The Price of a Slate EV Just Went Up by About $5k

Slate – the Jeff Bezos-backed affordable EV pick-up – just got more expensive, looks like.

You may remember that this minimalist (few power accessories, no radio, even) and modular little truck that could be owner (or dealer) converted into a little SUV was promised to start at around $20,000. This was not just over-hopeful; it was disingenuous, because it knocked about $7,500 off the price of the vehicle (courtesy of Uncle Sam and the federal $7,500 tax credit). The vehicle would actually sell for closer to $28,000 – but the marketing spiel counted the $7,500 off to create the impression the vehicle would only list for around $20,000.

In other words, it was a lie – since the vehicle’s selling price is what it is regardless of the possibility of a tax credit post consummation of the sale. It was also a misrepresentation – because not everyone or for that matter most people even qualified for the full or even any of the potential $7,500 tax credit. You had to have owed a pretty hefty tax bill to qualify for the whole $7,500. If you didn’t “owe” – disgusting term in this (taxation) context – the federal government more than $7,500 you weren’t going to get credit for more than that. And now, of course, the credit is gone – so no credit for anyone to offset the actual cost of buying an EV.

Now, Slate says (internally, at rate ) the little EV pickup/SUV it says will become available sometime later this year will start fifty bucks shy of $25k ($24,950).

If this is accurate – if this turns out to be the base price of a Slate pick-up – it will probably mean the end of Slate before it begins. Or not long after. It will be something like a low-rent Lucid; i.e., a failure on the other other end of the spectrum. Lucid has been losing lots of money selling high-end EVs; it has been on the edge of bankruptcy since it began losing money selling high-end EVs. Slate is likely to lose money selling low-end EVs.

It’s actually not the low-end thing that’s the problem. It’s admirable that Slate has been trying – hard – to make a low-end EV, by making the Slate as basic as realistically possible. Well, nearly. As by nixing as many weight-and-cost-adding amenities as possible, such as power windows and even a radio (pre-wiring for an aftermarket unit is thoughtfully provided). AC is standard, though – and while that has become a kind of necessary luxury it nonetheless adds cost (and weight) and could have been made optional – as AC once was in most vehicles except luxury vehicles – to cut down the cost and the weight. As well as the power-suck. AC is not free – even after you buy it. In a gas-engined car, it reduces gas mileage because it takes not-a-little-bit of engine power to power the compressor. In an electric car, it takes electricity to power the AC; the consequence of that being reduced range. This is of no real importance in a non-electric car because it so easy – and so fast – to get a full tank of gas. It is very consequential in an EV, especially when the thing doesn’t have much range to start with.

The Slate is expected to come standard with about 150 miles of fully charged range. That’s roughly as far as you could drive a reasonably economical gas engined car that averages say 30 MPG on five gallons of gas, or about a third of tankful (about 12-15 gallons is the typical capacity of a current medium-small gas-engined crossover). It’s actually less far when you factor in the need to keep enough charge in reserve to make sure you make it to a place to recharge and also as cushion for the inevitable your actual driving range may vary reality of driving an EV. As for example because it’s really hot out and you turned the AC on.

Or ran the heat, if it’s cold out. In a vehicle with an engine, heat is free in that it does not burn any more gas to turn the heater on. In an EV, there is no free heat. Turning on the heat burns more electricity.

Would you pay $25k for a very small electric pickup that can only go a best-case 150 miles on a charge that doesn’t even come standard with a radio – or power windows? Maybe it’s better to ask why would you pay $25k for a very small electric pickup with very few amenities when for just a little more – $28,145 – you could buy a much more serviceable (and much nicer) hybrid electric truck like the Ford Maverick, which comes standard with a six speaker stereo, power windows and locks and an AC system you can use without worrying about running out of range. Speaking of that, the Maverick hybrid can go nearly 600 miles on a tankful – which can be refilled to full in less than five minutes.

To be fair, the Maverick isn’t modular; it’s a crew cab pick-up and that’s all it will ever be – unless you’re handy with a Sawzall and a welder. But you won’t need the Sawzall or the welder to make it practical because it is as it comes. It’s also just $3,150 more than the Slate – and that assumes Slate actually offers its little EV pickup for $24,950.

If the Slate were to be offered with a base price around $15k, they probably wouldn’t be able to keep up with demand because at $15k, a little EV with 150 miles of range is enough to serve as minimalist transportation in city/suburban situations. But they’d also lose money on every sale. That’s the Catch 22. EVs that actually make sense – especially financially – are too expensive to sell unless money is lost on each sale.

Bezos knows how to sell stuff on Amazon. But selling EVs and making money doing that is another thing.

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