Slate pickup sighting in downtown Warsaw, IN! (w/ frunk, bed, charging port closeup)

[Sparkie]

funny, the thing you don’t like is one of the things I love, I really like the look and shape of every part of this pickup

Yup.
There's nothing wrong with its look or shape.
I love it too.

 

[sodamo]

Me too. I really like the design. But honestly, I'm not sure injected molded plastic saves cost other than the plastic doesn't need to be painted and the metal would. When the plastic is exposed as surface level (texture and color) parts the cost increases vs. a hidden part. This is somewhat true with metal parts too, but molded in color plastic for surface parts is complicated (just ask Ford...). The risk for raw part rejection is higher with MIC plastic verses stamped sheet metal when it is a surface part. IMO, with Slate the colorization and surface quality is just passed on to the buyer rather than the responsibility of the manufacturer.

I’m suspecting that color of plastic panels will fall into a range of acceptability as a cost savings for Slate As color matching across all the molding could be challenging, expensive when taking rejections into account. This may have been hinted at with the battle scarred comment. Anyone desiring perfect uniformity, wrap option.

 

[AZFox]

Plastic body panels are not a new idea.

Henry Ford's Soybean Car, unveiled in 1941, also had plastic body panels made from renewable materials like soybeans and hemp, although it was never mass-produced.​

Green Technology!

See also:

 

[cvollers]

I think it can be argued that despite being made by Ford, the Lightning might be the gold standard for EV pickups. It certainly is the best F150 not named after an extinct dinosaur.

I may have to take this post down as another has correctly pointed out that the Rivian R1T clearly outperforms the Lightning. Even the Throttle House boys are impressed with the R1T. If the Scout Terra delivers on their promise, it could be a legit challenger.

 

[Luxrage]

What I love about the Slate is the vintage, utility look with a nod to those old farm Fords, Dodges and Internationals that kept running for decades. I pretty much abused my old Honda Element which had the plastic side panels and they held up great after skis, kayaks and bikes crashed into them. Wonder if Slate body panels can have some recycled content which I look for whenever possible.

I believe the reason the Slate is that 'grey' color is that is the easiest color for when you use recycled / recovered plastics for matching. That might just be a thing I heard many years ago but it does bode well if they are looking to mass produce plastic panels. I'll gladly replace a damaged fender with a 'core' charge if it means the fender's getting recycled into another one!

 

[sodamo]

I believe the reason the Slate is that 'grey' color is that is the easiest color for when you use recycled / recovered plastics for matching. That might just be a thing I heard many years ago but it does bode well if they are looking to mass produce plastic panels. I'll gladly replace a damaged fender with a 'core' charge if it means the fender's getting recycled into another one!

Way back too many years ago when I was working a business that produced what were called rubber bumpers, grayish was the raw color. Still showed variations from molding etc. I know things have made progress but sometimes they don’t change completely. A task was color matching. Back then, we were working on computer matching but every production was hand matched, before and after production. If Slate can avoid that cost, nice.

 

[NovaTrees]

I'm absolutely in love with how tiny it is. This is exactly what I want!

 

[theonetruestripes]

I will say, one thing I don’t like about it is the hood is just flat. I think if it had some contours it would look better

Yeah, you are probably paying the price for the design goal of it being easy to wrap which makes flat expanses good and curves bad.

 

[sodamo]

I'm absolutely in love with how tiny it is. This is exactly what I want!

Candidate for DYI mod? Bars, scoop, whatever. Fake scoop on an EV 🤙

 

[HiSlate]

Why doesn't Slate just colorize the plastic panels? they could even have a situation like those Legos that are multi colored because they switch the color during manufacturing.

 

[evtruth]

Why doesn't Slate just colorize the plastic panels? they could even have a situation like those Legos that are multi colored because they switch the color during manufacturing.

As soon as you start adding colors you add cost. The whole point of this truck is low cost. It's all but guaranteed that somebody will come out with aftermarket composite panels that are colored.

 

[AZFox]

Candidate for DYI mod? Bars, scoop, whatever. Fake scoop on an EV 🤙

Cowl induction!

 

[cadblu]

Why doesn't Slate just colorize the plastic panels? they could even have a situation like those Legos that are multi colored because they switch the color during manufacturing.

Closeups of the 12V power port and light lamp in frunk, and the fluid caps.

Gotta love those vintage knobs / caps for topping off fluids. Like an old WW2 radio receiver … “Come in Tokyo”. lol.

 

[skidoofast]

Why doesn't Slate just colorize the plastic panels? they could even have a situation like those Legos that are multi colored because they switch the color during manufacturing.

if it’s one color you only need to stock and store 1 color, if you had 10 colors you’d need space to warehouse 10 different variations of each part and multiples of each part

 

[SlateChick]

Looks So Cool!! Perfect to haul my StreetStrider & AddMotor M360 around in the back (with the tail down most likely).