Anyone else read about the launch of The Slate EV?
https://www.slate.auto/en
Interestingly, it's a return to a Henry Ford approach. Backing by Jeff Bezos makes it look a bit more serious than some other EV start ups.
The simpler production and lack of variation in the production phase would indicate an economically sound manufacturing method.
No word on right hand drive version or export plans.
Nice to see a ute that could be a potential successor to the Brumby.
Your take?
Quit lying - you don't need 4x4 for your driving you just wanna pretend to be a cool offroader
Made in the USA? Pass
lol made in the USA? Hard pass
I think the Simpsons sums it up best
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d9kpyGqKwJk
Yet no issues with anything made in china - a regime that suppresses free speech, exploits labour, and manipulates markets with government intervention?
suppresses free speech, exploits labour, and manipulates markets with government intervention
You could use that same description for plenty of "capitalist" counties also though :)
"Yet no issues with anything made in china - a regime that suppresses free speech, exploits labour, and manipulates markets with government intervention?"
That sounds just like the current US of A….
I am a Chinese immigrant. you guys seem to have no idea what it's like in China. only one political voice is allowed in China, that's what fits CCP's agenda. no mention of Chairman Xi is permitted in public. No access to facebook, instagram, tiktok, google etc. Only CCP allowed Chinese platforms are running there. The ranking of information freedom is the 2nd last in the world, next to North Korea.
why the CCP doing it? because All Chinese who grew up in China are fed with lies in the history subjects to cover up the terrible deeds the CCP has done. I learnt the truth after coming overseas. now when I browse the Chinese apps such as wechat and xiaohongshu, it's full of propoganda videos spreading lies, the whole population has a biased value and views. for example, almost all Chinese support invading Taiwan and take it back to China. Few would consider why bring Taiwanese who fought for freedom back to dictatorship and total information control.
As for EV, their EV industry is heavily subsided by the CCP to quickly take over the industry. the manufacturers outside China are competing against a country rather than private business. this is why WTO is broken, they took China in but the CCP followed little rules. e.g. Exploiting cheap labors and copyright infringements. it's part of the reason why countries like Australia don't get a chance for manufacturing.
@elvislj: you sound like you have jumped from one propaganda to another one with a lot of bias and misinformation.
@elvislj: Yeah most Aussies are pretty much morons when it comes to this shit.
The fact that they even consider America and China's "regime" even remotely "the same* is such an air headed take. Purely because the media has told them to hate the orange man with everything they've got.
Ultimately Australia is completely F'd without America's protection, our military would be overrun in a matter of hours if we didn't have big brother watching our back, yet these people have no respect for what the American people give us through their taxation (protection).
@elvislj: It’s funny that every time there’s even a remotely positive comment, there’s always a “Chinese immigrant/self proclaimed Chinese” that copy and pastes the top 3-5 most common anti-China arguments as a response Lol
@Hydrool: Mate, literally just look on YouTube, look at the unfiltered reality of China, you are in complete denial/massive case of TDS if you think they are anywhere remotely "the same".
It shouldn't take a Chinese immigrant to explain that to you.
@Binchicken22: A lot of that stuff is cherry picked and most of the anti-China channels are funded by the right wing and falun gong.
Then you have the pro China ones that are funded by the china soft influence initiatives.
You know what works best?
Stop being keyboard warriors, go there for yourself, take in different points of view, read up on a bit of history, educating yourselves on the history written by both establishments, some understanding of economics, politics and then make a judgement for yourselves.
@elvislj: This is true. But doesn't cover everything. You're talking about 5% bad, therefore the other 95% needs to be thrown out the window.
Have some balls and instead of putting your hand up and saying what every single chinese immigrant knows and understands, why not try to better educate yourself and see the bigger picture. We all know Xi is a dick, everyone in China can do the maths.
China is not the reason why Australia can't manufacture. That is a complex issue. Amongst many things we just don't have the population to do it at a feasible scale, vs America which has a large customer base and enormous industry. This is why Ford and Holden all went bust making cars here, plus the burden of the labour union and regulatory hurdles.
Do you have any idea how strong the American manufacturing groups are? The beef, car and military industrial complex are enough to wipe Australia off the maps. The dairy industry in America has enough pull to invade a few small countries.
Capitalism exploits cheap labour, China offers it unless you can find jobs for a 1 billion people who don't have the GDP per capita of $85k USD like America.
Cars built in the USA are consistently unreliable, especially if you compare against the exact same models but built in Asia.
Sounds like every country i know of, especially the one headed by an orange clown atm
You expect such shit from a communist regime. So can China sue Trump for plagiarism?
Backing by Jeff Bezos makes it look a bit more serious than some other EV start ups.
If we are borning Elon version 2 no thank you. Pass.
Australia doesn't need any more of these yank tanks on the roads….
This is far from a yank tank
it's an american made pickup
Exactly!
it's an american made pickup
I doubt you'll have any luck trying to pickup if you are driving this thing…
Cool idea,
Execution will be terrible. Nothing more than a pretty concept.
There's been a fair few of these car companies that have done this and gone belly up.
"Towing capacity 1000lb"
so 455kg, wtAf. My mighty 1997 Mazda Metro has an unbraked rating of 400 (700 braked)
.
If it wasn’t for the battery pack it would probably weigh less than your metro. This thing is only slightly longer than a Kia soul
This would be the slat of the ICE utes!
It doesn’t look very… real
Looks kinda cute
Might delete later tho
A great idea, a totally barebones car, just electric.
Love the modularity, how you can turn it into a 5 seater with a roof, etc.
Pity it is American made, and it's got NMC battery tech - I shudder to think how expensive it would be in Australia!
Fun looking little ute! Unique and fun to drive cars always seem be well received. Looking at you, Jimny and Carry. Expensive for what Suzuki offers and a death trap on highways… but I'd still buy one if I had a spare 40k or 25k for a Carry.
That is sooooooooo ugly….
That's what happens when you accidentally open the mirror app
When I opened it, it was facing that picture of you that you sent me…
I hate it when that happens
AI please design me a Truck that everyone will buy.
Result - Slate Auto.
IF this ever comes to Australia, (and it won't) I've got my cash ready to go. This is exactly the vehicle I want from an EV. Something like the older Hilux 2wd sized and electric. Simple. No frills. Just has a job to do and gets to doing it.
Loving the Shoresy Avatar.
Completely agree.
Small, cheap and electric is a killer combination for getting stuff done.
There are 37 big twin cab tow rigs to pick from but no small utes.
We just need a workshop delivery vehicle. It only does maybe 120km on a busy day. It just needs to be simple and rugged. It's just for parts delivery and pick up. It doesn't need to pull 3.5 tonnes or carry 1 tonne of cargo, it just needs to run. There is literally nothing on the market in this space.
I even toyed with the idea of buying a written off Tesla and an old Hilux run about and doing a conversion myself.
I don't think that these would make a killing but they would sell. Farmers who just want a farm ute, parts delivery. People who want a second vehicle and only drive it to work and pick up shit from Bunnings on the weekend. Lawn mower franchise types… It just seems that there is either nothing or your next step up feels like it needs to be a Ranger Raptor or Dodge RAM. Even the new BYD Shark is HUGE.
How about
ID Buzz Cargo
Ford Transit EV
Didn't Reno have something like that too - Kangoo ETech.
Imiev van (I think it was called Minicab EV)
Or do you specifically need a ute?
https://ace-ev.com.au/ace-yewt/
Assuming it ever ships, even with millions pumped in by the government and over $10m of orders they still haven't gotten it off the ground. A shame it maxes out at 100km/h, but under $30k the price is right.
@[Deactivated]: Had never heard of this before.
Lower running costs by up to 85%
That's awesome
0-50km/h acceleration in under 7sec
Umm
@CheapandUsed: How fast do we need to go on public roads? A race to the next set of traffic lights? 9 time out of 19 whenever somebody passes me i catch them at the next lights.
@[Deactivated]: How long can Ace continue to keep claiming they have a product, and not deliver anything?
@GordonD: I reckon give them until 2030, then they'll just rebadge something made in China for $10k each and call it a day.
@GordonD: About as long as Savic Motorcycles… they exist solely to part investors from their cash, nothing more.
They drip feed 3 or 4 vehicles to “friends” and “cashed up investors” and none to the public and at the 12th hour, they will just fold like an origami crane.
Eventually the investors and government grants will dry up and bingo, bango, it’s announced that they are in liquidation and there is literally nothing left to sell off.
Go on Alibaba search for mini electric truck. There's plenty of 100-200km range electric vehicle. Not sure about the importation headache and getting compliance to Australia standards.
Seems like an electric Kei vehicle. Definitely missing this in the market as you've mentioned.
No. This far exceeds the legal dimensions of a kei vehicle, which has max length of something like 3.4m
Agree it is 1m+ longer than a kei truck at about 4.5m, but occupies a similar concept - smallish run about you can throw a couple of bags of cement and a muddy dog in the back, and park comparatively easily.
For comparison a Hilux 4x2 single cab is 5.3m and uses a lot of fuel.
@mskeggs: Agree. This is 4.43m long which is just slightly longer than a corolla hatch and 200mm shorter than a corolla sedan.
@mapax: I remember when a Corolla was a small car…but this ute is small compared to others on the market.
But yeah, it is still 40cm longer than the 4 door Jimny, so it is only "small" in that the competition in the ute segment is oversize.
@mskeggs: Thanks, precisely why I said like even though the dimensions are nowhere similar. It can fit into a regular parking space!
@Caped Baldy: And within a couple of centimeters of a Brumby or Jumbuck.
I think there are heaps of people who need a big towing ute. But I also think the loud voices of those people drown out the buyers who would like an easier to park, much cheaper to buy and run, ute suitable for town and suburbs.
Lots of car frame utes sold for decades before the big truck frame utes drove them out 15 years ago. But if you are happy with a convenient small ute you haven't been able to buy one.
100% same.
i would love a small runabout EV - if it can be a little ute, even better. a cheap proton jumbuck or subaru brumby with an EV drivetrain and ~150km of range would be perfect.
I'm here for this ute. Carry a few things. School runs. Light local stuff.
Vapourware in search of 'investors' most likely.
I cant see a big market for it in bare bones trim. There will be a few old codgers happy to not deal with all the tech toys, but most buyers seem to want features when they buy a vehicle becasue its such a big investment. Companies will want full safety tech to reduce insurance premiums and thats the stuff that costs money, not power windows and carplay.
Unless it is himux sized, there isnt a big market for oversized american pickups the rest of the world is mostly happy with the size of a hilux for work. If they want bigger, then light trucks are more space efficient becasue they don't have massive bonnets out the front and a rarely used huge back seat.
Unless it is himux sized, there isnt a big market for oversized american pickups the rest of the world is mostly happy with the size of a hilux for work. If they want bigger, then light trucks are more space efficient becasue they don't have massive bonnets out the front and a rarely used huge back seat
Unless I’m misreading this, nothing about this ute feels oversized. It looks more like a larger Suzuki Mightyboy rather than a current Hilux.
It is small, about the size of a 1985 hilux
Yep scroll to the bottom of the slate site there is a size comparison there.
If one of the dozens of Chinese EV manufacturers could please Ctrl+C Ctrl+V… or at least come up with something similar.
We could use some ute/pickup options that are a size smaller than the current >5m long Ranger or Hilux
Hoping the FBT concession is still around next week. Not for this though, at the other end of the scale, I'm keen on an Kia EV3.
In the base version, for 20K you get:
Look at what you can get for 23K USD in China… the Changan Hunter Pro.
Made in the US
Less than 400km range from the EXTENDED battery version
Specs that would mean a fail from ANCap rating let allow missing basic features even 20k aud cars have.
I think an easy pass
why is the range a downside? how much range do you really need? even 200km would be overkill for me, personally.
Most people actually like to be able to drive their vehicles distances.
Any distance that is like three hours plus is over 200 km
In Australia? 3 hours means you might make it to work on a Monday /s
“Most people” is a pretty big generalisation without anything to back it up.
The vast majority of my car trips (and most car trips) are well under 100kms. From memory, numbers I saw a few years back were something like 50% of all trips being under 10kms.
For a lot of people, 200km range would be more than enough for 99% of their trips and they could sort another option out for the remainder. For me, I’d love to have an ev to do all my short trips and minimise the mileage on my road trip vehicle.
@Protractor: i'll use public transport whenever it's the most convenient option for my trip. in fact, most days i only use public / active transport.
i'm a huge public transport advocate, BUT… there's no public transport serving most of the places i drive to. where it does exist, it takes two or more times as long as driving. weekend sports, the beach, some of my regular shops and services, my family's places, some friends' places - all within a short drive but extremely inconvenient / circuitous / underserved via public transport.
the demand for lots of these trips (specifically that my household makes) is never going to be high enough for good public transport anyway. it would be great if i could take the 50-100kms our petrol car does in a typical week and do that in an EV.
Yeah that's ridiculous range
Its not designed for longndistance travel. Its designed to be a useful tool for work in cities. Hardly any vdhicle fhat is city based does over 200km in a day.
Even 400km for a local delivery vhicle is overkill. They will do under 300km every day then charge ovenight.
The standard version is 150 miles. So about 240km unladen best case scenario, add in a load and more realistic driving and you are well under 200km a day for the standard version. for the extended range you would also expect less than 300km of range a day as best case ideal driving unloaded is 380km and that is before any battery degredation, load or driving style taken into effect.
I still say its plenty for a lot of users. Its not going to haul huge loads. Its hardly likely to be used on the highway. Its a short distance workhorse for light loads. Perfect for inner city deliveries, or tradies who drive some tools to a few jobs in a day.
Needing massive range is largely a furphy sold to us to keep us in ICE vehicles. For the majority its just not necessary and just ends up adding weight to haul around 50 weeks a year for those 2 trips when you actually want longer range.
@Euphemistic: I am not anti EV, fully expect my next car to be EV. Just struggling to see the value in this. really what Tradie or place that does deliveries would be happy with a vehicle that can do less than 100 km one way? I am sure there would be a few but with Australia's sprawling cities that is a pretty tough limit and on top of that it is not exactly cheap. over $30k for the base model as the US model is (Under $20kUSD with government rebates), So guessing you are looking at a starting price of somewhere north of $35k here, you are almost at a base model BT-50 pricing.
@gromit: You underestimate 2 things. Tradie bandwagon jumping and the ute as a status symbol in that cohort (and beyond)
If there is even the slightest rush by a few tradies to grab one, it will snowball. Carparks will swallow up suburbia if that happens.It' could get very ugly given how ppl already hate USA made penis extensions blocking up the skyline.
Bigger battery will require more space and increase weight reduce it's overall performance. Smaller battery also means cheaper to replace.
Exactly. I dont understand why makers arent heavily promoting smaller battery city evs. Yaris sized cars with 200k range but super efficient because they are light weight. Cheaper because less battery. Perfect for daily commuting plus gping out in the evening. Able to recharge easily of a standrd wall point overnight. Instead we 'must have' 400km of range in everything.
@Euphemistic: I'm hoping the BYD Seagull/Dolphin Mini makes it here. Small 4 door, about the size of a Honda Jazz. Perfect city shopping cart.
@DashCam AKA Rolts: Same. Unfortunately more than a few of these tiny city cars fail aus safety standards. Hope we do get some of this type of vehicle.
Well probably need to lower inner city speed limits to suit smaller lighter cars in traffic too
Interestingly, it's a return to a Henry Ford approach.
In one regard it is. You can have any colour as long as its black. That's how they are manufactured. Then if you want it in another colour it isn't painted in that colour on the production line, you pay extra to have a wrap in that colour applied.
Yep, and every vehicle to come down the line will be identical, customization will occur post production. This should speed up output and reduce costs.
Its not what im after but its certainly getting closer to a EV i can see myself in down the track to suit my needs.
Add longer range and 4x4 and it will have better applications for rural people.
I'd rather have a Mighty Boy ute. Drop an LS3 in it. Spend the savings on a rear chute.
Sell it a month before the NN's pin up boy ( Spud McDutton)'s cheap fuel bribery ends
Also, I like that the name is an anagram of Teals.Owners will love that extra perk,innit?
Cool idea. I like the swipe animation that makes the suspension compress.
Slate huh .. an anagram for Tesla (as well as many other words, but this one is more amusing).
Maybe Skum has a background connection to this ? If anyone could hide their fingerprints on a company,it would be he.
Bezos has his thumb in this particular pie, rumoured to be $US20million.
There's thumbs (and other digits & danglers) in more and darker places,when it comes to billionaires, in and around the Trump and Skum democracy hijack / market manipulation scam. And probably not an empty mouth in sight.
Big claims in the headlines, but just not happening here.
It’s US$27000 before the government rebate, which equates to AU$42000 and that’s before any sales tax/conversion/import costs/duties/compliance etc.
You’d be lucky to drive away for under AU$60k….for a car with wind up windows and 200k range.
Come in spinner.
Also what CoL crisis?
Yep - that's what I was thinking
I love the idea of this. Recently sold our dual cab and now missing the ute side of things. Have a large yard and regularly need to pick up bits and pieces.
This would be perfect. Set it up as a five seater mini suv for the week and take the back seats out and use it as a ute as needed. Don't need massive range as it would just do school pick up, drop off and the weekend bunnings and tip run.
For the right price this would be an ideal second car
Just be aware that the 'never,ever,dead,buried cremated GST party have said they won't impose an EV road tax. Despite signalling the opposite until cornered by media. They aint no mate of the EV community.
I was reading about it the other day.
Would make a great work ute for me if only it came in 4x4.