Slate: The Everything Truck (Fortune Interview)

[atx_ev]

They were not going to eat the EV deprecation curve.

But buy one, man were they giving them away last month. I tried to get a friend buy one last month, but she just couldn't commit to EV. And she's the perfect candidate, drives 12 miles round trip daily, can charge at home with just 120V. But the one time a year she drives over 300 miles to the beach and complexity of charging vs. sticking a gas nozzle in the fuel fill port, I couldn't convince her otherwise.

It wouldnt be the dealer, it would be GM financial. They set the residual value to be ridiculously high.

It was a 35K residual and the cost of the car after all stacked incentives should have been 32K.

some dealers would refund you the 3K, but they would still end up positive because GM is the one eating the depreciation cost in 2 years. Even if they didnt stack my incentives, the cap cost of the car would have been 35K and based on the money factor and residual I should have paid 230 or so per month.

 

[Dorbiman]

Great link, thanks. I checked most states and all except these, ICEV are less expensive to refuel using the public EV grid (by more than $2 on average). Forbes cites maintenance per mile for EV at 6 cents and ICEV at 10 cents, which hardly impacts total cost per mile when charging on the public grid. Account for most EV poor deprecation and the picture is even worse.

I agree that if you have to rely on public charging, it's may be best to look elsewhere. Thankfully I live in WA, with relatively cheap electricity costs, and also cheap DCFC rates (relative to our astronomical gasoline prices).

So cheap 'fuel' (both home and public) + cheaper per-mile maintenance makes it a no brainer for me. EV depreciation works out great for me too. I was able to buy a used ID.4 with less than 5,000 miles for nearly 1/3 of the MSRP. Win-win-win

 

[sodamo]

So, as an outlier…
I already have a pickup, 2024 Tundra hybrid, less the 7k miles. Great truck, except lack of internal storage, but drives wife nuts more than me. If it is the last truck in my remaining years no real complaints. Only get 18.7/18.8 mileage, that last 1.7 miles getting home is uphill. Absolutely no reason to trade for any of the existing available alternatives. A friend/neighbor just recently got a Silverado EV. Very nice pu, but for the net cost to upgrade I don’t believe the fuel savings would balance out in my lifetime, therefore not enticing..
As for the Slate, my goal is to never pay to charge except emergency. Yes, I have home off grid solar, hence the EV factor.
Most likely, I would keep my Tundra as it would be paid off. Should I eventually decide to sell it, then every dollar over cost of my Slate becomes as positive, ignoring stuff like registration and insurance.
Bottom line, the Slate is the only alternative of interest to me at this time. I suspect there are many others who can and will rationalize to there situation.
I believe the low cost, EV, 2 door, accessory friendly, pick up Slate is gonna be a popular winner.

 

[KevinRS]

I looked some at EVs before I got my current car, 10 years ago. The pricing was the issue then, you paid such a premium for an EV that I couldn't make it make sense. Now I'd be charging at home, and have grid connected solar, that I'm paying less for than the average electric bill before getting it, and I'm up over $100 in credit on the electric bill from excess production. Off peak charging should help stretch that $100+ a long way even if use does exceed production.
If getting a Slate doesn't happen, then I'll be looking at other EVs, probably getting used if I can find it cheap enough. 2 doors is not a negative for me, and a bed is a plus, but price is one of the biggest considerations for me. Not having to stop and spend $40+ on gas every week is another one.