Jay Leno begins the latest episode of his Jay Leno’s Garage series by going hands-on with a new electric truck called Slate, which has the potential to make going electric a viable option for a quarter of the cost of today’s new automobiles. The Slate prototype, developed in Warsaw, Indiana, is a no-frills pickup that is easy to customize, repair, and maintain.
Leno spends 35 minutes talking through the truck’s specifics with Slate’s head of design, Tisha Johnson, and chief commercial officer, Jeremy Snyder, both of whom began their careers at Tesla. Production begins with each truck being identical right out of the plant, keeping costs low and efficiency high.
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Later, owners can add their own personal touches with flat-pack kits that convert the truck into an SUV with a squareback or fastback rear end, or even a head-turning open top layout by removing the bulkhead, installing a roll cage, and putting in a bench seat. The panels’ visible fasteners make it simple to switch or replace them. The body is made of rust-resistant composite materials and has a neutral grey finish ideal for covering in vinyl rather than painting.
You’ll note right away that the interior is quite minimalist, with roll-up windows utilized for airflow, air conditioning controlled by a simple trio of knobs, and a rudimentary Bluetooth speaker serving as a stereo system. There are no fancy screens or over-engineered gauges to clutter up your dashboard. A decent-sized frunk in the front provides plenty of storage space, while the bed in the back easily accommodates typical 4×8 pieces of plywood. Rails on the sides accommodate a variety of add-ons and accessories.
The five lug nuts on the front hint at possible future 4-wheel-drive versions, however this truck is still rear-wheel drive. The battery options provide a range of approximately 150 or 230 miles, and both use liquid cooling on the Slate Board platform, a hybrid design that places the battery low in the middle of the vehicle for improved handling and safety. You can connect the truck to the North American Supercharger network, which is extremely beneficial for city dwellers or those who are unable to charge at home. Disc brakes are standard, as is regenerative braking, but the latter is not adjustable.
Perhaps the most eye-catching aspect is Slate’s commitment to right-to-repair principles, as they are completely open about it. They have an app that helps owners diagnose problems as well as fix them at home, and there is even a network of over 4,000 independent mechanics who have partnered with Slate to make it easy to get things sorted out, rather than having to go through a dealership.
Despite the fact that Slate has only recently launched, it has already received over 150,000 reservations. You can buy the truck directly from the factory, with no middlemen in the way, and the idea is to keep the price cheap, in the mid-twenties, considerably below the $50,000 average cost of a new vehicle, though production is still a year away.
