Slate Auto’s CEO told us exactly how it’s going to make an EV that’s only $25,000

Slate Automotive CEO Chris Barman is entering an increasingly crowded American electric vehicle market with a rare proposal: delivering an electric truck that costs only about $25,000, without any tax credits, by the end of next year.

The Jeff Bezos-backed startup is a shot across the bow for the entire auto industry, especially one where a rival electric truck might cost 3x that. Sherwood toured Slate’s design studio and prototype facility in Michigan and sat down with Barman to talk about how she plans to achieve what no one else in America has.

“We want this vehicle to live on with time.  As the consumer electronics life cycle changes, you can just buy a different tablet when you want and mount it,” Barman told Sherwood.

A huge advantage? By using composite exterior panels, Slate doesn’t need a stamping operation or even a paint shop, which Barman said saves the company something like $400 million to $600 million in capital expenditures.

“Through simplification as well, we have roughly a little over 600 parts, where most vehicles today have 2,500 or more,” Barman explained. “It brings our costs down. We don’t have to have as many engineers designing parts. We don’t have to have as many employees putting parts on the vehicle. We don’t have to have as many supplier-quality engineers.”

The Takeaway

Slate’s making a bet that the other auto companies — which keep adding in features like interactivity and autonomy, upping costs — have been going down the wrong road, and sometime in 2026 we’ll find out if it’s right. One of the scoops she shared with us? The company has absolutely no plans for building self-driving features and has a date set for profitability. The whole interview is fascinating, so do check it out.