This electric ute is shaping as the anti-Tesla for EV buyers

With Tesla’s reputation falling and Chinese exports to the US under threat, an automotive start-up backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plan to offer an alternative – a small and affordable ute it hopes will become the Ford Model T of electric vehicles.

Slate Auto has been flying under the radar for years, hiring employees from the likes of Ford, General Motors and Harley-Davidson, and is led by Chrysler veteran Christine Barman as its chief executive. It has significant Amazon roots, having originally spun out of the Re:Build Manufacturing incubator.

Slate Auto is making a simple and lower-cost EV it hopes Americans can afford.

According to a report from Tech Crunch, the company raised at least US$111 million in a Series A round in 2023, plus an undisclosed amount in a series B late last year, with Bezos and other Amazon executives among the investors. The leads of Slate’s digital, e-commerce and in-vehicle experience divisions also come by way of Amazon.

Is Slate ready to join a line of budding Tesla killers? Given the size of the company, it will need to make a lot more vehicles to hurt Elon Musk’s baby, which is shipping millions of cars per year. Slate is likely to be pumping out closer to 100,000 cars. But it does offer an attractive option to those who want an everyday electric ute rather than a $100,000 Cybertruck, or EV enthusiasts who have soured on Tesla for political reasons.

Slate’s car, which will reportedly roll off the production line next year, certainly carries an air of tech start-up disruption. While most EV companies debut with an expensive car and work towards the middle of the market, Slate plans to start low; it will offer its vehicle starting at $US20,000 ($31,000), or around a third of the average price for a new EV in the United States.

The idea is that it will eat a lot of the cost of manufacturing the car, and rely on an ecosystem of upgrades, add-ons and aesthetic customisations to bring in more money over time.

The ‘Blank Slate’ (left) is an inexpensive vehicle as far as new EVs go, but the company plans to make money on the optional extras.

The “Blank Slate”, as the vehicle in its default state is called, is a small car. As shown on the company’s website, it’s closer to the size of a 1985 Toyota ute than to the massive American “trucks” commonly seen on the road today. It’s also much simpler than most new electric vehicles, with very little in the way of extra features. Unless you want to add them.

The vehicle has two seats, no digital screen, no electric windows and no audio system. It has air-conditioning, a phone or tablet holder, old-school window winders and trunk space under the bonnet. It comes in grey but is designed for optional wraps in any colour, and it’s built to be augmented with a range of add-ons.

Some examples of modified Slate vehicles, as shown on the company’s website.

Slate will offer a few different body kits and tray accessories that can transform the ute into an SUV, add racks and bars, or even install rear seats. One example shown on the site shows the back window removed and the rear seats installed out in the open air, Jeep-style. There will also be choices for different wheel rims, grills or speaker systems. Slate hasn’t given prices for any of this but has said purchasers can order upgrades to be pre-installed in new vehicles, by an authorised installer after the fact, or to be shipped and installed DIY with the help of instructional videos.

It’s an approach we’ve seen before in tech, similar to how Apple makes ongoing income from the apps and accessories on its phones, or how video game platform-holders take a bath on console sales because they know they make a big margin on software. It’s also not dissimilar to various modular phone concepts, or the Framework DIY laptop, which is to say it’s an extraordinarily different approach compared to high-end EVs such as Teslas. Despite a focus on low-cost convenience and customisability, there are some obvious challenges in such a product.

For starters, despite the pedigree of its employees, it remains to be seen how fast Slate can make these cars. Car manufacturing is no small task, especially considering testing and regulatory compliance that goes into it. This would seem to be compounded by the idea that parts of the car can be removed or installed by the driver, and that each finished unit is essentially made to order. Servicing and repair is probably only possible by Slate itself, which is another complication.

The stated price of $US20,000 may also be a little misleading. It excludes on-road fees and, like most advertised prices in America, it also excludes state sales tax. But the big caveat is that the price is listed as “after federal incentives”. This refers to a government tax credit that eligible Americans can apply for, worth $US7500. But it’s also one that president Donald Trump has said he’ll eliminate as part of efforts to lower government spending. So the true price could be closer to $US30,000, before add-ons.

Then there’s the issue of charging. Slate says home-charging is no problem for its car, and its app will allow drivers to see the nearest compatible public chargers. However, the default battery delivers a maximum range of only around 240 kilometres, and the standard 120V outlets of American homes will add only three to eight kilometres worth of power per hour of charging.

Finally, Trump’s threatened import tariffs may end up affecting Slate. It is headquartered in Michigan and will manufacture in Indiana but, crucially, it is buying batteries from South Korea. Before the recent pause in retaliatory tariffs, Trump had planned a 25 per cent rate for that country, which could still come into force.

Challenges aside, the market for low-cost EVs from anywhere other than China is wide open, and Slate could be poised to take advantage. So could a small company design a similar car to be made in Australia?

Given that it’s much cheaper to get Chinese EVs in this country than it is to get them in America, it would seem the incentive to do so is much lower.

In fact, we have a brand-new EV available in Australia for less than $30,000, thanks to the just-launched BYD Dolphin, while additional Chinese brands seem to be appearing in the country every single month.

One of those – GAC – even plans to sell a clear imitation of Tesla’s own Cybertruck, dubbed the Pickup 01. Australians can make use of government-backed low-interest EV loans.

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