Slate's $24,950 electric truck just became the cheapest new vehicle in America

Slate Auto just priced its bare-bones electric pickup at $24,950, undercutting every gas or electric truck sold in the US today, including the Ford Maverick, which starts at $27,145. The Jeff Bezos-backed startup opened preorders the same day, and more than 180,000 people had already put down a refundable $50 deposit before the price was even announced.

The number lands lower than most expected. Slate originally pitched the truck as costing "under $20,000," a figure that assumed the now-defunct $7,500 federal EV tax credit. That credit disappeared under policy changes from the Trump administration, which is also why several automakers have shelved their own affordable EV plans. Slate held its price near the original target anyway, and even sweetened the deal: the base model's estimated range jumped from 150 miles to around 205 miles, though that came at the cost of scrapping plans for a larger 240-mile battery pack option.

The $24,950 figure excludes taxes, title, registration, destination charges, and documentation fees, the out-the-door price will run higher. But even with those added, the truck sits at roughly half the average new car price in the US, which now hovers around $50,000. That gap is the entire premise of the company.

What makes Slate's pitch unusual isn't just the price, it's what you get for it. The Blank Slate ships as a two-seat pickup with hand-crank windows, no infotainment screen, and a single gray composite body with no paint options. Owners can convert it into a five-seat SUV themselves using "Slate University" how-to videos the company released alongside the price reveal. The SUV configuration starts at $29,950. Slate is betting that stripping out everything non-essential is a feature, not a compromise — and pairing it with a 10-year, 110,000-mile battery and powertrain warranty plus access to more than 3,000 RepairPal shops.

"Slate is making a $25,000 bet that drivers still want something simple. Our data show the market quietly walked away from that price years ago, so this is a real test of how much affordability still matters to today's buyers." - Ivan Drury, Director of Insights, Edmunds

That skepticism is grounded in real numbers. New EV sales in the US fell 27% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026, to around 216,400 units, according to Cox Automotive's Kelley Blue Book data. The American car market has drifted firmly upmarket for years, and competitors aren't standing still on range either, the new Chevy Bolt offers 262 miles and the Nissan Leaf delivers over 300, both for only a few thousand dollars more than Slate's base price, with five seats and standard features Slate doesn't include.

Slate has raised roughly $1.4 billion across three funding rounds to get here, backed by Bezos' family office, Mark Walter's TWG Global, General Catalyst, and Slauson & Co. The company is also building a plant in Warsaw, Indiana, where it plans to invest nearly $400 million and create more than 2,000 jobs. First deliveries are expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, meaning the real test of whether Americans actually want a stripped-down EV, rather than just saying they do in a reservation queue, is still about six months away.