Slate isn't building the truck for us

[AL-Derby]

Trucks do not have 4 doors. If you need 4 doors, buy a station wagon.

I didn’t say I wanted 4 doors. I had a 84 Toyota xtra cab and that was great. If I take the dogs along I don’t put them in the bed. Not that it’s a deal killer either. So you can Keep the station wagon.

 

[Driven5]

The average worker drives 12k-15k mi/yr. Let's call 12k of that 'non-truck' use that could reasonably be done by a more efficient vehicle. With at 20mpg (combined) truck and $3/gal (current US average is less than that) for gas, that's $1800/yr in gas. Figure insurance alone probably costs around $1200/yr, and take out another $100 for average annual registration. With the remaining $500/yr difference used exclusively on fuel to actually drive the commuter car, it would need to get 72mpg

(combined) fuel economy. If the commuter vehicle were a sedan getting only 32 mpg (combined), it would have to replace >23k mi/yr of driving to do the same. An EV might be able to do it with home charging, but even assuming the purchase price of a 3rd vehicle isn't a financial strain, the 3rd vehicle fuel 'savings' still wouldn't actually cover any of it's own additional maintenance and depreciation.

With gas prices currently on the rise, it got me wondering at what point buying that additional 32 mpg fully-depreciated and unmaintained (POS) commuter even begin to actually make financial sense for that 'average' modern truck driver. It turns out that point isn't reached until gas exceeds $5.78/gal sustained over the full ownership life of the truck.

Trucks do not have 4 doors. If you need 4 doors, buy a station wagon.

 

[MadKemist]

Good luck finding one that isn't an SUV.

I didn’t say I wanted 4 doors. I had a 84 Toyota xtra cab and that was great. If I take the dogs along I don’t put them in the bed. Not that it’s a deal killer either. So you can Keep the station wagon.

And I didn’t either.

I’m not sure why people are mad at me for having an opinion. I don’t like four door trucks. If you happen to feel four door trucks are what you need, good on you.

 

[Driven5]

Nobody is 'mad at you for having an opinion'. But if you don't want to be confronted, don't be confrontational. It's not just what you say, but how you say it, that matters.

"Trucks do not have 4 doors. If you need 4 doors, buy a station wagon. "

"I don’t like four door trucks. If you happen to feel four door trucks are what you need, good on you."

If you don't see the difference between the two, there's really no helping you.

 

[SparkYellow]

My primary commuter gets 35 mpg and is worth about $5K, well maintained at 177K miles. My ex commuter gets 38+ mpg, is worth about $2K at $202K miles. She is getting a head job that will cost me another $3K (already $3.5K in). Both of them were purchased new (in 2011 and 2017) and priced around $22K. If Slate doesn't happen, I will continue my journey with ICE.

I like everything about Slate and haven't found any deal breaker yet. If Slate were designed as a hatchback or small SUV, I wouldn't want it even for under $20K. If the Slate truck were designed to look like Telo, I wouldn't want it either. If Telo designed their truck to look like Slate but with Telo spec, it'd be more than what I need and am willing to pay.

Love how you folks can dive deep on any topic. I am just floating happily above the surface. 😂

 

[MadKemist]

Nobody is 'mad at you for having an opinion'. But if you don't want to be confronted, don't be confrontational. It's not just what you say, but how you say it, that matters.

"Trucks do not have 4 doors. If you need 4 doors, buy a station wagon. "

"I don’t like four door trucks. If you happen to feel four door trucks are what you need, good on you."

If you don't see the difference, there's really no helping you.

 

[MadKemist]

Dude I really do not understand what you are upset about. I respect your opinion towards me and my opinions. I’m sure my phrasing doesn’t help.

 

[1974D2004X4]

I always try to buy fleet type stripped down basic trucks. If they garner economy of scale doing so good for us because their unit costs are lower and we have an opportunity to get a truck not a show car.

 

[LoneWolfo6]

Okay, clickbait title, but it's still kind of true.

In the "Blank Slate" narrative thread, I mentioned how good the truck would be for fleets, including Amazon, and that a lot of the things Slate is doing are geared for fleets, but are being marketed to everyday car and truck buyers.

1. Fleet vehicles are typically strippers. The Slate obviously falls into this category. This lets the fleet owner upfit the vehicle however they want, and not pay for features that don't bring value to the vehicle's use as transportation. The SUV kit without seats may make for a great delivery platform, perhaps with a slide out drawer. A cover that opens on the sides will be even more useful. For everyday buyers, they just add seats.

2. Two-door pickups are dead for consumers, but the added utility of a larger bed and a smaller size make it ideal for urban delivery. The Rivian EDV has only 160 miles of range - right around where the Slate base range is. Yes, the Slate is much smaller, but I also see people delivering Amazon packages in sedans and crossovers. These small "last mile" deliveries can be offloaded to a fleet of smaller vehicles, perhaps vehicles that Amazon mandates their contractors use - just like Fedex. Or maybe Amazon vertically integrates them into their fleet like UPS. Not to mention an EV has huge advantages for stop-and-go deliveries that eat up both brakes, starters, and gas.

3. Do your own warranty work, we'll show you how. This sounds a little silly to a regular car owner, but a fleet owner would generally love to take care of all of their own maintenance. The biggest companies already do their own work, and Slate wants to encourage companies to transition to them by allowing them to retain most of that control. A fleet owner adopting an EV fleet can otherwise be a hassle because EV manufacturers like Tesla and Rivian are notorious for their walled-garden approach that discourages owners from doing their own work.

4. You're going to wrap it anyway, why paint it? So many businesses will wrap their vehicle for brand identification, at least in part. Why pay for paint that will never see the light of day?

5. Why pay for your people to listen to the radio? The lack of infotainment reduces driver distraction (good for everyone) and cuts out an unnecessary expense. I do think Slate should put some R&D into making a very robust mounting system for all sorts of screens. Think in-house RAM Mount or ProClip. A decent sized logistic company will run their own software anyway.

As much as I love the idea of a Slate for my own vehicle, I do think that Slate probably won't survive without a good percentage of trucks going to fleets. I just don't think the form factor and stripped features will otherwise appeal to enough people, especially given that the SUV kit will push it into some pretty stiff competition. A lot of people also just never modify their cars. I do think I probably just scratched the surface on fleet advantages though. Part of me thinks the market for a small fleet vehicle was the seed that started the Slate in the first place, and they are just doing a lot of clever marketing to make it seem otherwise.

Yep!!! Amazon is going to find out it going to sell about as well as their old Fire Phone. Too late to the EV game!