Slate Truck: The $28,000 Electric Pickup That Lost Its Federal Tax Credit — And Still Plans to Launch

The Slate Truck launched in April 2025 with one number doing most of the heavy lifting: under $20,000. That was the post-incentive price, after deducting the then-available $7,500 federal EV tax credit. It was the most arresting price tag in American automotive news that year — a bare-bones, Jeff Bezos-backed electric pickup cheaper than a base Toyota Corolla.

Then Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated the federal EV tax credit, effective September 2025. Slate quietly removed the "under $20,000" language from its website. The truck now starts at approximately $28,000 — still the cheapest electric pickup coming to market from any manufacturer, but a materially different proposition than the one that generated the original excitement.

What the Slate Truck actually is

Slate Auto is a Michigan-based startup backed by Jeff Bezos and Guggenheim's Mark Walter, with over $111 million in funding and more than 400 employees. The truck is built around a philosophy of deliberate simplicity: no large touchscreen, hand-cranked windows on the base model, no paint from the factory (buyers can wrap it themselves), and a modular design that allows it to be converted from a two-door pickup into a five-seat SUV using flat-pack body panels Slate sells separately.

Under the skin, a single rear-mounted electric motor produces 201 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque. Two battery options are available: a 52.7 kWh pack offering approximately 150 miles of range, and an 84.3 kWh pack with approximately 240 miles. The truck is slightly smaller than a Ford Maverick and is produced at Slate's facility in Warsaw, Indiana.

The tax credit problem — and what it means

Slate's entire affordability argument was built on the federal credit's existence. The company's marketing prominently featured the sub-$20,000 figure; it drove media coverage, reservation interest, and the company's pitch to investors. When the credit disappeared, the math changed by exactly $7,500 — the maximum individual credit available under the previous Inflation Reduction Act rules.

Slate CEO Chris Barman has said the team is "working aggressively" to keep pricing as low as possible, with final supplier negotiations still ongoing. The company has confirmed the base model's target remains around $25,000–28,000, but has not published a firm figure. Production is targeting the end of 2026 at the earliest.

Reservations are open with a refundable $50 deposit — a low enough barrier that early reservation numbers aren't necessarily a reliable signal of real purchase intent.

The case for it anyway

Even at $28,000, the Slate Truck would be the cheapest electric truck on the US market by a wide margin. The next-cheapest option — the Ford Maverick hybrid, which isn't fully electric — starts around $23,000. Full EVs like the F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, and GMC Sierra EV all start at $50,000 or above. The Slate fills a real gap: a work-capable, simple, affordable EV for buyers who don't need a luxury cabin and don't want to finance $60,000 of truck.

The 150-mile base range is the genuine limitation. For daily commuting and weekend use it's workable, but it makes the truck less competitive for buyers who regularly haul or tow on highway runs. The 240-mile extended-range option improves the picture but will cost more — Slate hasn't confirmed the premium yet.

Sources: Wikipedia; TechCrunch; Yahoo Finance; TopElectricSUV; Yahoo Autos; US News & World Report.