The first thing you should know about my first ride in the Slate truck is that I did not get to drive it. They were only allowing ride-alongs due to these still being prototypes. On October 1st I headed up to Legacy West in Plano, where Slate Auto was giving rides in their prototype trucks to reservation holders and the curious, and it rained the entire time, surprising for Texas and making it even more surprising that people bothered showing up. They showed up. A bunch of people stood around in the rain waiting for a ride in a two-door electric pickup that doesn’t officially exist yet, and I was one of them, and I took that as a pretty good sign of how many people are paying attention to this thing.
Here’s why I care. I’m driving a Volkswagen ID.4 right now, the lease is up in February, and February happens to be right around when Slate says my pre-order will be delivered. I’ve never been a car guy, and the ID.4 has been fine, but it costs an arm and a leg and I wanted a cheaper option. The base Slate truck is $24,950 according to The EV Report’s rundown of the specs from June 24th, and the SUV version I actually want, the one with the hatchback that will work for my kids, will cost me about $30K.
My ride was with Raj from Slate, who asked me to keep his face off camera because of all his exes who live in Texas and who told me the same three things he hears from everyone who gets out of the truck. The first is interior space, because nobody expects that much room in a two-door, and there is storage behind the seats for toolboxes and backpacks and bags. The second is acceleration, which he said he couldn’t show me because of the weather, but he did anyway. The third is how quiet and composed it feels, with the loudest thing in the cabin being the rain and the wipers, and how it handles more like a car than a traditional pickup, which he put down to a tight steering rack, 50/50 weight distribution, and a low center of gravity. From the passenger seat, it felt similar to the pick up and go I experience in my ID.4 which handles oddly like a sports car.
He also walked me through what comes standard, which he said includes a backup camera, cruise control, forward collision warning, and pedestrian detection, and then gave me the three accessories he tells everyone about, all of which are on his own build: the center console, because he needs an armrest, the center speaker, because he’s heard it in person and says it’s plenty loud (I’m a bit of a music snob so I don’t think simply loud will cut it for me) and the tow hitch, which he told me is a hundred-dollar accessory and a no-brainer for a pickup. Towing is 2,000 pounds and payload is 1,550 pounds, which matches the published numbers. To be clear, I haven’t confirmed the safety features or the accessory prices with Slate myself, so check slate.auto before you spend a dime on anything I repeated here.
Deliveries are expected to start in December 2026.
So what did I think? I liked it. It has the zip I was hoping for, I wish I could have driven it but I get it, it feels good, and I love that it actually has room for a big back like myself.
I have no business relationship with Slate, this video is not sponsored, and the t-shirt and backpack I came home with were for signing up for a reservation, not for making this video. Shout out to Angel, who took care of me with the swag, and to everybody at Slate who worked that event in the rain.
And some news of my own. I’m now officially a Dallas influencer, which still looks strange when I type it, and I’ve started a YouTube playlist called C.K. in Dallas where I’ll be adding all of these videos as I make them. The Slate ride is in there now, right next to my StretchLab video, with more on the way.
If you want the quick version, I cut a 60 second Short of the ride: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HzQkEu0K7G8
I also posted a Reel of it on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cksamplenoodling/reel/DedQ3dkAx-a/
If any of this was useful, please do three things for me. Watch the full video above and give it a like. Subscribe to my channel at https://www.youtube.com/@cksample so you see the next one. And follow me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/cksamplenoodling, where the Reels live, and at https://instagram.com/cksamplephotos for the photography. Then tell me in the comments what I should have asked Raj, because there’s a good chance I’ll get another ride.
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNYUZnfqy_N0
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