Buzzy New EV Startup Slate Auto has won over 100,000 bookings for its low-cost, customizable electric pickup truck.
Slate crossed the milestone over the weekend just two weeks after leaving stealth mode and unveiling the track at an event in Los Angeles, California. The company has said that after applying the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, as originally reported by TechCrunch, the truck will fall below $20,000 for under $20,000, and plans to build a vehicle at its former printing factory in Warsaw, Indiana.
“We are truly humbled by the US response to the launch of the Slate brand and the launch of the truck,” Jeremy Snyder, Slate’s chief commercial officer, said in a statement to TechCrunch. “We look forward to seeing what the future holds.”
Collecting 100,000 bookings very quickly is one indication of how much interest you have been in slate since revealing the truck, but it is not a guarantee that those bookings will lead to sales. The company is asking future buyers to drop $50 and fall $50 in line to order trucks in the end. Fees are refundable.
Many other EV startups have promoted their reservations in the past, keeping them from meeting the expectations of such large rounds. Fisker filed for bankruptcy after selling thousands of marine SUVs, despite claiming to have more than 60,000 bookings. Meanwhile, Roadstown Motors has been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for misleading investors about the number of “reservation notes” for its own electric pickup truck. (Roadstown Motors similarly filed for bankruptcy and eventually settled in the SEC.)
Slate has a big goal for trucks and can also convert them to SUVs due to prices that are not currently available. The company says it has the ability to build up to 150,000 vehicles at its Indiana plant by the end of 2027. And there are big supporters who help Slate try to achieve that goal, including Jeff Bezos (through his family office, Bezos Expedition), CEO of Guggenheim Partners, Mark Walter, and general catalyst at VC firms.
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