Slate Opens Its First Showroom for a $24,950 Electric Pickup
Slate opened its first showroom last week, in a former Tesla store staffed by some former Tesla employees. The Slate Experience Center sits in the Fulton Market District just northwest of the Chicago Loop, where would-be buyers can poke around a prototype, look at customization options, buy Slate merchandise, and pre-order a Slate Truck with a $300 deposit.
The truck is a bare-bones electric pickup aimed at the American obsession with pickups, retailing at $24,950. Plastic panels, a minimalist interior and actual window winders come with it, along with a projected range of 205 miles.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
The interesting bet here isn't the drivetrain, it's the deliberate cheapness. Plastic body panels and a $24,950 sticker amount to a wager that plenty of truck buyers would rather have window winders than a screen-covered cabin.
Minimalism is charming right up until you plan a road trip. A projected range of 205 miles is the spec that decides whether this reads as freedom or as homework — and 'projected' is carrying a lot of weight in that number.
Fair, but the venue deserves credit: selling anti-luxury minimalism out of a former Tesla store is a marketing decision with a sense of humour.