What is Slate competing with for YOUR money?

[Paul Rodgers]

The one vehicle that might be a direct competitor if the Ford "Skunkworks" midsize EV truck that's due in 2027 or so. This is being designed to be manufactured inexpensively. If Ford sells it as a four door for 30k, that might do it.

https://fordauthority.com/2025/05/ford-ceo-jim-farley-reveals-skunkworks-ev-platforms-code-name/

Really, read the press, its totally Haigspeak, I could not get a single sense of purpose out of it at all.

1) engineering: nothing "we will build a factory", Ford have done that for a century, does not work any more

2) electric tech: even less "we will use xxx to surpass the yyy competition"
My only comment: grunt: when I have one on the bench.

3) They have the consistent advocacy that their process will reduce cost.
but without the UAW that will just not happen

Somehow (I don't know how) UAW, and Ford must come together to solve this.
Please, if you have an opinion that's constructive, post it!
We-all need everything we can get

Meanwhile, I have had Fords, but now my wheels are a Tacoma.
I would like A LOT for the idea of a "small FORD pickup",
lets call it the "Maverick-Minus", yes, horrible name, how about just "Retro"
as far as I know Ford never made one, not since the Model-T.

Please, no electronics, no frills.

 

[Paul Rodgers]

Yep, you will want to make that investment as soon as you confirm your order. I had sticker shock when I replaced my panel and had three new lines run to my garage for “future proofing” a couple of years ago. But now have capacity for two EV’s and a golf cart without killing my existing line (fridge, lights, garage door openers, irrigation controller, dog fence, etc).

I doubt very much that the panel is 80, probably 100+ or more.
for an L2 charger you need a 30A circuit at 220v,
uses #10 wire (if distance is short, say less than 50 ft)

If this is not sufficient? Please, do not get an EV, you will be disappointed.
The payback for an EV is all about low-rate, overnight, charging

 

[Paul Rodgers]

I found it amusing when Farley stated earlier this year that his badge doesn't work at the Skunkworks development center.

WTF.

Now thats a quote!, if I can find it.
This is one of the things that "should be true" but probably is not.

OK, Ford: Mini truck! any possibility at all, before say 2028 model year?
please?

 

[Dorbiman]

It was in an interview with him I saw earlier this year. I was taken aback. The CEO of the world's 3rd (4th) largest automotive corporation brags that he can't get into the part of the company he's betting the company's future on? He has no control over it?

If I was a board member, the next day, he'd have a petition facing him to remove his butt from the CEO spot.

I think it’s a good thing. It’s not like there’s zero oversight. It’s more a figurative thing in my eyes. The goal of any Skunkworks group is to come up with something innovative and new without the constraints of tradition.

 

[Letas]

It was in an interview with him I saw earlier this year. I was taken aback. The CEO of the world's 3rd (4th) largest automotive corporation brags that he can't get into the part of the company he's betting the company's future on? He has no control over it?

If I was a board member, the next day he'd have a petition facing him to remove his butt from the CEO spot.

Probably way overthinking this….

“Hello security, we have a new building. Please give the following people access”

 

[ScooterAsheville]

Actual Maverick owner here. Reluctantly purchased a 2022 XLT AWD Maverick with LUX package three years ago. It's been a nice enough ride, but it's a bloated fat pig that burns gasoline and has two doors too many. I see several Mavericks every day. I rarely (very rarely) see more than one person in a Maverick. I never see one towing. I never see one where the bed has anything in the back. It's used 99.999% of the time as a one-person runabout.

Over on the Maverick forums (been there 3 years now) the BEV hating trolls are vociferously slamming the Slate. Some of their favorite Slate-hater slams...

• Slate will go bankrupt before it delivers a single truck
• Nobody on the planet wants a two door truck anyway
• Nobody on the planet wants a BEV. Everyone should buy a hybrid (the Maverick hybrid guys are amazingly arrogant)
• Nobody on the planet wants a plastic truck (after which they post a thread whining about the cheap Maverick paint that they just scratched)
• The Slate looks cheap inside (apparently they never looked at the inside of a cheap-ass Maverick).
• The Maverick has way more infotainment (after which they post a thread whining about the cheap-ass, decade-behind Sync 2.5 system)
• The Slate can't tow anything (which is funny, because 99% of Maverick owners never tow anything anyway).
• The Slate can only go 150 miles (they never even bothered to visit the Slate website before trolling).
• The Slate has no AC (ditto)
• The Slate is only 2WD (ditto)
• You can't get power windows (ditto)
• BEVs will break the power grid (odd that the operators of the national power grid all say "no problem here")

What I've learned on the Maverick site is that haters are going to hate. You can try to educate them, but they're having way too much fun hating to incorporate new information into their comfortable and satisfying world-view narrative..

Can't wait to replace my Maverick with a Slate. I'll wait for the AWD, large battery version to become available. The price and no-incentive doesn't bother me at all. To replace my AWD XLT LUX CP360 Maverick is almost $40,000. As long as I can get a Slate AWD with big battery for that much money or less, I'm a happy camper.

 

[KevinRS]

I doubt very much that the panel is 80, probably 100+ or more.
for an L2 charger you need a 30A circuit at 220v,
uses #10 wire (if distance is short, say less than 50 ft)

If this is not sufficient? Please, do not get an EV, you will be disappointed.
The payback for an EV is all about low-rate, overnight, charging

OK, I figured out where I misread at the panel, for some reason the pair of main breakers are in the middle, 100 amps each.
Still probably have to get work done though, 1-15 amp breaker supplies a GFCI outlet in a restroom, that then feeds another restroom, a back porch outlet, and 3 in garage, one of which has washer and dryer, and another a chest freezer.
While level 1 charging might be possible, and from what I've read might be best for battery longevity, the long term use of that circuit seems like a bad idea.
There is an unused 30 amp 220v dryer outlet that isn't used, possibly it could be replaced with a good commercial grade one, but the location isn't ideal, it's closer to the back of the garage, and even parking in there, it's behind the washer and dryer, and the cord would have to go the length of the truck if head in, or the width if head out, and it would cross the path in the garage. If I'm parking on the driveway, it just seems like that would be too long.

The panel is full of breakers, when the truck gets closer to launch I'll have to contact electricians and see what the options are. Probably have to change or add to the panel, and add a conduit line under the eaves across the house to the driveway/garage.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

OK, I figured out where I misread at the panel, for some reason the pair of main breakers are in the middle, 100 amps each.
Still probably have to get work done though, 1-15 amp breaker supplies a GFCI outlet in a restroom, that then feeds another restroom, a back porch outlet, and 3 in garage, one of which has washer and dryer, and another a chest freezer.
While level 1 charging might be possible, and from what I've read might be best for battery longevity, the long term use of that circuit seems like a bad idea.
There is an unused 30 amp 220v dryer outlet that isn't used, possibly it could be replaced with a good commercial grade one, but the location isn't ideal, it's closer to the back of the garage, and even parking in there, it's behind the washer and dryer, and the cord would have to go the length of the truck if head in, or the width if head out, and it would cross the path in the garage. If I'm parking on the driveway, it just seems like that would be too long.

The panel is full of breakers, when the truck gets closer to launch I'll have to contact electricians and see what the options are. Probably have to change or add to the panel, and add a conduit line under the eaves across the house to the driveway/garage.

Some of the electrical decisions are more subtle too, depending upon what kind of loads you maximally carry on your existing panel, cutoff, etc. My electrician has already told me that when a 2nd BIG EV is in play, that he would want to balance the loads between panels, etc.

I've found that keeping my Lightning plugged in at night and only charging from 11p-5a costs me about $40/month ($0.124/kW), whereas my ICE F150 used to cost me 3x that in petrol. Your mileage will vary, but I know I'm not putting a huge strain on a reasonably designed system that will become optimized with more and bigger loads.

If my HOA would allow it, I'd absolutely get a solar system to only collect and store electrons for EV's (and backup power)...but south facing is road facing and solar paneling is currently thought to be an eye-sore by our enlightened Architectural Review Committee....sigh, next house!

 

[AZFox]

If my HOA would allow it, I'd absolutely get a solar system to only collect and store electrons for EV's (and backup power)...but south facing is road facing and solar paneling is currently thought to be an eye-sore by our enlightened Architectural Review Committee....sigh, next house!

Where I live an HOA cannot legally prevent you from installing solar.

A brief search reveals that Georgia also has a Solar Access Law.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

Where I live an HOA cannot legally prevent you from installing solar.

A brief search reveals that Georgia also has a Solar Access Law.

All too true...they simply slow walk all variances (months, not days), that they don't understand or think are ugly. Their reticence is currently greater than my want to exercise my persistence. (These folks are insane.)

Plus...when one more kid goes to college, I hope that will trigger a "down-sizing" event that allows me to move to a NON-HOA situation...then my "real garage", aka mod-shop, will blossom out of the ground overnight. 3 more years...

 

[KevinRS]

All too true...they simply slow walk all variances (months, not days), that they don't understand or think are ugly. Their reticence is currently greater than my want to exercise my persistence. (These folks are insane.)

Plus...when one more kid goes to college, I hope that will trigger a "down-sizing" event that allows me to move to a NON-HOA situation...then my "real garage", aka mod-shop, will blossom out of the ground overnight. 3 more years...

If anything in the law or rules requires a timely response, you've got to hold them to it, keep records of everything, if their delays cost you money like with solar, excessive delays might mean monetary compensation.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

If anything in the law or rules requires a timely response, you've got to hold them to it, keep records of everything, if their delays cost you money like with solar, excessive delays might mean monetary compensation.

It’s 100% my fault…higher taxes, better schools, yada yada…3 great next door neighbors and a 1,000 other snoots with an ARC run by a gaggle of Karens…

 

[AZFox]

The Maverick has way more infotainment (after which they post a thread whining about the cheap-ass, decade-behind Sync 2.5 system)

I think the slate not coming with a radio is throwing people off.

Eric Kyper specifically says "You know, we know people are going to bring insane audio systems to this" in the Rich Rebuilds video.

I interpret that to mean they're making sure that, one way or another, we can have good audio if we want it.

Ironically he says that in the Maverick comparison part of the video.

 

[ScooterAsheville]

The funny thing for me personally is that I hate radios. I haven't turned my Maverick radio on in 32,000 miles. You could remove the center screen and I wouldn't even notice it. But I acknowledge that I am a very weird outlier in that sense.

 

[SichuanHot]

I'm still eagerly waiting for the Slate. I'll continue to drive my old BMW in the meantime.