GoKawiilis transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State.
The first thing you notice about the Slate Truck is its size. It’s small, surprisingly so. In a country where trucks often come with their own zip code, Slate’s pickup is refreshingly puny, measuring 174.6 inches long, 70.6 inches wide, and 69.3 inches tall, with a curb weight of approximately 3,602 pounds (1,634kg). As a reference point, it’s nearly the same size as Marty McFly’s 1985 Toyota SR5 from Back to the Future.
But inside, that diminutive feeling disappears, as I found myself with ample amounts of head- and legroom. As a relatively tallish guy (over 6 feet) who often feels cramped in most vehicles, I couldn’t believe the amount of room I had in such a small truck.
According to Tisha Johnson, Slate’s head of design, this is no accident. While many vehicles are designed with a maximum height of around 6 feet 1 inch, Slate wanted to create an interior space that was more ample and comfortable. The emphasis on spatial comfort, she tells me, aligns with the startup’s broader design philosophy of usability and accessibility.
I’ll admit that I’ve been skeptical about the Slate Truck since it was first announced last year. A two-seater electric pickup with no paint, no radio, no power windows, not even a dang cell connection — who is this for? In its attempt to build an electric truck that most people could afford, Slate left a lot on the cutting room floor. We’ve seen plenty of minimalist EVs before, but this was walking a very fine line between spartan and sterile. After all, there are plenty of mid-$20,000 non-electric vehicles that also come with radios and navigation systems. How much minimalism is too much minimalism?
After sitting in the truck for just a minute, though, I was swayed. There is minimalism that feels almost hostile to the user, hiding important controls like gear shifting behind a digital interface that requires multiple taps and swipes before you get the desired response.
And then there’s Slate’s approach to minimalism, which is more focused on utility, affordability, and, most importantly, choice. As chief designer, Johnson brings several decades of experience with her, including 10 years at a little company known for its particular brand of Swedish minimalism called Volvo. Johnson told me that during the design process for the Slate Truck, the team would debate which features to keep and which to toss out.
“When we recognize that we can take something out, and that deletion is lower cost, then we’re all about it,” she said. “Because we say that the dollars that we save in making the vehicle, those are dollars back to our customers.”
Often the arguments would get heated. At one point, the Slate designers argued over whether to include an HVAC system. With climate change and extreme heat seemingly a permanent fixture for the future, Johnson knew the truck couldn’t afford to lose air conditioning. So needless to say, the pro-HVAC side won.
“What I love about that is it was an honest debate,” Johnson said. “We had to tug and pull on that topic. It wasn’t an automatic.”
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