Slate Will Build Its $27,000 EV In The American Midwest

Slate Auto, the Jeff Bezos–backed startup behind the $28,000 EV pickup, has reportedly secured a production location for its accessory-friendly truck that will give the Ford Maverick a fully electric rival. We already knew the fledgling automaker planned to build the Slate EV at an existing factory in the US, and it seems as though that facility has been revealed. Citing public records, TechCrunch reported that Slate Auto will enter a lease in Warsaw, Indiana, at a former printing plant measuring more than 1.4 million square feet.

Slate Will Build Things On The Cheap

The location in Warsaw – the seat of Kosciusko County – was occupied by commercial and marketing companies RR Donnelley and LSC Communications for decades. According to a local news report from earlier this year, Kosciusko County officials offered an incentive package to the company without disclosing its name or the products it would produce. The plant is owned by an economic development corporation within the county, and Slate will lease it for an unknown length of time. The facility will reportedly employ more than 2,000 people, according to the news report.

Although converting an existing factory is a costly affair, Slate does have a few tricks up its sleeve. Its “Blank Slate” pickup has unpainted composite bodywork that’s molded in color, which negates the need for any kind of on-site painting facility. As we’ve previously reported, the Slate EV is specifically intended to be easy to wrap, meaning the vinyl color kits that start at $500 could potentially be installed by the owner in their driveway. Likewise, options and configurations will be limited, meaning the production line will primarily just build that Blank Slate, reducing manufacturing costs significantly.

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The Slate EV An Upfit-Friendly Platform

In order to meet varying consumer demands, Slate says its cheaply built EV will offer a wide range of accessories, including body style upfits that include an enclosed cargo area and rear seats with rollover protection and side airbags. Some of these alterations will almost certainly come from the Warsaw facility; we suspect there will be a primary line for the EV and a secondary line for the body modifications. But many of the accessories will likely come from third parties or from a 3D printing division within the factory.

A diagram of the Slate’s accessory attachment points (of which there are more than 100 on the vehicle) will be available to all, meaning enterprising DIYers with access to a 3D printer can create their own storage, organization, and optimization solutions. Meanwhile, you can expect third parties to pop up on resale sites like eBay and Etsy with their own 3D-printed wares, and major suppliers like Thule, Alpine, and GoPro might even have access to the files to create parts that’ll fit the Slate perfectly.

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This outsourcing of vehicle accessories will allow the Slate EV to be built rather cheaply, since the factory will pretty much focus on building a single configuration of the truck. The automaker says the pickup will start at around $20,000 after incentives, which could mean a cash price of about $28,000 or so. Toss in a suspension kit and more aggressive tires, plus a custom wrap and a few choice 3D-printed interior features, and you might be looking at a $25,000 daily driver with all the tax credits in place.

Source: TechCrunch, NewsNow Warsaw