I so bad want this to work. I hate computers in cars (beyond the ecu for efi and abs, that is all a car needs)
Sucks that its bezos funded but hey. Take what we can.
I so bad want this to work. I hate computers in cars (beyond the ecu for efi and abs, that is all a car needs)
Sucks that its bezos funded but hey. Take what we can.
Bezos is not the major investor.
Them using the name is purely for marketing. Smart people that hate Bezos are going to look up that he's not the major investor. Dumb people that like Bezos are too stupid to look up anything.
and you can buy it!
it's not for sale, how can i buy it?
egregious degree of clickbait
Bezos-backed Slate Auto...that's a offput.
The problem here is that unless you pull off the most insane kickstarter in history, these type s of developments cannot be funded by anyone else than billionaires and megacorps, with the exception of states, like Mexico's pickup.
Designing a thing like this can probably be pulled off by a small team of engineers and designers, but the whole production, safety testing, distribution etc is just not doable.
I’m curious what those dimensions and range will be.
I’d love to have a little campervan for adventures without paying 50k+ for a gas guzzler
Default range is a little over 200 miles. Adding the weight of the camping stuff is likely to be what affects mileage more than the cargo shell, but I would guess it would still be over 150 miles in most conditions.
The shell actually is likely the bigger impact.
Electric cars are already really heavy, and they get most of their efficiency from aerodynamics.
Electric mini-camper truck, neat. Might as well go ahead and put what few solar panels can be fit upon the roof for a little more power inside for accessories
Can the next thing they come out with be 4 wheel drive plsssssss. I want one so bad, but don't really wana drive a rear wheel in snow
I too would love a 4x4 option, or at least all-wheel drive.
Though having driven rear-wheel trucks in the winter, the Slate should be less terrible. The location of the battery and motor add weight over the drive tires. I expect it to not slide around as much as a rear-wheel truck with engine in the front.
Rear wheel drive is fine in snow in a vehicle with proper weight distribution. It's not a stupid ICE pickup with all the weight over the non drive wheels.
Pretty interesting. I'd like to know the dimensions and how much it hurts the range.
I'm definitely curious about the range hit. Starting at 200 miles and raising the roof can't be great.
After seeing tons of ID Buzz cargo vans in use in Europe, though, I think it could still thrive as a fleet truck in cities.
EVs do very well with stop/start driving, opposite of ICE. So whatever effect of aero is likely balanced with lack of highway travel.
A small delivery truck is a huge gap in the NA market.
I really want one of these myself but worried that it may contain some networking module that sends data back home about every little metric that the other advanced cars have today (not interested in being tracked). Gonna hold out until I get confirmation of that.
This is partially where I'm at on it, it sounds cool in theory, no head unit, speaker is just Bluetooth, but then tell me A. Why does Bezos love it so much, B. How does it connect to the phone app that their website mentions, and C. What data does that app collect. I wish the YouTubers who were doing interviews with Slate and Telo would've asked those questions, especially considering how many articles are out there now about the other car companies tracking you. If they weren't doing any, or at least significantly less, you'd think they'd want to publicize it more heavily.
My other issue is I live in a very icy place 7 months out of the year, give me FWD or AWD options
Edit: apparently the app works by physically plugging into the car, not cellular, so not much I can argue about there.
From what I've read it looks to be the best modern option in that regard. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/06/slate-says-its-electric-pickup-will-never-track-you/
Image caption says
High-roof Slate Auto cargo; made w/ AI
Good god, please tell me they're not saying that this car was designed with AI?!?
I think the image was rendered with AI. I don't see it on slate's website, looks like electrek made it?
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