Slate's Low, Low Price Won't Get Any Lower With EV Tax Credit Repeal

Motor Trend

08-07-2025

Newcomer automaker Slate made headlines when it revealed a highly customizable electric mini-pickup with a $20,000 price tag—said price followed by the expected asterisk and 'after state and Federal incentives'. With the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Federal EV incentives are going away, so one of the Slate truck's most appealing aspects will change. As of now, Slate's web site is referring to the pickup truck's price as 'mid-twenties'.
The repeal of federal EV incentives under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act raises Slate's electric mini-pickup price from $20,000 to "mid-twenties," reducing its appeal. Despite its customizable features, the increased cost diminishes its competitiveness against other EVs and hybrids.
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We at MotorTrend have been anticipating changes and/or an end to Federal EV incentives for quite some time, so we've been cautiously referring to the Slate as a $27,000 pickup. What we don't know is if Slate's new mid-$20,000 price is a pre-incentive price, or if it reflects the rosiest of possible state incentives. While not all states offer tax credits for EVs, there are still some whoppers out there. Colorado and New Jersey offer up to $5,000, while Vermont offers $4,000. California's $7,500 EV credit is set to expire in September (and still could be renewed), but some local districts in the Golden State offer their own incentives, including a $12,000 grant for buyers in certain neighborhoods who replace a high-polluting vehicle with an EV.
Still, even the most loonie-lefty commie tree-huggers on the MT staff will admit that the Slate loses quite a bit of its appeal when the price jumps by 35 percent. Remember, we're talking about a single-row mini pickup truck with plastic panels and crank-down windows, and optioning it with anything nicer costs more. And that base price only gets you 150 miles of range. A 240-mile battery will be, like most things on the Slate- truck, will be an extra-cost option.
Our first reaction to the new estimated price tag was to spit and sputter and say 'But you can get a new Ford Maverick hybrid for around $21,000!' Except you can't. Ford has steadily increased the price of the Maverick since its launch, and for 2025, the cheapest model—still with a hybrid drivetrain, front-wheel-drive, and unadorned steel wheels—will still set you back just under $30,000 with destination charge, a 40-percent-or-so increase since the trucklet was introduced for the 2022 model year.
If the Slate were to launch with a $27,000 price tag, it'd still be a reasonable bargain among EVs, the least-expensive of which is, for 2025, the soon-to-be-replaced Nissan Leaf at $29,135. (While Nissan has not announced pricing for the 2026 model, it's expected to hold the line around $30,000.) And Chevrolet is bringing back its affordable Bolt EV this year—a vehicle that, in its previous generation, boasted more range than the big-battery Slate and was priced lower.
Again, once you start adding in the equipment that the Leaf gets as standard, or the battery for the sort of range we expect the new Bolt to deliver, the Slate is likely to be more expensive—though admittedly the Slate is better suited to hauling your muddy, oil-soaked electric dirt bike. And it'll certainly still seem like a bargain compared to the $49,780 2025 Ford F-150 Lightning.
Unfortunately, the loss of Federal incentives means Slate has lost one of its most appealing talking points. We still like the idea of a compact, customizable truck; we just like it less at the 'mid-20s'. We still don't know if Slate will make it to market, but if they do, perhaps they need to spend a little more money on lobbyists.