How minimalist EV trucks could finally make electric vehicles affordable
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A decade ago, someone in the market for a new car with less than $25,000 to spend, had 43 different models to choose from. Today, there are five, according to Cox Automotive. Not one is electric.
But stalwarts like Ford Motor Co. and startups like Slate Auto are looking to change that, and they’re focusing on Americans’ favorite vehicle: the pickup.
With President Trump’s tax bill killing EV incentives at the end of the month, the push for a sub-$30,000 vehicle that runs on electrons may help buttress the projected dip in sales.
The average price of a new car in the U.S. hovers at $49,100, nearly a third higher than it was in summer 2019. The average EV price is higher still, $8,000 above that of the industry at-large, according to Cox Automotive.
Much of the recent auto inflation can be tied to options and add-ons. During the peak of the pandemic-related supply chain crunch, auto executives had trouble getting enough parts, so they put what little they could find into more expensive, lavish vehicles. In many ways, they never looked back.
Last year, the average car sold for one-third more than the average starting price. Most buyers either didn’t want bare-bones base models or couldn’t find them.
But some EV makers see a change ahead. At Slate’s launch event, Chief Executive Officer Chris Barman delivered what has since become a bit of a stump speech for cheap EVs.
“The definition of what’s affordable is broken,” she said.
A blank Slate
Every year, AutoPacific, an industry consultancy, asks car shoppers what features they need. For those looking to spend under $35,000, the list is short. Generally, budget-conscious drivers are willing to splurge for safety features and apathetic when it comes to leather seats, head-up displays and advanced driver-assistance systems.
None of this is lost on Slate. The company’s truck, which it plans to deliver late next year, is to a Ford F-150 what an Ikea futon is to a Pottery Barn sectional. The base version — the company calls it “the blank Slate” — is best described by what it isn’t. It lacks a touchscreen, ambient lighting, cooled seats, air conditioning, all-wheel drive, a stereo and virtually any kind of driver-assistance.
“You could say we took out everything that wasn’t a car,” Barman said at the launch event.
What Slate promises in return is a sticker price in the mid-$20,000s, before any incentives. By Slate’s reckoning, the market is sizable. In America, we love our trucks, but only about one-third of U.S. truck owners tow regularly. We love our road trips, but on average only drive about 30 miles a day.
While roughly 163,000 Americans buy small pickups in a typical year, the potential market for Slate’s EV expands when considering the 4.3 million people who buy a small SUV or the 1.2 million or so who drive off in a compact or subcompact car.
Would-be buyers can also purchase add-ons including speakers, a spare tire, or a kit that converts the truck to an SUV. Buyers can also add accessories in the years after their initial purchase, creating what the company hopes will be a long-tail revenue source.
Detroit reacts
Still, AutoPacific Chief Analyst Ed Kim sees Slate challenged on two fronts. Those considering the startup’s entry-level configuration may instead spring for a used truck that will offer far more features and niceties for the same price. And those considering a higher-end Slate may instead spend their money on a new machine from an established carmaker — say, the Ford Maverick, a pickup that starts around $27,000.
Ford, which dominates the market for full-size pickups, announced plans in August to make a mid-size electric truck that will sell for about $30,000, as well as a battery-powered SUV that will start below $40,000.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said the company was making a “tremendous pivot” to more affordable EVs. “This is a Model T moment for the company,” he told analysts, invoking a car whose price point put Ford on the map and made automobiles ubiquitous in America.
Toyota Motor Corp., whose Tacoma has long outsold every mid-size pickup on the market, is eyeing the tiny-truck market as well. The current Tacoma starts just shy of $32,000; if the company rolls out a smaller rig for less money, it will add yet another option for budget-conscious buyers.
Most Americans say they’re EV inclined. While battery-powered cars account for only about 1 in 10 new cars sales, almost 60% of shoppers say they are “very” or “somewhat” likely to buy an electric vehicle, according to JD Power.
Price is one of the obstacles, a speed bump the Trump administration made bigger when the president signed a tax law that will eliminate federal incentives for battery-powered cars and trucks. Without up to $7,500 purchase tax credits, EVs are expected to be just 27% of the market in 2030, down from nearly half had the incentives stayed in place, according to BloombergNEF’s projections.
Still, BNEF expects electric cars to be as cheap or cheaper than gas versions by around 2028. Even if they won’t help bridge the expected EV sales gap, cheaper models from Slate and Ford could help spur adoption after federal incentives disappear.
Derek Dufon, a 48-year-old architect in Iowa, put down a $50 deposit on a Slate hours after its reveal. Dufon doesn’t need much in the way of luxuries, just space to haul drawings and building materials to job sites and programmable air conditioning for Henry, his boxer-hound mutt.
“It would be great for work,” Dufon says of the truck. “And I’ve got an old house, so there’s always a project going on with that.”
Stock writes for Bloomberg.
