Pre-ordering opens at 9:30 AM PT / 12:30 PM ET (June 24)

[tubes]

I feel like I walked into a party I didn't know about and wasn't invited to.

Last February on a retirement forum someone briefly mentioned Slate. I checked it out and made my reservation. Who knows where I am in line. 140k?

Most of the users here seem to have jumped on it in the first few minutes. I know this is a self selected group, but jeez, I'm surprised by how quick the reservations came on, then dropped off.

Was there some sort of buzz in the EV world? Is that how ya'll got on so quick? I have never been anti-EV, but I'm also not seeking out EV. I found most of the models offered didn't fit my needs. So I guess I was just out of the loop, not paying attention. There have to be more people like me out there. Once they see them on the street, they'll wake up. I seriously think retired guys like me who putter around town without kids in tow will really find appeal in Slate. But we also don't sit on Instagram, Tik Tok or Facebook. We also don't easily succumb to FOMO. So we're sometimes blissfully clueless.

 

[danielt1263]

Last February on a retirement forum someone briefly mentioned Slate. I checked it out and made my reservation. Who knows where I am in line. 140k?

Was there some sort of buzz in the EV world? Is that how ya'll got on so quick?

The Reddit algorithm fed it to me on day 3... It knew I was looking to buy something, but couldn't find what I wanted.

 

[BobbyMcGee]

Was there some sort of buzz in the EV world?

I've wanted an EV since 2006. I bought a Toyota in 2007 that is still my daily driver -- and I thought for sure in 10 years EVs would be affordable and readily available. And for the most part they're still luxuries.

That's the appeal for me. It's affordable.

Now, this is where people will point out used EVs are pretty readily available, but as a Toyota guy, I'm very particular about fussy cars where things are always breaking.

The Slate also kind of addresses this, because there's very few things that can go wrong.

BUT, if this thing comes it a very high price point, I'll be looking very closely at getting a used Toyota BZ.

Because my 2007 Toyota is quickly turning into a pile of rust. Although it still gets 40mpg and the AC is still cold.

 

[metroshot]

I think that's really optimistic. Consider that most (if not all) conversions will have to be done without a test drive and maybe without even seeing the production version in person. We probably won't have answers to a lot of the deeper technical questions, EPA range test results, detailed service and repair info, etc. in that timeframe. And since the only downside of not converting a reservation is the loss of an early delivery window, I think conversion will be limited to those truly committed to the "vision" which is probably no more than 10% of reservations.

Agree - conversion all the way to order and delivery are going to be much lower than the 100K pre-order reservation numbers that look great on the surface.

Past history with EV pre-order conversions show way less actually makes it to final delivery.

I did that with my 2022 Ford F150 Lightning EV truck - didn't expect to have my pre-order ticket get pulled for an active order and get delivery so quick.

I had a Mach E pre-order ticket that sat for over 1 year and finally get pulled.

Ended up trading in the 2022 Lightning a year later for the Mach E.

Luckily, I made money on the trade in when EVs were still in demand.....

 

[danielt1263]

Agree - conversion all the way to order and delivery are going to be much lower than the 100K pre-order reservation numbers that look great on the surface.

Hmm... I suggested about 50k (± 5k) sales from the reservations and that would still take them a year to burn through, @Kopsis says that's optimistic, and you come in with "lower than 100K"? Sounds like something was lost.

But I think I agree with @Kopsis that I'm being optimistic. The Chevy Equinox EV sold less than 60k last year so maybe Slate selling around 30k is more realistic.

 

[BobbyMcGee]

https://www.freep.com/story/money/c...w-details-mid-20s-electric-pickup/90492827007

" Slate Automotive already has reservations for more than a year’s production "

" The base pickup is a two-door, rear-wheel-drive truck with a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery. "

 

[cadblu]

Hey! That's a big news story. LFP for the base pickup....just as many (including myself) predicted here!

The full article is blocked by a paywall.

 

[cadblu]

Confirmed! Here‘s the excerpt:

The base pickup is a two-door, rear-wheel-drive truck with a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery. LFP batteries are less expensive and more durable than the more common lithium ion batteries. The downside is that they don't have as much range. Slate promised a 150-mile range on a charge when it announced the vehicle in 2025. Slate's pickup has fewer than 800 parts when it rolls off the line, compared with 3,000 to 4,000 in a traditional pickup, Faricy said.

 

[KevinRS]

Most of the users here seem to have jumped on it in the first few minutes. I know this is a self selected group, but jeez, I'm surprised by how quick the reservations came on, then dropped off.

Was there some sort of buzz in the EV world? Is that how ya'll got on so quick? I have never been anti-EV, but I'm also not seeking out EV. I found most of the models offered didn't fit my needs. So I guess I was just out of the loop, not paying attention. There have to be more people like me out there. Once they see them on the street, they'll wake up. I seriously think retired guys like me who putter around town without kids in tow will really find appeal in Slate. But we also don't sit on Instagram, Tik Tok or Facebook. We also don't easily succumb to FOMO. So we're sometimes blissfully clueless.

There must have been an advertising push that went to people who had been looking at trucks, EVs, etc. I had looked at articles about what EV trucks were available like a week before, and been disappointed that they were all big and expensive.
So I was getting ads about Slate or maybe articles pushed to me probably right after announcement, and reserved within a few days when I actually clicked through and looked at posts about it and the Slate site.
On conversion, Slate may not follow the pattern of low conversion others have, due to price. Many of those others have come in considerably higher than the prices stated when people made their reservations, and if Slate does come in at around $25k it's still going to be one of the cheapest new vehicles on the market, with the plusses that it's an EV and a truck, either of which commands a premium currently.

 

[thespacecowboy]

I feel like I walked into a party I didn't know about and wasn't invited to.

Last February on a retirement forum someone briefly mentioned Slate. I checked it out and made my reservation. Who knows where I am in line. 140k?

Most of the users here seem to have jumped on it in the first few minutes. I know this is a self selected group, but jeez, I'm surprised by how quick the reservations came on, then dropped off.

Was there some sort of buzz in the EV world? Is that how ya'll got on so quick? I have never been anti-EV, but I'm also not seeking out EV. I found most of the models offered didn't fit my needs. So I guess I was just out of the loop, not paying attention. There have to be more people like me out there. Once they see them on the street, they'll wake up. I seriously think retired guys like me who putter around town without kids in tow will really find appeal in Slate. But we also don't sit on Instagram, Tik Tok or Facebook. We also don't easily succumb to FOMO. So we're sometimes blissfully clueless.

I had called out from work because I was sick that day. Opened up a number of streaming apps and then YouTube trying to find something to watch and the algorithm served me content about the Slate. I had toyed with the idea of buying an EV but wasn’t sold prior to seeing the Slate.

Did more research, pored over the website and maker the next day and placed my reservation.

 

[tubes]

These algorithms are scary. In my various posts on forums and elsewhere previous to 2022 or so, I expressed concern about things like range anxiety, high cost, complexity, lack of turn signal stalks (Tesla) and so on. Somewhere on my Tubes Profile, I must have been listed as an EV hater. I got nothing fed to me, even on Reddit where I spend some time in car related subs, but never really commented about EVs that I remember. Nothing. Never even heard of Slate until February when I randomly saw it on a post somewhere in a retirement forum, then entered a search in Reddit.

 

[metroshot]

Confirmed! Here‘s the excerpt:

The base pickup is a two-door, rear-wheel-drive truck with a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery. LFP batteries are less expensive and more durable than the more common lithium ion batteries. The downside is that they don't have as much range. Slate promised a 150-mile range on a charge when it announced the vehicle in 2025. Slate's pickup has fewer than 800 parts when it rolls off the line, compared with 3,000 to 4,000 in a traditional pickup, Faricy said.

LFP - yeah baby!
I love them because you can constantly charge them to 100%.

I really wanted my '23 Mach E to be a job 2 with LFP; but ended up with NMC right at the '23 cutoff....

 

[EV Trek]

https://www.freep.com/story/money/c...w-details-mid-20s-electric-pickup/90492827007

" Slate Automotive already has reservations for more than a year’s production "

" The base pickup is a two-door, rear-wheel-drive truck with a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery. "

Did Slate make an announcement on the Battery that I missed? Until I hear it from Slate, all third party information to me are just rumors.

 

[KevinRS]

Did Slate make an announcement on the Battery that I missed? Until I hear it from Slate, all third party information to me are just rumors.

This is the second thread that has had that bit, as I said in the other one, I'm 50/50 on whether that is true, it isn't presented as a new quote from Slate, may just be a mistake.

 

[danielt1263]

Did Slate make an announcement on the Battery that I missed? Until I hear it from Slate, all third party information to me are just rumors.

For sure... The article also says that "Slate capped $50 refundable reservations at 160,000." but they are still taking reservations so they obviously haven't capped anything.

And I remember in his first TV interview, Faricy did not correct the interviewer when they got something wrong...

That said... On this page (https://www.slate.auto/en/ev-batteries) Slate says "Most electric vehicles today use modern lithium-ion batteries..." Nothing about Nickel, Cobalt, Manganese, or Aluminum...