Michigan-based EV start-up will begin production of the ultra-utilitarian, 240-mile Truck next year
New American EV manufacturer Slate, backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has revealed a back-to-basics compact pick-up truck that's set to cost the equivalent of just £20,000.
The secretive start-up had not made any public announcements about its debut model, called simply Truck, in the run-up to its unveiling but it is now taking reservations and plans to begin deliveries at the end of next year - with a targeted base price of $27,000 before local incentives.
Confirmed for only a US roll-out so far, the utilitarian two-seat pick-up is engineered and designed to keep costs down in a bid to make electric motoring affordable and more appealing in a market that continues to heavily favour combustion propulsion.
Its monolithic, composite-panelled silhouette is unadorned with chrome and unnecessary decorations, for example, while the windows are manually cranked and there's a smartphone mount in place of a central touchscreen, à la Citroën Ami. Speakers can be fitted as an option, though, and standard kit includes a USB port, central locking and cruise control.
The Truck is highly customisable, though, with a raft of colours, accessories and kits on offer. It can even be converted into a five-seat baby SUV or a fastback crossover using bolt-on conversion kits for the 1047-litre load bay, supplied by Slate.
Power is provided by either a 52.7kWh or relatively large 84.3kWh battery under the floor, which are said to return ranges of either 150 or 240 miles and can each fast-charge from 20-100% in less than 30 minutes.Â
Propulsion comes courtesy of a single motor on the rear axle, giving 201bhp and 195lb ft for a 0-60mph time of 8.0sec and a top speed of 90mph.
Slate will build the Truck at a site in the Midwestern US, so it will not be subject to president Donald Trump's new 25% import tariffs on foreign-made cars, but the firm has not named a location, nor said whether it plans to build the EV itself.
The company, which is based in Michigan, is bringing the Truck to production partly using funding from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, which has a commercial vehicle supply deal in the US with Rivian, though it is unclear whether Amazon could strike a similar agreement with Slate.
