New Customizable $20,000 EV to Launch in US in 2026

A new auto startup is launching with a made-in-America EV that will cost just $20,000.

Credit: Slate Auto

Backed by Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Eric Schmidt (Google), Slate Auto says that affordable price is possible because of its pared-down, basic model that can then be customized - and even transformed from a truck into an SUV.

Slate Auto has been in stealth for almost three years, says CEO Chris Barman (a Chrysler veteran), and the company now has more than 400 employees, reports FastCompany. OGN Daily revealed that a probable prototype had been spotted on a trailer in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago, but now Slate Auto has officially launched.

The Slate Truck will begin as a two-door, two-seat electric pickup, with crank windows and no infotainment system. New cars today can come with lots of built-in features but to design Slate, Barman says, it was about “What are really the essentials that should go into a vehicle in order to bring it down to a price point that is affordable?”

Customers will be able to be pick from more than 100 accessories to add on for an extra cost - everything from cup holders to a center console to a single roof crossbar to power windows.

Barman says Slate wants to change the typical process in which a buyer goes to a new- or used-car lot and picks a car, and then has to accept - and pay for - all the features it comes with. “We’ve decoupled that and said to the owner of the vehicle: ‘You choose. You choose if you want a radio. You choose if you want to have heated seats. You choose what you want the color to be,’” she says. “We are putting the power back into the hands of the consumer, so we give them this blank slate, and then they decide.”

Slate will offer two EV battery options: The standard comes with a range of 150 miles, but customers will be able to upgrade to a battery with an estimated 240 miles of range. The body of the EV will also be alterable, going from a two-door pickup to a five-seat SUV, with upgrades. Barman notes that customers could even do those changes over time, rather than when they first purchase the vehicle.

Refundable vehicle reservations are now open for $50.