Is the Slate Truck too minimal for its own good?

The first thing you notice about the Slate Truck is its size. It’s small, surprisingly so. In a country where trucks often come with their own zip code, Slate’s pickup is refreshingly puny, measuring 174.6 inches long, 70.6 inches wide, and 69.3 inches tall, with a curb weight of approximately 3,602 pounds (1,634kg). As a reference point, it’s nearly the same size as Marty McFly’s 1985 Toyota SR5 from Back to the Future.

But inside, that diminutive feeling disappears, as I found myself with ample amounts of head- and legroom. As a relatively tallish guy (over 6 feet) who often feels cramped in most vehicles, I couldn’t believe the amount of room I had in such a small truck.

According to Tisha Johnson, Slate’s head of design, this is no accident. While many vehicles are designed with a maximum height of around 6 feet 1 inch, Slate wanted to create an interior space that was more ample and comfortable. The emphasis on spatial comfort, she tells me, aligns with the startup’s broader design philosophy of usability and accessibility.

I’ll admit that I’ve been skeptical about the Slate Truck since it was first announced last year. A two-seater electric pickup with no paint, no radio, no power windows, not even a dang cell connection — who is this for? In its attempt to build an electric truck that most people could afford, Slate left a lot on the cutting room floor. We’ve seen plenty of minimalist EVs before, but this was walking a very fine line between spartan and sterile. After all, there are plenty of mid-$20,000 non-electric vehicles that also come with radios and navigation systems. How much minimalism is too much minimalism?

After sitting in the truck for just a minute, though, I was swayed. There is minimalism that feels almost hostile to the user, hiding important controls like gear shifting behind a digital interface that requires multiple taps and swipes before you get the desired response.

And then there’s Slate’s approach to minimalism, which is more focused on utility, affordability, and, most importantly, choice. As chief designer, Johnson brings several decades of experience with her, including 10 years at a little company known for its particular brand of Swedish minimalism called Volvo. Johnson told me that during the design process for the Slate Truck, the team would debate which features to keep and which to toss out.

“When we recognize that we can take something out, and that deletion is lower cost, then we’re all about it,” she said. “Because we say that the dollars that we save in making the vehicle, those are dollars back to our customers.”

Often the arguments would get heated. At one point, the Slate designers argued over whether to include an HVAC system. With climate change and extreme heat seemingly a permanent fixture for the future, Johnson knew the truck couldn’t afford to lose air conditioning. So needless to say, the pro-HVAC side won.

“What I love about that is it was an honest debate,” Johnson said. “We had to tug and pull on that topic. It wasn’t an automatic.”

But other creature comforts were tossed aside, like a stereo and built-in speakers. The truck does have a small speaker for legally required audio notifications, but that’s it. Customers can install their own Bluetooth speakers, which the vehicle is designed to accommodate. But otherwise, Slate’s philosophy is: Why make everyone pay for something only a few people may want?

Of course, most people would probably prefer to have a built-in stereo system. But Slate thinks it can lure people in with robust list of accessories and aftermarket kits. Wraps, decals, chunky wheels, suspension lift and lowering, even a kit that transforms the two-seater pickup into a five-seater compact SUV. Slate wants to let its customers do the customizing.

The truck I saw was what the company calls its Blank Slate — no paint, no wraps, nothing but drab gray body panels that had more than a few nicks and scratches. (Slate made 20 prototypes that have been doing a lot of heavy traveling to auto shows and other promotional events over the past year.) But I’ve seen all the images of Slate trucks in a variety of colors, including one that imitates the iconic NYC “We are happy to serve you” coffee cup design. There will also be a bunch of 3D-printed parts, like grilles and rear light casings, that owners can swap in and out. Johnson said the idea is to let customers define their truck, rather than choose from a predetermined list of trims.

“Do they want to start with the truck, get the SUV kit later? What works for them? That’s an important story for us,” she said. “Some folks will say, ‘Okay, these are the dollars I have right now. Let me get that truck.’ And then two years later they’ll say, ‘Okay, I’m in a different position now.’”

This commitment to minimalism and affordability will lead to some significant tradeoffs. The truck’s upright design, for example, will create more wind resistance that makes it harder to maximize aerodynamic range. That’s why so many EVs these days are shaped like blobs or teardrops. Right now, Slate is offering the truck in two battery configurations: a 53kWh one that offers an EPA-estimated range of 150 miles and an 84kWh pack with up to 240 miles of range.

Neither of those numbers is very impressive. Even the Chevy Bolt can get up to 260 miles of range, and it starts at around the same price as the Slate Truck. And the Bolt comes with power windows, radio, in-car navigation… you know, everything we’ve come to expect when we buy a new car.

Johnson said these tradeoffs come from “a real clarity” about how people are most likely to use the Slate Truck, which is as an urban vehicle for daily driving or commutes. “Any chance we had, we questioned the conventional approach to things,” she said. “So error is error. Yes, you have to work with it in a very particular way to optimize performance.”

In other words, the Slate Truck shouldn’t have to be a “bullet in space,” as Johnson described it. It can be a lot more. And thanks to the bevy of add-ons, each one can look distinct from the other, without much hassle.

Will Slate’s bet pay off? This in unquestionably one of the worst times to launch a brand-new EV. Or maybe it’s the best time, with both car prices and gas prices on the rise. Maybe an endlessly configurable, breathlessly minimal, tiny two-seat truck is just what the doctor ordered.

We won’t have to wait long to find out. Slate says the first trucks will reach customers at the end of 2026.

Photography by Owen Grove