A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen

It has a base range of 150 miles [0], which won't resolve range anxiety worries as the average American travels 42 miles a day [1] and only has 2 seats. I think it will do well for hobbyists and EV enthusiasts, but it would be hard to compete with a slightly pricier Tacoma. When people buy a pickup truck, they often use it as a daily commuter as well.

> Got a road trip planned? These trips are all doable on a single charge of our standard battery. If you want to go even farther, our extended range battery increases the range to a projected 240 miles from a projected 150 miles. [0]

[0] - https://www.slate.auto/en/charging

[1] - https://www.axios.com/2024/03/24/average-commute-distance-us...

Edit: The average pickup truck purchaser's has a household income of around $110,000 and 75% live outside cities [0]. When they are purchasing a pickup, it is meant to be both a daily driver and an errand vehicle.

Spending $20,000 on a 2 seater bench pickup with 150mi range is ludicrous when you can buy a used 5 seater Honda Fit or Toyota Tacoma for $0-7k more.

This is most likely targeted at fleet usecases like a factory or local deliveries, but this won't make a dent in the primary demographic that purchases pickups, and being overly defensive is doing no favors in thinking about HOW to build a true killer app EV for the American market.

All true but totally irrelevant. I wouldn't get this to make a cross-country trip, but I would absolutely, 100% get this to have an errand vehicle that never leaves the metro area.

> All true but totally irrelevant

Not really. The average pickup truck purchaser's has a household income of around $110,000 and 75% live outside cities [0]. When they are purchasing a pickup, it is meant to be both a daily driver and an errand vehicle.

Not have 4 seats AND having a lower range makes it a niche vehicle from a consumer sales perspective.

This is most likely being targeted at fleets, which tend to have a local presence and don't have the consumer usecase attached.

> I would absolutely, 100% get this to have an errand vehicle that never leaves the metro area.

You're a software engineer in the Bay Area. You were never the target demographic for pickup truck sales, but you would in fact be a target demo for a product like a Slate Truck.

[0] - https://www.americantrucks.com/pickup-truck-owner-demographi...