Slate expects its no-nonsense electric truck to hit American roads in a few months.
In emails obtained by Business Insider, the startup asked customers who placed a $300 pre-order if they were interested in an earlier delivery window. A drop-down menu listed “December 2026” as an option.
It’s the clearest picture yet of when Slate expects its first deliveries. It also aligns with the company’s previous guidance, which said its EV trucks would hit U.S. roads “by the end of 2026,” without specifying a month.
Slate Communications offers a December delivery window. Business insider
It does not mean that all customers who choose early delivery will receive their car in December. The emails all included a “delivery window” that estimated when the cars would ship if they don’t make the December slots. The emails reviewed by Business Insider had an estimated range of “coming soon, 2027” to “July-September 2027.”
The Jeff Bezos-backed startup has turned heads with its bare-bones $24,950 electric pickup. The basic model is gray, has an estimated range of 330 kilometers, has two seats and opening windows and comes without a touchscreen or stereo system. From there customers can add features they wantincluding everything from exterior color wraps and Bluetooth speaker holders to a second-row SUV kit.
The slate wagon. Slate
The entire field puts Slate in a unique position in the American auto industry. Automakers have increasingly gone after high-budget buyers, pushing the average transaction price for a new car to $49,855 in July, according to Cox Automotive. Small trucks, especially two-door models, are also nearly extinct in the U.S. market.
Slate says more than 180,000 people have paid a $50 refundable deposit to hold their place in the delivery queue. The company opened non-refundable pre-orders worth $300 in June and said it received more than 10,000 deposits in the first few hours after the price announcement.
Slate’s upcoming rival, the $28,350, all-electric Ford Fathom pickupwill be a big test. For a few thousand dollars extra, the new Ford truck will have a native Apple Maps navigation system, four doors and likely power windows. Fathom is expected to reach customers in fall 2027.
In July, anticipating the coming war with affordable electric trucks, I drove a pre-production Slate to see how the bare-bones approach would hold up on the road. Watch the video below for my first impressions.
