🚀 Discover this insightful post from TechCrunch 📖
📂 Category: Startups,Transportation,electric vehicles,EVs,slate auto
💡 Main takeaway:
Slate Auto, the electric truck startup backed by Jeff Bezos, has amassed more than 150,000 redeemable reservations for its low-cost electric vehicle scheduled for release at the end of 2026.
The company shared the number in a new Q&A video with CEO Chris Barman, in which it answers reservation holders’ questions about the company’s self-driving plans (there aren’t any), or whether owners will be able to install a car seat on the optional rear seats (they will).
Reservations are a somewhat useful metric to gauge public interest in a new car, but they are by no means an indication of certain success. Time and again over the past few years, we’ve seen electric car companies tout booking numbers and then collapse, either because they weren’t able to get through the difficult process of continuing production, or because they weren’t ready to have cars on the road.
For Slate, it’s a promise that the number will continue to rise, which means new bookings are coming in faster than any attrition the company might see. However, Slate surpassed the 100,000 booking mark throughout May, right after it came out of stealth, so it took a good seven months to increase the list by 50%. Looking to the future, Slate plans to manufacture 150,000 of these electric vehicles annually at the factory it is renovating in Warsaw, Indiana, so it will need to attract more buyers if it plans to succeed in the market.
Any continued enthusiasm for Slate’s EV should be a reassuring sign for the company, given the state of electric trucks in general these days. Just yesterday, Ford announced it would end production of the all-electric F-150 Lightning, the first large battery-powered pickup truck to hit the U.S. market in a few years. (It is being replaced by a version attached to a gas generator.) The company said the Lightning simply wasn’t making enough money — a fact exacerbated by Ford’s inability to sell more than a few thousand in a quarter. Sales of other electric trucks, such as Tesla’s Cybertruck and GM’s Silverado EV, are struggling to stay above that level.
Of course, the Lightning was a Frankenstein’s monster of a vehicle, as Ford converted EV technology into a design that was originally intended for gas engines. The Slate truck was designed from the ground up to be an electric vehicle, and the company is laser-focused on selling it in the $20,000 range. A decline in offers from Ford and others may help pave the way for Slate to achieve early success — that is, until Ford’s real shot at producing a low-cost electric vehicle hits the market in 2027.
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🕒 Posted on 1765933467
