Buzzy new EV startup Slate Auto has racked up more than 100,000 reservations for its customizable low-cost electric pickup truck, the company has confirmed to TechCrunch.
Slate crossed the milestone over the weekend, just a little more than two weeks after coming out of stealth mode and unveiling the truck at an event in Los Angeles, California. The company has said the truck will start below $20,000 after applying the $7,500 federal EV tax credit and plans to build the vehicles at a former printing plant in Warsaw, Indiana, as TechCrunch first reported.
“We are truly humbled by America’s response to Slate’s brand launch and the launch of our truck,” Slate’s chief commercial officer Jeremy Snyder said in a statement to TechCrunch. “We are excited for what the future holds.”
Collecting 100,000 reservations so quickly is one sign of how much interest there has been in Slate since it revealed the truck, but it’s no guarantee those reservations will translate to sales. The company is only asking prospective buyers to plop down $50 to reserve their place in line to eventually order the truck; the fee is refundable.
Many other EV startups have touted reservations in the past only to fail to live up to the expectations of such big, round numbers. Fisker filed for bankruptcy having sold just a few thousand Ocean SUVs despite once claiming more than 60,000 reservations. Lordstown Motors, meanwhile, was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for misleading investors about the number of “preorders” for its own electric pickup truck. (Lordstown Motors similarly filed for bankruptcy and ultimately settled with the SEC.)
Slate has big goals for its truck, which — for a currently undisclosed price — can also be transformed into an SUV. The company says it will have capacity to make as many as 150,000 vehicles by the end of 2027 at the Indiana factory. And it has big backers helping Slate try to reach that goal, including Jeff Bezos (through his family office, Bezos Expeditions), Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter, and VC firm General Catalyst.
