The Autopian sits in a SLATE

zipn · Mar 30, 2026

The Autopian's Brian Silvesto sat in a SLATE today and has thoughts. FWIW The Autotopian is perhaps the best on-line auto-centric website since the early good days of Jalopnik. It's worth checking out if you've never been to it.

https://www.theautopian.com/i-sat-in-the-slate-truck-and-now-i-think-it-might-actually-succeed/

E90400K · Mar 30, 2026

“We knew that we wanted to make this thing as customizable as possible.  So one of the things that we noticed in the very beginning, a seven-inch round [headlight], if you go online, you’ll be able to find a whole vast area of different types of aftermarket headlights,” he told me.

So that seems to settle the discussion @KevinRS and I were having; the headlights are a common off-the-shelf part. Good news there.

GaRailroader · Mar 30, 2026

E90400K said:
“We knew that we wanted to make this thing as customizable as possible.  So one of the things that we noticed in the very beginning, a seven-inch round [headlight], if you go online, you’ll be able to find a whole vast area of different types of aftermarket headlights,” he told me.

So that seems to settle the discussion @KevinRS and I were having; the headlights are a common off-the-shelf part. Good news there.

I knew you would appreciate that part.

E90400K · Mar 30, 2026

GaRailroader said:
I knew you would appreciate that part.

Hopefully other LED lamps are plug and play. I can only hope halogen lamps can be used too.

phidauex · Mar 30, 2026

I have these JW Speaker 8900 Evolution headlights on my Tacoma (replaces the 5" x 7" square sealed beams in the 1997 model before they got polycarbonate units), and holy cow they are great. I blanched at the price at first, but they are excellent headlights - bright, but with a very clean pattern, clean cutoff, no diffraction patterns, and a perfect high hi-beam.

Slate Auto Pickup Truck The Autopian sits in a SLATE 1774916124493-x

https://www.jwspeaker.com/products/led-headlights-model-8900-evolution-2/

If the Slate takes a standard 7" round form factor, some of these models would be worth checking out.

fuzzyweis · Mar 30, 2026

I've been an Autopian subscriber for nearly 2 years now, they even did a Member's Rides article on my cars about a year ago, they definitely are one of the better(maybe best?) car blogs out there at the moment.

Lately they've been skewing not anti-EV but definitely not pro-EV. As referenced the Editor in Chief thought the Slate could use an engine, but they advocate for extended range EVs. I think the main issue is none of the writers actually daily an EV so they're not really in the EV sphere. But contrast that with Inside EVs which I think skews a little too far pro EV, need to have some balance there.

-Jim

Luxrage · Mar 30, 2026

fuzzyweis said:
I've been an Autopian subscriber for nearly 2 years now, they even did a Member's Rides article on my cars about a year ago, they definitely are one of the better(maybe best?) car blogs out there at the moment.

Huge fan of them as well. Been following Torchinski and Tracy's articles since way back and happily moved sites when they did. Hope to get a member's rides article sometime myself! The article is pretty even on the Slate. He does have some criticisms but Slate has given skeptics plenty of reasons to doubt them this early in the game..

E90400K said:
Hopefully other LED lamps are plug and play. I can only hope halogen lamps can be used too.

I'd think / hope as long as whatever EV's use as an alternator can keep up with the current draw there shouldn't be an issue. Hopefully the heat won't melt the plastic surrounds lol.

Edit: Just let us avoid whatever this is:

Slate Auto Pickup Truck The Autopian sits in a SLATE 1774918481319-fr

E90400K · Mar 31, 2026

phidauex said:
I have these JW Speaker 8900 Evolution headlights on my Tacoma (replaces the 5" x 7" square sealed beams in the 1997 model before they got polycarbonate units), and holy cow they are great. I blanched at the price at first, but they are excellent headlights - bright, but with a very clean pattern, clean cutoff, no diffraction patterns, and a perfect high hi-beam.

https://www.jwspeaker.com/products/led-headlights-model-8900-evolution-2/

If the Slate takes a standard 7" round form factor, some of these models would be worth checking out.

Over the years I have great results with using Hella European headlamps in my older cars that took standard sealed beam incandecent headlamps. With Hella they make an 80/100W halogen H4 bulb that fits these globes. The lighting pattern is great as is the volume and brightness of the light projected on the road.

The Hellas are glass headlamps, so no worry about opaquing after 5 or 10 years of UV exposure like modern car headlamps are afflicted with.

Slate Auto Pickup Truck The Autopian sits in a SLATE Screenshot_20260331_072234_Chrom

Yukon Cornelius · Mar 31, 2026

The Hella headlamps are great but illegal at 80/100w for road use in the USA though. Not that that stopped me

. The hazard for modern vehicles with electronic switching circuits is they are not rated for the higher currents. A standard 55w lamp draws about 4A each, a 100w lamp draws 7.4A each. With older vehicles, the switch may get warm, but with a solid state switch, you might let the magic smoke out.
Something else I have been thinking about with the Slate is what will the overall 12V power system be capable of supporting. After adding a decent stereo, uprated headlamps, offroad lights, ect. will the 12v system be overloaded? Is Slate going to be equipped with a accessory power interface, like what Jeep did? I have not seen anything other than a comment on the connectors being proprietary, which is not a good sign. I will probably put just a radio in mine, but I know a lot of people on this forum will want to add other power accessories as well.

phidauex · Mar 31, 2026

There will be a DC/DC converter that will drop from the HV pack voltage down to ~13.5V for the LV system. Not sure what the rating will be, but typical ratings are in the 200A to 350A range. The LV battery is connected to that system as well, and it is charged by the DC/DC when needed (though we'll determine Slate's logic after release).

I'm sure there would be enough capacity for halogen lights if switched by a relay, but I'm not sure why you'd use them. There are some very nice LED options now with better beam patterns, better high beams, and no bulb replacement schedule. My JW Speaker headlights have been on the Tacoma for 8 years now, always parked outside, and look brand new.

E90400K · Mar 31, 2026

Yukon Cornelius said:
The Hella headlamps are great but illegal at 80/100w for road use in the USA though. Not that that stopped me . The hazard for modern vehicles with electronic switching circuits is they are not rated for the higher currents. A standard 55w lamp draws about 4A each, a 100w lamp draws 7.4A each. With older vehicles, the switch may get warm, but with a solid state switch, you might let the magic smoke out.
Something else I have been thinking about with the Slate is what will the overall 12V power system be capable of supporting. After adding a decent stereo, uprated headlamps, offroad lights, ect. will the 12v system be overloaded? Is Slate going to be equipped with a accessory power interface, like what Jeep did? I have not seen anything other than a comment on the connectors being proprietary, which is not a good sign. I will probably put just a radio in mine, but I know a lot of people on this forum will want to add other power accessories as well.

In my BMW E30 325i, which has a 5-1/4 inch quad-lamp setup, I ran 100W H1 bulbs in the high beam globes (inner positions) and 80/100W in the outer positions. 400 watts at high beam was better than any LED setup I've driven behind. And just because I could, I white-wired the fog lamp relay to keep the foglamps on with the high beams. The fogs ran 100 watters too, for I while until I noticed the alternator was straining - LOL.

But good point though, we'll have to see how the circuits are switched. It's probably a CANBUS relay I'm guessing, so the actual switch may not matter. I might need to add some switching relays...

Or maybe modern LED lamps are good enough...

ScooterAsheville · Mar 31, 2026

For those of you near NYC, sounds like Slate will be the show this week. I used to love the NYC auto show. It's a monster. You can spend two hours and see almost every car sold in the USA.

Paul · Mar 31, 2026

phidauex said:
There will be a DC/DC converter that will drop from the HV pack voltage down to ~13.5V for the LV system. Not sure what the rating will be, but typical ratings are in the 200A to 350A range. The LV battery is connected to that system as well, and it is charged by the DC/DC when needed (though we'll determine Slate's logic after release).

I'm sure there would be enough capacity for halogen lights if switched by a relay, but I'm not sure why you'd use them. There are some very nice LED options now with better beam patterns, better high beams, and no bulb replacement schedule. My JW Speaker headlights have been on the Tacoma for 8 years now, always parked outside, and look brand new.

Plus on an EV halogens would just take a bunch more electricity eventually from the EV battery and range?

cadblu · Mar 31, 2026

ScooterAsheville said:
For those of you near NYC, sounds like Slate will be the show this week. I used to love the NYC auto show. It's a monster. You can spend two hours and see almost every car sold in the USA.

Slate Auto will not have an official booth at the Jacob Javits Auto Show, however some media may cover or visit them around the NY show timing.

Two hours really isn’t enough time to explore the entire show as it’s expanded to 3 levels. I’ll be attending, and while disappointed they won’t be an exhibitor I’m not surprised.

E90400K · Mar 31, 2026

Paul said:
Plus on an EV halogens would just take a bunch more electricity eventually from the EV battery and range?

Less than 2.5 miles at 2.4 miles per kWh for an 8-hour trip.

The Autopian sits in a SLATE

zipn

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E90400K

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