I haven’t been excited about a car in quite a while, and I’m definitely not a pickup truck fan. That said, I’m on the waiting list for Slate because:
- Minimal electronics and no call-home. Almost every other vehicle on the market today (including all EVs) have OTA telemetry and insane data collection policies. The Slate will use your phone connection (at your option) to download OTAs if needed
- Cheap for what you get. Assuming the quality is OK sub-$30K without rebates gets you decent range and NACS charging
- Highly customizable - get what you need, and nothing else
That said, it’s a Bezos-backed automotive startup who hasn’t delivered a product yet, so there is clearly a lot of potential downside here.
The beauty of the Slate is that, if infotainment is important to you, you can easily add it. It’ll take a double din head unit, theres lots of carplay ones on the market for a few hundred bucks, add speakers of your choice, done.
For everyone else, they’re not stuck paying for features they don’t want.