- The American-made Slate truck is undergoing real-world road testing.
- This summer, the first prototypes went to Nevada to put their thermal systems to the test.
- In the scorching sun, several mules were loaded up to the limit and driven up a 3,500-foot grade.
The Slate truck is coming together. After the lovable two-door electric pickup conquered the internet with its bare-bones interior and appealing price tag, the Jeff Bezos-backed startup hasn’t rested on its laurels.
Founded in 2022, Slate went to Nevada this summer to put a couple of road-going prototypes through their paces in one of the hottest environments in the United States. Engineers and designers alike drove to the Davis Dam near Laughlin, Nevada, to see if the battery cooling system and the interior air conditioning systems could keep temperatures in check while driving up a 6% incline with a full truck bed and a trailer attached to the rear.
As a reminder, the diminutive truck has a payload capacity of around 1,40 pounds and a towing capacity of about 1,000 pounds. Despite being maxed out and driving under the scorching summer sun, the unpainted EVs performed as expected on the 14-mile climb.
“Going up the grade without issue is fantastic,” said Rod Romain, Head of Vehicle Integration at Slate. “But in the development phase of a vehicle, we will find issues. So, even having issues is a good thing. We can find them, we can understand them, what caused them, and fix them.”
All major automakers push their prototypes to the limit, and Slate is no different. It’s important to know that the car’s battery will not overheat in very high ambient temperatures because if it does, the performance will be reduced and, worst-case scenario, it could catch fire. And nobody wants that.
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Source: Slate
Despite this being the first time the Slate prototypes were hot-tested in the real world, engineers had been virtually testing all the systems for three years, so they had a rough idea of what to expect.
The Slate truck promises a no-frills experience and an extremely palatable price. With a base price of roughly $27,000 without incentives, the Slate’s standard equipment includes manual-crank windows and a 52.7-kilowatt-hour battery pack that should enable a driving range of about 150 miles. Customers can pay extra for things like a speaker, an SUV bolt-on roof and a larger 84.3 kWh battery that increases the range to approximately 240 miles.
The Slate will be built in a former printing factory in Indiana, starting toward the end of 2026.
