Slate Auto gets serious about privacy for its bare-bones EV pickup

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lurpeli@reddit

Let's be honest, most consumers don't want a bare bones car with nothing inside. It's also becoming clear it's gonna be more expensive than people are willing to pay for a car devoid of interior features

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Monster_Dumps_2026@reddit

Depends on the price point honestly. If they can come in at the base no more than $20k. People are gonna scoop them up and the aftermarket economy will take off.

Especially if comfortably spec'd stays well under $30K

But if the price creeps close to $30k you hit the ford maverick and thats just a losing value prop to them

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lumpialarry@reddit

If you’re comparing to EV trucks the next stop up is a $55k Silverado EV.

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BlazinAzn38@reddit

Well I have bad news because base is “mid $20s” and what that meant upon announcement was <$20K with the $7500 credit. Doing the math lands this at like $27K for a totally stripped out car, that’s tough

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rootbeer123@reddit

These are going to be dirt cheap once Slate goes the way of Fisker.

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lumpialarry@reddit

This isn’t for consumers. This is for fleet operators wanting a light electric truck to meet its ESG goals.

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Secksualinnuendo@reddit

Agreed. These will sell to you tubers who will make a few videos of them then they will drop them in a year. And the regular people that do buy them will realize they like having features. Then they will dump them in a year.

You can currently get a used F150 Lightning for about $35k and these aren't even the basic work truck versions. That's some stiff competition.

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BoringBob84@reddit

That's some stiff competition.

Why would someone who wants a compact EV truck be interested in that enormous thing?

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UmaThurmish@reddit

most people would rather have janky ass features that they might use once and never use again and pay extra than only necessities because quite frank most people just like shit they dont need

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EpicLegendX@reddit

Only three things I care for in a car:

Climate Control
Apple CarPlay/Android Auto
Rear Backup Cam

Anything else is a bonus.

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jojocorodon@reddit

Truck doesn't have a stereo, only some hook points for a BT speaker.

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specialcommenter@reddit

And seems like no standard DIN opening or speaker cutouts for people like myself who may have wanted to install aftermarket sound. Deal breaker

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tuxthekiller@reddit

With the fact there are mounts for other stuff a few creative 3d prints will show up quick and metra or something will make it plausible/easy enough pretty quick to add stuff I'm sure.

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drawmer@reddit

How about safety, good mileage or power, and reliability?

Everything else is a bonus. This is why automakers are cramming crap into cars.

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regardballs@reddit

if it's the same price...

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Krispythecat@reddit

Just wanted to say that you have great taste in cars. Taycan daily with a weekend Miata is my idea of fun 😄

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UmaThurmish@reddit

dealers love higher base price. thats why even base models come with extra dealer added options and extra junk.

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SqueezyCheez85@reddit

Tell that to all the people buying Kei trucks.

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SnootDoctor@reddit

all the people buying Kei trucks

I would love to see some actual numbers on this. I see a few for sale on the side of the road in my area, meaning people bought them & got buyer’s remorse.

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Xyrexenex@reddit

Here in Portland there's somewhere between a lot and a fuckload, same with the Seattle area.

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SqueezyCheez85@reddit

Once people realize how terrible they are when diving over 50mph, they back out.

With that said, if I didn't have multiple dirt bikes, I'd sell my Tacoma and get a Sambar.

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FalloutRip@reddit

The vast majority of people buying Kei trucks in the US are buying one for novelty as a secondary vehicle and are well aware how barebones they are, though. You can also buy a Kei truck for under $10k all day.

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GregAllAround@reddit

Most consumers aren’t even considering Kei Trucks at any point in their purchasing life. I’m sure Slate wants to sell more than 1,000 of these a year in the Pacific Northwest

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BlazinAzn38@reddit

Yeah there’s hardline defenders who are acting like power windows, a head unit, and speakers are immense luxuries when those are just things people expect to have and have expected to have for 40 years now. If this are ends up being within 10% of cars that have typical standard features I think it’s just not going to work. Happy to be wrong but there’s no evidence pointing that way

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CortaCircuit@reddit

Good. Privacy has be absolutely beat to death over the past decade. It is not the we cannot build private tech solutions it is that companies have gotten greedy with user data, governments keep try to evade the constitution and consumers really don't know how bad it is.

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BetweenFourAndTwenty@reddit

Excuse me if I have a hard time believing that a car company backed by Amazon, a company that primarily makes its money by selling data, won't be collecting and selling every bit of data they can get out of this endeavor.

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pcase@reddit

Yeah, I’d love to know who is originating this “privacy” nonsense. Also, can an automotive manufacturer just focus on selling good vehicles and stop using every opportunity to harvest data under the guise of “improvement”?

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Dan_E26@reddit

This thing is so fucking DOA when people realize they're spending $30k on a ~150mi car with literally nothing inside.

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4N8NDW@reddit

In the winter more like 100 miles 😭😭😭

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mustangfan12@reddit

Sadly its too stripped down, consumers don't want an ultra stripped down car anymore because the used market is so good

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LongjumpingLock5875@reddit

The question becomes, why not just get a Ford Maverick, sure, it isn't an EV, but it isn't like the Slate Truck is this marvel of EV Technology.

You get 2x the towing capacity, >2.5x the range, all the modern features of a production car, for $28k.

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RotaryConeChaser@reddit

Critics be damned, the Slate fits a purpose for me that nothing else can touch. I'm cautiously optimistic on this. Talk of simplifying components, ease of repair and replacement, and this article make me think Slate thinks strongly of the concept of ownership. I think they seek to enable owners to be able to actually keep and maintain their vehicles rather than have to treat them as disposables, and THIS is very compelling.

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SknyWil@reddit

It’s the pickup truck that 98% of pickup truck owners actually need. Haul trash to the dump and haul the occasional load from Lowe’s that won’t fit in the suv. I think it’s a very interesting option for a home work truck. I’m concerned why they’re being so cagey on pricing.

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