2027 Slate Truck Expert Review
Reviewed by Billy Rehbock
Although cars are better and more feature-packed than ever, prices have skyrocketed in recent years. That’s what Slate hopes to change with its new electric pickup, simply called the Truck.
The 2027 Slate Truck is designed to be ultra-affordable and wholly customizable to the needs of its buyers. Offered with a standard pickup truck body, Slate also makes a five-seat SUV kit available.
Rivals to the 2027 Slate Truck include other utilitarian options including the Ford Maverick and Ford Bronco Sport. Those who simply see the Slate as an affordable electric car might also consider the Nissan Leaf and upcoming Chevrolet Bolt EV.
This page will be updated with more insights and photos as soon as more info become available.
What’s New
Basics:
- Standard single-cab pickup truck body with two seats
- 4-by-5-foot bed
- A single rear motor good for 201 hp
- Choice of 52.7-kWh or 84.3-kWh battery pack, for range of about 150 or 240 miles
- Disc brakes at all four wheels
Design:
- Slate Gray plastic body panels
- Black-painted steel wheels
- Two available five-seat SUV conversion kits
- An abundance of customization options
Interior:
- Standard manually adjustable cloth seats
- A 4.0-inch digital instrument cluster
- A dashboard-mounted phone holder
- Two covered storage cubbies in the dashboard
- A plastic center console between the seats
- Crank windows
What We Think
With little more than the bare essentials, the 2027 Slate Truck targets an ultra-competitive MSRP below $30,000 before tax credits and a long list of available features so customers can pay only for what they need.
Offered only with a single rear motor and a choice of a short- or a long-range battery, the 2027 Slate Truck is essentially a blank canvas for shoppers to configure to their taste. The standard configuration is a two-seat single-cab pickup truck with a short bed, but Slate also offers two SUV conversion kits that brings seating up to five passengers. What’s more, you can option a squareback or fastback roofline to suit your taste.
The Slate Truck uses the automaker’s own “Slateboard” chassis, which combines body-on-frame architecture with a unibody that wraps around the battery for a more efficient design. Slate keeps things minimalistic inside the cabin, with cloth seats, crank windows, and durable plastics.
We haven’t driven a prototype yet, but expect the 2027 Slate Truck to ride and handle like a utilitarian pickup based on the old-school de Dion solid rear axle suspension. The automaker plans to offer different suspension and tire packages so shoppers can customize their Truck’s driving experience.
Although the Truck’s production start date isn’t for a while, the proposition of building a personalized vehicle from an affordable blank slate is an appealing alternative to existing options with inflated price tags.
Performance
No matter how many extras you get, every 2027 Slate Truck comes with a single electric motor driving the rear wheels. Output is rated at 201 hp and 195 lb-ft of torque, which Slate says is good for an 8.0-second 0–60 mph sprint.
If the basic Slate meets that level of straight-line performance, the truck will deliver perfectly adequate acceleration for most situations. Most electric cars are quicker, but if the Slate really does start below $30,000, this is performance that will meet most needs.
Range and Charging
With the standard 52.7-kWh battery, range is expected to max out at 150 miles. Stepping up to the bigger 84.3-kWh pack brings that figure up to 240 miles. Those numbers are below average compared to almost every electric car offered today but, then again, most other electric cars have much higher MSRPs.
The 2027 Slate Truck comes standard with a Tesla-style NACS port. An 11-kW onboard charger allows for a sub-five-hour charge from 20 to 100 percent.
Using Level 3 fast charging allows for speeds up to 120 kW, enabling a 20 to 80 percent charge in under 30 minutes. This isn’t particularly quick, but most will charge their Slates at home, where 11 kW is a decently quick charge rate.
Lots of Available Accessories
Rarely do we mention a manufacturer’s configurator in a Buyer’s Guide review, but Slate’s online tool allows you to assemble the truck or SUV of your imagination thanks to a a long list of customizations.
The extensive personalization ecosystem includes the following, among many options:
- Power window modules
- A mounting bracket for a tablet to use for infotainment. A regular phone clip works, too.
- Heated seat covers
- Interior trim upgrades in a variety of colors
In lieu of traditional paint options, the Slate Truck can be factory-ordered with a custom wrap in any color you want. You can also change the color of the truck after purchase with a Slate-provided wrap kit with precut decals sized exactly to your truck’s dimensions.
In addition to offering a variety of 17- and 20-inch wheel designs, the 2027 Slate Truck can be equipped with a lift kit or a lowering kit for a rugged or sporty look. The automaker also lists a number of tire options for further ways to customize the drive experience.
Finally, you can change the Slate Truck’s body style at will with available SUV kits. The firewall and glass that separate the cab from the bed can be removed, and you can add a traditional squareback (like a Bronco Sport) or fastback roof along with rear seating. This allows for up to five-passenger seating instead of just two in the basic Slate Truck.
Safety Ratings and Features
The 2027 Slate Truck can be equipped with up to eight airbags. Slate says it is targeting the highest safety ratings from IIHS and NHTSA, but this has yet to be verified by either organization.
Standard driver assistance equipment is minimal, with features limited to a backup camera, automatic emergency braking, and forward collision warning.
Dimensions, Bed Size, and Cargo Volume
The 2027 Slate Truck is very small; here's how its basic dimensions compare to the also-small Ford Maverick truck and Ford Bronco Sport SUV:
Compared to the Ford Maverick
Clearly, the tiny Slate is much shorter than the also-small Ford truck. Weight is similar, however: Ford’s pickup tips the scales at 3,674 to 3,731 pounds depending on powertrain. The Slate weighs about 3,600 pounds, which is light for an electric car.
Slate equips the Truck with a single bed measuring five feet long and four feet, two inches wide. Total bed volume is 37.0 cubic feet. That makes the Slate's bed slightly more voluminous than that of the Ford Maverick, which measures 33.3 cubic feet.
Compared to the Ford Bronco Sport
A Ford Bronco Sport is slightly shorter, but is wider and taller than the Slate Truck. Slate SUV models have 34.0 cubic feet of storage behind the seats. Every Slate comes with a frunk good for 7.0 cubic feet of extra storage. Bronco Sport models have less cargo volume than the Slate SUV, with 29.4 to 32.5 cubic feet of storage space depending on configuration.
Towing and Payload
As a practicality-first vehicle, the 2027 Slate Truck has respectable towing and hauling figures, although it leaves some capability on the table compared to the Ford Maverick. Maximum towing is 1,000 pounds, and payload tops out at 1,433 pounds.
The Ford Maverick can tow up to 4,000 pounds with the 4K Tow package. Maximum payload is slightly higher than the Slate; the Maverick can haul up to 1,500 pounds if the right drivetrain layout is configured.
Technology
Slate keeps tech to a minimum, so those hoping for a simple car will be happy to know the 2027 Truck won’t be able to drive itself or project your phone on a screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. In fact, the only standard display you get in the Slate Truck is a small, 4.0-inch digital instrument cluster that also shows the backup camera when reverse is selected.
Slate doesn’t even include speakers as standard equipment; you have to option a pair of front speakers if you want to listen to music or a podcast. There’s also an available pair of expansion speakers to complete the Truck’s surround-sound setup, and these can be taken out of the cabin and used as portable Bluetooth speakers as well.
If you want to skip the speakers but still have audio in your Slate Truck, a speaker mount is available as an option. Steering wheel Bluetooth controls are available to control a phone or a tablet, which can be mounted to the dash via a bracket. Thankfully, single-zone climate control is equipped on all models.
2027 Slate Truck Price and Release Date
Slate is targeting a starting price in the mid-$20,000 price range after the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has doomed the $7,500 EV tax credit. It’s unclear if that price takes into account the best state tax incentives available or if it's a pre-incentive figure. If no tax credits are available, the starting price should still be around $27,000.
Orders are open now with a $50 reservation fee, and the 2027 Slate Truck is expected to enter production by the end of 2026. Considering that Slate is a first-time automaker, we’ll be eager to see if the brand can avoid delays, or if production will instead begin some time in 2027.
