Spy shots have surfaced of a mysterious compact pickup truck with no-nonsense, squared-off styling. The concept is riding on a flatbed tow truck. Photos first emerged on Reddit’s WhatIsThisCar forum, but its manufacturer immediately came forward. It’s the first concept by Jeff-Bezos-backed Slate Auto.

Is Bezos’ Slate Auto for real?

The electric vehicle revolution has inspired countless automotive startups. They range from engineering-forward successes (Rivian), to vaporware carefully marketed to steal investors’ money (Nikola). So where does Slate Auto fall on the spectrum? We’ll have to wait to know for sure. But Slate has a few things working in its favor.

What is this car?
byu/discostranger09 inwhatisthiscar

With Bezos’ backing, Slate likely won’t be scrambling for other investment money. That means it won’t be rushing concept vehicles just so it can go public and secure funding. Designing a new vehicle requires time, and Slate may be able to afford to take this time. If it adopts Bezos’ philosophy of losing money for a decade to build the necessary infrastructure (i.e., Amazon), it’s on the right track.

Finally, Slate’s established its headquarters in Michigan. With all the Detroit Three and multiple foreign automakers doing their engineering in Michigan, it is one of the best places in the world to recruit engineering know-how.

Slate has a factory in Indianapolis, Indiana. Tariffs may actually help Slate as it’s already positioned to undercut foreign-assembled competitors (such as the Ford Maverick).

Do we need a compact electric pickup truck?

We don’t currently have the battery technology for electric trucks to replace traditional pickups. An inexpensive, compact electric pickup truck might be able to invent a segment just by being cheap to operate.

Big electric trucks have a problem: They’re big. To achieve a range rivaling what gas trucks can do on one tank, they need huge lithium ion batteries. This pushes their pice well over $50k. It also makes them extremely heavy. When you do hook them up to a fast charger at a rest stop, they may take an hour to top off. Or longer. And when you try to tow with them, you can kiss most of your battery range goodbye.

Ford’s CEO Jim Farley admits that going big with the F-150 Lightning was a mistake. He said,
“We have to start to get back in love with smaller vehicles.” One of those vehicles may be Slate Auto’s compact truck.

A light, low-to-the-ground, single-cab truck could achieve a kWh/mile similar to smaller crossover EVs. It could get away with a smaller, lighter battery pack. If you add fast charging, you have an EV that’s ready to roadtrip. But that might not even be its selling point.

Slate Auto is hoping to sell its compact truck for $25k. That would undercut all the compact pickup trucks on the market. But because electric vehicles require much cheaper “fuel” and less maintenance, its cost-per-mile could be lower still. The latest electric vehicles are already proving to be twice as reliable as traditional vehicles. For drivers looking for an around-town pickup who don’t need space for many passengers, this “Amazon Essentials” of trucks may be too good a deal to pass up.