The goal is ambitious: Building a two -person electric pick -up, whose price in the living room will not exceed 25,000. hole.and after deducting the federal relief, below 20,000 will fall. hole. For zlotys it is about 75,000 zloty.
The most tangible confirmation of plans is the decision to locate production in Warsaw (not to be confused with our Warsaw), a small city in the North Indian (United States). Slate Auto will take over a huge hall after the RR Donnelly printing house, closed in 2023 and leaving 500 people without work. The company declares employment of 2,000 employees and binds the date of the first deliveries with the end of 2026.
The facility must be slightly modernized. It will be Without paint shops and pressing presses, because the vehicle's body consists of plastic panels dyed in mass. The project itself is to absorb hundreds of millions of dollars, which requires investors with deep pockets, but it is apparently a relatively small amount, if we consider preparing a place for car production.
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Blank Slate is the cheapest version of the vehicle
The basic Pick -up variant is called Blank Slate. Its standard 52.7 kWh battery provides approx. 240 kilometers of range, drives a single engine on the rear axle and charges with 120 kW. For an additional charge, a package of 84.3 kWh extends the range to 380 kilometers will appear. The list of absences includes: varnish, radio, speakers, air -conditioned console, electric windows, as well as infotainment screen – Instead, we will find a smartphone holder and a dedicated mobile application. The whole is to cost 25,000 dol., and after government reductions go to the level “$ 19,999 plus fees”.
Slate cars are to provide wide configuration options
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When deciding to offer such a modest version of the vehicle, the company responds to the real market problem. According to Kelley Blue Book The average transaction price of a new electric car in the USA is 55.6 thousand. hole.i.e. by approx. 15 thousand hole. more than the average for the entire car industry.
In conditions of slowing down the increase in sales of electricians – in 2024 dynamics dropped to 7.3 percent, and the political uncertainty around tax breaks increases – The entry threshold has become the main barrier to the expansion of zero -emission cars. People just can't afford.
Slate decided that you had to go back to the roots of Ford Model T and Volkswagen Garbus – one factory variant, at most several colors and a simple, unified production.
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Accessories ecosystem as a margin engine
The difference between a small – perhaps negative – margin on the car itself and the expected rate of return are to fill the accessories. Already today the company promotes the slogan “We Built It. You make it” (we will build it, but you will create them), and is working on A library of over 100 additives: from roof extensions that change pick -up in SUV or Fast -Back, through door panels with built -in Bluetooth speakers, to “Slatelets”i.e. decorative tiles mounted in the rail on the dashboard.
The basic version of the vehicle is to have poor equipment
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Installation of most add -ons is to be possible in its own garage thanks to the instructions from the Slate University online platform. Thus, the company adapts the proven Harley -Davidson and Mopar model – it wants to build a community around personalization and sell high -damage parts and clothing, which in a longer horizon generates more profit than the vehicle itself.
Slate does not develop its own links or engines. According to Insideevs, the South Korean SK on will be provided, and the company will focus on the integration of ready modules and its own plastic body equipped with integrated mounting points of accessories.
Engineers – many of them are veterans of Harley -Davidson, Stellantis and Riviana – they boast of reducing the number of parts by several dozen percent relative to conventional pick -up. This is to shorten the start of production and reduce the risk of “Ramp -up hell”, which almost plunged Tesla at Model 3. What is this? Engineers determine the phase in which the company tries to quickly move from prototype to large -scale production, while struggling with parts deficiencies, qualitative errors and narrow logistics throats – this causes expensive delays and pressure on the entire supply chain.
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Who pulls the strings
The Slate company is operated by Christine Bartan, a former FCA vice president responsible for electronics and Android Automotive integration. The role of the design architect falls to Miles Arnone, CEO in Re: Build Manufacturing, but this Jeff Bezos, one of the richest people in the world, provides financial credibilityalthough – as reported by the sources – he has not yet appeared in Slate offices in Michigan or at the design studio in Long Beach. Employees know that he is involved, but they have not yet had the opportunity to see the founder of the Amazon live.
The company wants to earn primarily on personalization and add -ons
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Is the one valued at 25,000 hole. Pick -up will really threaten Tesla? In the short term, rather not. The California leader aims at the medium and higher segment, counting on revenues from software and services. However, if Slate reaches the declared price and accelerates production to 150 thousand. pieces per year, There will be real price pressure, which has not yet been caused by Ford F -1550 Lightning, nor Chevrolet Silverado Ev. At an average price of EV over 55 thousand hole. Each electrician for less than half of this amount will become a reference point for many consumers.
Of course, the greatest risk is in financing. Starting the assembly line, validation of suppliers, certification and marketing will consume much more than hundreds of millions of dollars. acquired so far. The capital market is today much more skeptical than in 2020-2021, and the reduction or liquidation of federal reliefs – announced by the administration of Donald Trump – It can extend the period of achieving the threshold of profitability.
Additionally Customers who choose the cheapest configuration will have to come to terms with the lack of comforts considered to be standard today. It is also not known how much the most popular accessories packages will cost.
The Slate Auto is part of an interesting market moment: the increase in EV sales inhibits, and the prices of new electric cars persist well above the capabilities of many families. The strategy “first mass, cheap product – then the margin on the additions” reverses the order propagated by Tesla and most start -ups of the last decade.
If the Bezos and the Company manage to implement the plan at the assumed price and date, This may force the price of price lists in the entire sector and accelerate the true democratization of electromobility. If not – Slate will power a list of projects that were to be “new Tesla” and ended in a sheet of bankruptcies.
Author: Grzegorz Kubera, Business Insider Polska journalist
