A Jeff Bezos-backed startup just put a number on the cheapest new electric truck in the US market.
Slate Auto priced its debut electric truck at $24,950, with an SUV variant starting at $29,950. The company also bumped the base range to 205 miles. The truck has been pitched as a deliberately stripped-down vehicle — no frills, low cost — and the pricing reflects that philosophy. These are starting figures, meaning options and add-ons could push the real-world price higher.
The $24,950 number matters because it lands well below where most electric trucks have been priced. Rivals like the Ford F-150 Lightning start closer to $40,000, and the Rivian R1T has hovered even higher. If Slate can actually deliver at that price point, it closes a gap that has kept working-class buyers out of the EV truck market almost entirely.
That "if" is doing a lot of work here. Slate is still a startup, Bezos backing notwithstanding, and the history of EV startups promising affordable trucks is not an encouraging one.