly 200 miles but I never use anywhere near that unless I go out of town. Plug it in when I get home and wake up to 80% again.

Just my opinion but I think folks are way over thinking the total range.

I think the "range anxiety" types are the same types commenting all over that this truck should have a turbo 4 cyl instead.

If it was made with a turbo 4 cyl, they'd complain it didn't have a manual

If it had a manual and a turbo 4, people would complain it wasn't an inline 6.

If it had an inline 6, people would complain it didn't have a V8.

If it had all of those options, people would simply complain that it's American.

Vast majority of car whiners on the internet are either leased Kia owners or Chinese bots

 

[P99Guy]

I've been discussing this very same topic in other threads, so I'll be repeating some of my comments, if they have been read elsewhere.

At $20K it's a great truck for a multi-car fleet, and great for a single young person who can't afford a $50K new vehicle. But in between that at $27K without tax credit pricing support, the Ford Maverick gives you easy-access 4-doors, and a nearly same sized bed, with 400-mile range recovery in 5 minutes for a few thousand more in price, which is just $10 more a month in car payment.

If the idea is the now-married young person can expand the pickup into the SUV as his family grows, I get that. But how many young people get rid of their 2-door, 4-seat sports coupe when the baby comes along? Lots.

The problem Slate has is economy of scale. International manufacturers such as Ford have huge economy of scale. The Maverick is a derivation of the internationally built C2 Escape platform, Ford builds 10 models off the C2 platform and uses the various versions of the drivetrain all over the world. It sells millions of C2 platform cars a year in global markets.

Slate says it will build annually up to 140,000 units. That's probably a month or less of C2 platform cars Ford builds globally. If Slate starts eating into Maverick sales, Ford just lowers the price via incentives at the dealership level. Ford easily has enough room in the profit to drop the price $3K to $5K in a moment's notice.

I just see difficulty with mass market acceptance of this type of vehicle. If the core target audience is lower economic (hourly) wage earners and young people starting out in life who want an affordable, warranty-carrying new car, I see the Slate's slow DCFC rate as an issue. The target audience mentioned above are usually not private homeowners who can have access to private overnight charging. 30 minutes to 80% SOC is just 120 miles of non-winter range. Another 30 minutes needed for the remaining 60 miles of range might be a deterrent to market acceptance. Usable range is really just 30 to 120 miles (90 miles) per 30 min. DCFC. Fine if you charge at home, not so good if you live off of public DCFC.

People on the lower income level of society don't own a single-family home that has access to private overnight EV charging. They will have to use the public DCFC network to charge their Slate, which is just 90 miles of usable range (20% to 80% SOC), which will take 30 minutes. To get to 150 miles of range at 100% SOC will probably take an hour or more. Drive 10,000 miles a year at 90 miles a clip and that's 56 hours spent fueling a Slate.

A Ford Maverick 2.0L Ecoboost has 400 miles of range per tank and at its EPA rating of 26 MPG, it will need around 24 fills of the tank to travel 10,000 miles per year. 24 tank fills at 5 minutes each is just 2 hours per year to fuel the Maverick. I'm not trying to piss on the Slate business model at all, I'm just mulling over the market acceptance case for it. It may be just too in-between.

It's a tough business model to rely on the $7,500 tax rebate being (a) still in existence in 2027, and (b) applicable to wage earners who earn enough to pay $7,500 in income tax (to get it back as a max rebate), and (c) a 140,000 in annual unit sales to get the cost of production to hit the pre-rebate price of $27,000.

At a $27K price point, the 4-door Maverick hybrid XL is a far better choice.

I agree with all your statements except “ a few thousand more in price is only $10 a month.”
maybe on a home lone…I have never seen a 100, 200 or 300 month car loan.