In April 2025, a brand new firm known as Slate Auto got here out of stealth and shocked the automotive trade. Not solely was this startup centered on making an ultra-cheap, customizable electrical pickup truck with funding from Jeff Bezos, nevertheless it had additionally been working in secret for 3 years in Troy, Michigan — the yard of main automakers like Ford and Normal Motors.
TechCrunch was first to the story, reporting in early April concerning the firm’s existence, its involvement with the Amazon founder, and its curious and distinctive enterprise mannequin. The weeks between our report and Slate’s official popping out social gathering in late April offered a whirlwind of stories, with prototypes of the startup’s truck popping up round California.
Slate is an aberration within the U.S. EV sector, the place bankruptcies, failed product launches, and pivots have grow to be commonplace. And whereas its present backers, govt lineup, first product, and enterprise mannequin present a compelling path ahead, the highway continues to be riddled with potential hurdles because it pushes towards manufacturing in late 2026.
Right here’s a timeline that charts out every thing you might want to learn about Slate Auto, from its origin story and backers to its product, enterprise mannequin, and manufacturing plans.
Contained in the EV startup secretly backed by Jeff Bezos
April 8 – After a year-long investigation, TechCrunch revealed a narrative revealing {that a} secretive EV startup called Slate Auto had been working for 3 years with the monetary backing of Jeff Bezos and LA Dodgers proprietor Mark Walter.
In contrast to different EV startups, Slate had been engaged on creating a particularly low-cost electrical pickup truck that might begin at round $25,000. This truck can be deeply customizable, leveraging the expertise of many former workers from Harley-Davidson and Chrysler, two corporations which have in depth equipment and aftermarket components companies.
Slate Auto’s pickup truck noticed within the wild
April 10 – Sooner or later later, a photograph of a nondescript electrical truck began circulating on the r/whatisthiscar subreddit, with Redditors speculating it might be Slate’s mystery EV.
TechCrunch was in a position to verify the picture was, actually, of a prototype of Slate’s truck parked exterior the corporate’s Lengthy Seaside, California design middle.
An EV that may change like a ‘Transformer’
April 21 – Slate started placing idea variations of the Slate EV on public streets to generate advertising buzz forward of its deliberate launch occasion on April 24. Curiously, a few of them gave the impression to be styled extra like SUVs or hatchbacks, not simply pickup vehicles.
TechCrunch was in a position to verify the corporate had developed the EV to have “Transformer-like” modular capabilities, and that this stunt was a solution to tease this customization.
The analog EV pickup truck that’s decidedly anti-Tesla
April 24 – Slate made its debut at a launch occasion in Lengthy Seaside, California, the place it revealed its customizable electric pickup truck. Slate additionally introduced the truck can be out there for underneath $20,000 — with the $7,500 federal EV tax credit score.
The bottom model of the truck was revealed to be very bare-bones, with simply 150 miles of vary, no energy home windows, no foremost infotainment display screen, and never even any paint. Slate promised basically every thing concerning the truck can be customizable, even right down to the variety of seats and the general silhouette.
A former Indiana printing plant eyed for EV truck manufacturing
April 25 – TechCrunch reported that Slate had recognized a former printing plant in Warsaw, Indiana because the location for its truck factory. The 1.4 million-square-foot facility was inbuilt 1958 and had been dormant for round two years.
Slate Auto crosses 100,000 refundable reservations in two weeks
Could 12 – Slate confirmed to TechCrunch it had already surpassed 100,000 refundable $50 reservations for its inexpensive EV truck. It was proof that the corporate’s concepts had caught on with a large viewers, regardless of nobody figuring out about Slate simply two months prior.
Slate Auto drops ‘underneath $20,000’ pricing after Trump administration ends federal EV tax credit score
July 3 – The Trump administration pushed via an enormous tax-cut invoice that, amongst many different actions, set a September end-date for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit score. Which means Slate’s truck will not have the ability to lean on that credit score to achieve the “under $20,000” starting price the startup was touting. As such, Slate pulled that language from its web site earlier than the invoice was even signed into legislation.
Why this LA-based VC agency was an early investor in Slate Auto
July 8 – Slate’s 2023 funding spherical included not less than 16 buyers — certainly one of them being Bezos. Whereas most of these buyers have nonetheless not been recognized, Los Angeles-based Slauson & Co. spoke to TechCrunch about why it threw in with the EV startup in that preliminary funding spherical, in addition to Slate’s Sequence B.