Slate board member discusses the truck on Motoman podcast

[tubes]

I'm half-way in, and need to step away. But I want to quickly add a few things about the first half which are probably less about the car, and more about the philosophy of the company and himself:

- This is a must see/listen for engineers. He speaks your language, and you will cringe at the problems he discusses because he clearly lived them. You may be living them right now.
- They go in depth on the Amazon connection. Basically, Bezos is an investor but is mostly hands off. The other Jeff (Wilke) is more direct, gives a strong connection to Re:Build, and there are other key employees from Amazon.
- Re:Build, look it up. Slate incubated out of Re:Build. There's a strong story about bringing manufacturing back to the USA. This isn't just talk, it is real. Can our country do it? Slate wants to be part of it.
- He spent time at Rivian. He goes into depth on the things he thinks they did wrong that Slate is avoiding. Nutshell: keep it simple, Rivian went right to complexity straight away which caused production hell.

 

[ScooterAsheville]

Kind of taking this thread off-topic, but I was shaking my head over the recent weeks when I read that Slate was going with Gotion cells (Chinese company). I was disappointed because I didn't equate a Chinese battery company with "team USA", which is the Slate narrative. This morning I got off my lazy behind and researched Gotion. There's a lot out there, btw.

Well I was surprised, to say the least. And reassured. Yea, Gotion is a Chinese company. But Slate's cells will be made just down the road in Manteno, in a highly roboticized plant. When they opened the plant just a year ago, they were assembling batteries from parts (including cells) shipped from China. But they're now making the cells themselves locally. So it's Chinese ownership and tech, but USA manufacturing. It was all motivated by government incentives for building battery plants in the USA. Don't know about you folks, but I'm fine with that.

So color me a newly annointed fan of the battery pack. I have one open question that I can't answer, and I'm wondering if anyone has come across the answer. Slate has announced "cell to pack" construction. Usually (not always) cell-to-pack means the battery is 100% not fixable. Anything out of spec, like a road impact, etc - that pack gets trashed as a unit. But that's not always true. Has anybody seen any articles that clarify whether the Gotion cell-to-pack battery pack in the Slate is maintainable?

It's fair to ask "why do you care?". One word answer: insurance.

Here's more than you could possibly want to know about Gotion's plant.

https://gotionillinois.com/​

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https://kankakeecountyed.org/how-it-works-gotions-manteno-operations/​

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https://villageofmanteno.com/events...e-proposed-gotion-facility-click-for-details/​

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https://www.illinois.gov/news/release.html?releaseid=26993​

 

[ElectricShitbox]

There's not really a major repairability difference between cell-pack vs cell-module-pack. You generally can't swap just a module unless it's well matched, and by the time your pack is out of warranty, that will be difficult to find. Work under warranty would be swapping the whole pack, and faulty units would likely go back to the manufacturer for analysis and recycling.

I like that the cells are domestically manufactured, as we've really fallen behind on LFP tech. However my concern with Gotion specifically is that Rivian struggled with calibrating their BMS for their Gotion based pack. Hopefully Slate has a better handle on that. (I asked them this directly, and they won't even confirm who their cell supplier is).

 

[jhevil]

The US has been a mess of that front for years. I'm pretty sure most American vehicles have the door on the drivers side is because you don't have to walk around your vehicle to get to the pump/charger. It's a mess and I routinely screw it up since my fleet has mostly left side access, but the one I daily is right side.

This is also a simple logistics issue. The driver pulls into these small spaces, and then the druver must shimmy to get out of the vehicle while still being close enough to the charger to make the connection work.

I will state that my experience may be different than most because my only EV so far has been the F-150. It's significantly larger than most EVs, so it doesn't fit well in most parking / charging spots. Not with a big hefty person getting out of the driver's side, at least.

 

[tubes]

I'm big on made in the USA but also realize there will always be foreign sourced parts these days. Like, where are the zippers made?

 

[Johnologue]

However my concern with Gotion specifically is that Rivian struggled with calibrating their BMS for their Gotion based pack. Hopefully Slate has a better handle on that. (I asked them this directly, and they won't even confirm who their cell supplier is).

One of the things I saw on the Re:Build page I found yesterday was specifically about their experience developing a BMS platform. Not sure if that's for the NMC or LFP packs, if the developments would carry over, etc. But they definitely have a BMS solution they think is worth mentioning.

 

[rocketdog58]

Frankly I ordered my SLATE because it reminds me of my first car. A 1971 Datsun pickup. Not much more complicated than that.

 

[slp]

He made such a big deal about it not having 4 doors. I wouldn't be interested at all if it did. I'm an EV skeptic but the 2-door, regular cab form factor is more important to me than an ICE.

 

[tubes]

More tidbits I don't think we discussed here.

1) This is not some random board member on a Megacorp collecting their check and RSUs, drinking wine and checking off decisions. He was first an employee that hired the CEO, Head of Engineering and Head of Manufacturing. He can't answer everything due to proprietary information, but he was pretty open about what he could.
2) On the subject of targeting first time vehicle buyers who may live in apartments. Two things: he brought out the extension cord idea that is on the website. To that I say, "Come on, man!" But then he talked about the WalMart charger network that is growing. Maybe it is common knowledge here, but it was news to me. If WalMart really outfits most of their stores with chargers, that is huge. WalMart's site lists a few coming soon near me, one on my typical volunteer commute. Wow! And WalMart is not dumb, they picked these sites because they are far from the Target store Tesla sites. Perfect. We're starting to get more density.
3) On four doors, he basically told the interviewer to ask him if the next model would be 4 doors. Then there was some babble. But I expect he was dropping hints.
4) EV vs ICE: they bought a Mitsubishi Mirage as a comparable cheap vehicle. He called it, and I quote, "A piece of junk." Ha ha.
5) Would it be cheaper to build in China? Answer: don't know, didn't consider it because part of the Slate story is manufacturing in the USA, specifically a brownfield site (old factory).

 

[Nivek]

I watched/listened to the whole interview and came away impressed. It further strengthened my impression that team at Slate is incredibly talented and they are strategic in what they are doing. I am trying to not let it raise my expectations too much though, as I have worked in NPD at a fortune company for over a decade and know the challenges and pitfalls that inevitably happen. I have confidence that it will be a great vehicle out of the gate (while understanding there will be minor kinks).

 

[sodamo]

I admit i didn’t watch when first posted, but I did last night and so glad I did. Impressive! And my Slate decision is so much stronger now. Does make me a bit less patient to get mine. 😄😋

 

[Doctors Do Little]

I admit i didn’t watch when first posted, but I did last night and so glad I did. Impressive! And my Slate decision is so much stronger now. Does make me a bit less patient to get mine. 😄😋

Pretend you are ordering steak at a Michelin star restaurant- gonna take a little longer than Texas Roadhouse, but should be oh so good!😊

 

[ClayJar]

Pretend you are ordering steak at a Michelin star restaurant- gonna take a little longer than Texas Roadhouse, but should be oh so good!😊

Can I just pretend that Outback is really busy, instead? I don't want to insult the Michelin star restaurant chef by asking for a lean sirloin crunchy well done. That would be rude. Nobody at Outback will care a bit in the least, and I like their house salad.

And now you know where the bad karma that has me still stuck in Club DWCS comes from... 🤣😅

 

[Doctors Do Little]

Can I just pretend that Outback is really busy, instead? I don't want to insult the Michelin star restaurant chef by asking for a lean sirloin crunchy well done. That would be rude. Nobody at Outback will care a bit in the least, and I like their house salad.

And now you know where the bad karma that has me still stuck in Club DWCS comes from... 🤣😅

I ate at a fancy steakhouse with my wife for anniversary last week. I knew the chef, so to torque the waiter some I asked for my filet to be prepared Rare ++ (approximately medium). The waiter just stared at me for a moment and said, “ Of course, Sir.” The meal was perfect and I tipped him very well. The chef came to our table later and had a good laugh about it. The steak was worth the wait. Let’s hope the Slate is also, Rare++!

 

[sodamo]

Pretend you are ordering steak at a Michelin star restaurant- gonna take a little longer than Texas Roadhouse, but should be oh so good!😊

Hmmm, neither here, but a good friend is picking up some ribeyes to grill here on Saturday. Will grill on my Primo.