My biggest concern about the Slate Auto truck

This week, we’re going to get official details on the Slate Auto pickup truck that was, at least partially, funded by an investment from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. We know a lot, considering a photo caught the truck in the open a day after TechCrunch broke the story. Additionally, Newsweek partnered with Slate to show more detail, and just yesterday The Autopian was given a chance to see it, along with the general public, parked on the street in Venice (near the company’s headquarters).

Since I’m not under an NDA, I’m free to speculate as much as I’d like on the truck, and based on several sources, most of the predictions out there about the truck seem to be correct. It’ll be a two-door, regular-cab small truck. It’ll be simple, not coming with a radio as standard, and only coming in one paint option. The key to profitability will lie in the accessories, where the company will sell wraps to change the vehicle color, ways to add some of the features people might want — including a “Home SUV conversion”-type kit — and a whole slew of accessories for the maker crowd who would be interested in this type of vehicle. The photos we’ve seen so far appear to confirm this information.

As I said on the Wheel Bearings podcast last week, we’re going to find out if commenters on the internet will actually buy the pickup truck they claim they’ve wanted for decades, a back-to-basics offering.

Here’s the thing. As my friend Gary Gastelu — of American Cars and Racing fame — points out, this truck is likely to appeal to people who aren’t in the income bracket to afford a new, $70,000 pickup truck. While some buyers will certainly own their own homes, it’s also likely many of the folks who are interested in the Slate Auto truck will not have access to a garage. That means they’ll likely not have access to home charging.

One key thing about owning an electric vehicle is being able to charge at home. If you have to treat a DCFC as a gas station, you’ll have a bad time. Now, statistics tell us that some 80% of EV owners charge exclusively at home, so current EV owners aren’t doing that, but as the vehicles get cheaper, it’ll be tempting for people who don’t have a way to charge at home to seriously consider one of these vehicles. A $25,000 truck, regardless of powertrain, is going to be appealing.

There’ll also be a cost to add home charging if the buyer has the space to do it. Companies like Ford are offering free home charger installation with the purchase of a new EV, and Slate Auto would be wise to do the same. Except for Slate, that additional cost might eat into the razor-thin margin that likely exists on an electric vehicle with an MSRP of just $25,000.

Canadian-made Grizzl-E Level 2 Home Charger, 40 AMP, NEMA 14-50 plug

$299.99

The Slate Auto truck will be interesting. It bucks the trend of marketing that tells us that consumers only want four-door pickup trucks. It also bucks the trend of EVs not being affordable. It finally bucks the trend of vehicles, in general, being more expensive. Certain things will limit its adoption (the aforementioned two-door model, for example), but it’ll be interesting to see how many people will sign up to buy one.

One thing is for certain: if you don’t have easy access to charging, you’re likely to have a poor ownership experience.