Q2 delivery estimate for last minute reservations & new orders.

[GrizzlysGhost]

I would expect the next big change might be AWD, coupled with a longer-range battery.

 

[SparkYellow]

I will visit two Home Depot locations closest to me three times a week to haul wood/plants as soon as I come into possession of a Slate truck. Can start as early as Q1. Motivated to start next week with a pre-production prototype. 🤩

Slate Auto please DM for resume.

 

[KevinRS]

I am dubious that there is any currrent plan to operate that factory or even "ramp up" to its max theoretical capacity. Even if they had 100k solid orders right now (very doubtful), and coud fill those orders by end of Q3, what then? That 100k of orders represents an initial surge, and it's doubtful that it would be sustainable in the immediate future. The max is predicated on 3 shifts. Employees are expensive, and laying off employees would be disastrous.

They need to try and operate at a reasonable cadence, balancing growth while satisfying a fickle retail buying base. It ain't easy.

I don't doubt that they have a plan laid out. But that doesn't mean they are acting on it yet. IF they have enough orders, and orders keep coming in as they move through Q1-2, then they may fill out the 2nd shift and start hiring the third. These are just guesses on timing.

 

[LevelHeaded]

I understand the curiosity and excitement, but without much data, it’s not-so-educated guessing.

This forum has a total of 2500 members, and if all are truly active (not possible), that represents 1/4th the number of people who preordered by 9am on the first day. All of our experiences are anecdotes; we can’t extrapolate meaningful numbers from here given what we don’t know.

We know the facility’s reported max capacity, but nothing about their expected ramp. Do they plan on making 20k the first 12 months? 50k? 100k? Of that number, how many the first 3mo vs the 2nd, 3rd, 4th?

Of those, how many production slots are reserved for fleet/enterprise orders? Do consumers or fleets get allocation priority?

How do their distribution deal(s) and/or partners affect production windows, if at all?

Reservation-holders have a full 30 days to lock in their production estimate before their slots can be reclaimed, unless they cancel their reservations.

At the end of the day, I think we’re going to need some more of the variables bound before we can meaningfully reason about how Slate is “doing.”

 

[FlyHappy]

I will visit two Home Depot locations closest to me three times a week to haul wood/plants as soon as I come into possession of a Slate truck. Can start as early as Q1. Motivated to start next week with a pre-production prototype. 🤩

Slate Auto please DM for resume.

stealin' my thunder.
Get in line!

 

[SparkYellow]

stealin' my thunder.
Get in line!

Are we going to the same Home Depot? 😱 Let's go together!

 

[PNWEng]

I will visit two Home Depot locations closest to me three times a week to haul wood/plants as soon as I come into possession of a Slate truck.

I'm confident that my frequent visits (every few days) to Home Depot and Lowe's in my new Slate will turn some heads and get people asking and looking into it. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Dreadnought]

I have confirmed that even folks who reserved a few days prior to close of reservation period are getting a projected Apr - Jun 2027 delivery date. I'm confident this means even if you had no reservation , you could pre order it now, with Q2 delivery.

What does this mean?

Personally, I think this means that the number of non-refundable preorders is... modest. We have no idea what the reality of production and supply chain will look like, but I'm hard pressed to imagine Slate trying to deliver more than 5,000 units per month, initially. Yes, I am merely pulling that number out of my tailpipe.

On a more positive note, this suggests to me that folks with early reservations are likely to have the opportunity to significantly move up in timeline.

 

[ChuckB]

I Reserved May 14, 2025 and Preordered the morning of June 24. Only to eventually get a July-September delivery window? IMO, that’s just not right! I think Slate really needs to re-evaluate the assignment of delivery windows giving an honest priority to the folks who reserved early.

 

[Trace26]

One thing I keep thinking about is the fact it's a one month window. With no push to order at the beginning of the month. How many people are going to wait till the last couple of days? With Slate moving people up I hope they're taking those last minute deadline people into account.
I was planning on waiting till the last week until I saw the "first shift" reward for ordering early.

 

[Dreadnought]

I understand the curiosity and excitement, but without much data, it’s not-so-educated guessing.

This forum has a total of 2500 members, and if all are truly active (not possible), that represents 1/4th the number of people who preordered by 9am on the first day. All of our experiences are anecdotes; we can’t extrapolate meaningful numbers from here given what we don’t know.

We know the facility’s reported max capacity, but nothing about their expected ramp. Do they plan on making 20k the first 12 months? 50k? 100k? Of that number, how many the first 3mo vs the 2nd, 3rd, 4th?

Of those, how many production slots are reserved for fleet/enterprise orders? Do consumers or fleets get allocation priority?

How do their distribution deal(s) and/or partners affect production windows, if at all?

Reservation-holders have a full 30 days to lock in their production estimate before their slots can be reclaimed, unless they cancel their reservations.

At the end of the day, I think we’re going to need some more of the variables bound before we can meaningfully reason about how Slate is “doing.”

We have to remember the 30 day preorder window that we’re still in. Until July 24th there are a bunch of unknown variables. There are folks at jobs sites or in remote areas that haven’t reacted yet. Granted it’s few but not 0. I think they will know who gets what and when better after the initial window is closed. They seem to care about sticking to their word or improving from there. Given that it would make sense that all the reservation holders ($50 down) be given a chance before confirming the delivery for the preorders ($300 down). I reserved in May 26. Still in the tbd 2027 group. I don’t expect to know anything until the end of July.

 

[Kopsis]

We have to remember the 30 day preorder window that we’re still in.

The fact that they're bumping people up without waiting out the 30 days tells me that they've had a significant number of reservations cancelled and no longer need to hold those spots. Not really unexpected nor cause for concern. There were a surprising number of reservation holders who were convinced that somehow this was still going to be a sub-$20k purchase and probably cancelled within a day or two of the official pricing announcement.

 

[LevelHeaded]

The fact that they're bumping people up without waiting out the 30 days tells me that they've had a significant number of reservations cancelled

I have an alternate theory that has just as much evidence to back it up (read: basically none)

 

[Snail]

No peer pressure or anything, but we'll think you're pretty lame if you "chicken out".
I mean, everyone in the cafeteria is already starting to snicker.

I can be a little slow sometimes. Peer pressure helps.

 

[jcash757]

I reserved on 7/14/2025 I preordered on 06/24/2026. I have not beed given a delivery slot. I'm in Kentucky which doesn't allow sales directly to consumers. I wonder if that's the reason why I'm still TBD.