An Electric Pickup for 24,950 Dollars: Bezos's Startup Goes for the Cheap End of the Market

For years electric vehicles have been sold as a toy for the rich. Slate Auto, the startup backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos, has now gone the opposite way and announced the price of its electric pickup: 24,950 dollars (around 23,000 euros). That's half the average price of a new vehicle in the US - and a rarity in a world where every new electric model competes to be the most expensive.

The price, of course, is before taxes, registration, and extra equipment, and orders have only just begun. The company also announced it has increased the base model's range from around 240 to about 330 kilometers, but in return it dropped plans for a bigger battery. A classic trade-off - a more affordable price, less luxury.

And luxury there truly isn't. The vehicle comes with crank windows, no screen and no infotainment system, in a single grey color with no paint options. None of that is a mistake but a strategy: paint factories cost serious money, so instead Slate will offer buyers wraps for customization. The basic two-seat pickup can be turned at home or at a mechanic's into a five-seat SUV, which will in turn cost 29,950 dollars.

Slate won't have classic dealerships - it sells directly to buyers, the way Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid do. It sounds modern, but it also carries risk: without a network of service centers and dealers, all the trust falls on a young company that has yet to prove it can deliver.

Hanging over all of this is politics too. With Trump's second administration and Republican control of Congress, environmental standards have been loosened and the federal 7,500-dollar subsidy for electric vehicles has been scrapped. The result - many manufacturers have postponed or frozen plans for new electric models in the US. At a moment like this, Slate's cheap pickup is either a bold bet or a leap at the wrong time. Who's right will be shown by the first deliveries, not the marketing.