Slate Auto, theΒ electric vehicle startup backed by Jeff Bezos,Β has stopped promoting that its upcoming pickup truck will start βunderΒ $20,000β followingΒ passage of President Trumpβs tax cut bill. The bill, which is expected to be signed into law by Trump on July 4, will cause the federal EV tax credit to end in September β a $7,500 incentive that Slate had counted on to help its all-electric pickup clear that mark.
When Slate came out of stealth mode in April, the startup heavily promoted that its all-electric pickup would start at βunder $20,000β with the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. That language was still on Slateβs website as recently as yesterday according to the Web Archive.
The change is a potential blow to the young companyβs attempt to make a radically affordable electric vehicle.
Slate didnβt provide a precise price for the EV at its launch event; and it has yet to say what the actual starting price of its vehicle will be, sans-credit. A Slate spokesperson declined to comment on the change.
The company wonβt start building the truck until the end of 2026 at the earliest. Slateβs business is also built around making this vehicle highly customizable, which means itβs possible that few people will buy the base model to begin with.
The sub-$20,000 price had been a big attraction point for the brand new companyβs product, and it was a major focus following its April launch event.
The auto industry has βdriven prices to a place that most Americans simply canβt afford,β chief commercial officer Jeremy Snyder said during the event. βBut weβre here to change that.β
βWe are building the affordable vehicle that has long been promised but never been delivered,β CEO Chris Barman added at the time.
