Slate promised its EV pickup would give customers a low price of entry which is something that’s still roughly missing in the broader EV space. At the time, Slate promised its new truck would start at under $20,000 a bold price meant to attract budget EV buyers who had the $7,500 EV tax credit to help bolster their purchase.

Unfortunately for Slate the tax credit was eliminated by President Trump and that forced Slate to revise their pricing ladder saying the truck would start higher. It’s been four months since the tax credit evaporated and nearly a year since the Slate debuted and the company still has no clue how much it will end up costing buyers.

The $50 question in the room

Slate said buyers had to put $50 down to secure their spot in the order books and when you combine that with Slate’s tendency to find unique ways to bring costs down, it seemed like a good deal at the time. In an interview with InsideEVs Slate CEO Chris Barman revealed that the main reason why the company has not pinned down a final price point yet is it’s still trying to find ways to work with suppliers to help reduce costs.

This could be interpreted in two ways with the company perhaps working hard to ensure it can meet its initial price target despite some of the challenges presented by the elimination of the tax credit. This could possibly be done by reviewing agreements with certain suppliers and making design changes to help reduce costs.

On the other hand, this could also be an early sign of trouble with the spunky EV potentially facing a cold reception from consumers if its bare-bones presentation is only several thousand less than better equipped EV rivals including a planned EV truck from Ford.

Slate still on track

Despite the mystery surrounding the truck’s price, it appears that other aspects of the truck and the company are on track. For its part, the firm has been good with communicating with deposit holders. A recent correspondence confirmed the company has installed production equipment at its assembly plant in Indiana but it still needed to complete the fine tuning to make the equipment fully work. Other than that though, very little has emerged since.

It will be interesting to see how things move since its minimalist approach to things is a potent selling point for the truck with some buyers undoubtedly being lured in by its simplicity and the customization that the truck brings to the table. The Slate’s 150 miles of range with the base battery pack is low when compared to rivals but its optional larger pack pushes it past 200 miles. The delays in installing the equipment in its factory could force the company to push back the start of production beyond its late 2026 target with 2027 appearing to be the new target for the company (if it lives to that point.)