Minimal in every way. You’re looking at first images of the Slate Truck, a minimalist utility vehicle available in any colour you like so long as it’s grey, to paraphrase Henry Ford’s quip about his only-in-black Model T. And like the Model T, this two-seater pick-up truck, sorry Truck, is designed to bring contemporary automobile technology within everyone’s reach. Only this time it’s battery, not fossil fuel, power for the masses.
Slate is an electric start-up backed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, so there’s real heft behind this Indiana-based project. Look is determinedly form follows function. Construction is from grey polypropylene. If you’d like your Truck in any other colour, you’ll need to add a vinyl wrap from the options list. Given the conceptual minimalism that Slate intend for their debut project, that would feel almost like an insult.
Citroën’s diminutive Ami is the only current electric vehicle that comes close. Slate, however, intend their truck to be used for far more than a short trip to the nearest bistro. And they point out that you can add just about anything to your Truck to tailor it to your needs.
There’s a large rear canopy that effectively turns it into an SUV, along with ski and surf options for leisure of your choice, or even what Slate are calling a “Fastback” body for a little rakishness. Slate emphasise that you can add anything you like even after you’ve bought your Truck.
Slate Truck: Add what you will
Land Rover tried something similar, if less radical, for iterations of the first generation Freelander, and Citroën themselves with the removable panels of 2002’s Pluriel. Neither was a huge hit. Slate are staking a lot on the sticker price which in the US is targeted at under $27,000 or £20,000. That’s for what the company wittily calls the “Blank Slate”. Add what you will, or just leave to express its surprisingly serene authenticity.
If the exterior is how a child might draw a truck - all up and down with nothing in the way of extraneous embellishment - just wait until you see the interior. Windows are hand-cranked, but then we all could do with the exercise, and any kind of infotainment is an optional extra. There’s no screen of any kind, with that job left to your smart phone which is offered its own cradle as a rare piece of standard equipment. Air conditioning controls are - thankfully - actual physical buttons and dials.
By American standards the Slate is small and unassuming which is a key part of its appeal. With a top speed of 90mp, you won't be buying one for performance. And while a 0-60mph time of eight seconds won’t beat your local Lamborghini, electric’s instant-there power won’t disgrace you either.
Range is a choice of 150 or 240 miles depending on configuration. Orders are already open, with an ambitious target of deliveries by the end of next year. We have a feeling Henry Ford would have loved it.
Next up: 5 Of the best electric cars.
