Every truck will come off the assembly gray and basic utilitarian. I assume to keep production cost down. If you wanted say the SUV top; that is added outside & away from the assembly line. Or say you bought the pickup truck but decided later to add the SUV top. Slate sends you the parts so you can add it. Or they will have representatives that will come to your house to put the top on for you.
They claim it has the top safety rating possible.
The truck can be wrapped in many different colors. If one goes to the Slate website, you will see the many different options to customize the vehicle. The vehicle’s body is glass filled composite-so no body rust.
150,000 reservations. But it’s only a $50 cost.
But the range is limited 150 miles with the basic battery pack. An upgraded battery pack gives one an additional 100 miles.
This is a direct to customer sales, no dealers.
I remember in the 1960’s VWs were on the road. Quite different from the behemoth US cars. There was a cult camaraderie among the VW owners. And VW had smart revolutionary advertising too. I wonder if Slate can do similar type of advertising.
I imagine Henry Ford would like the one color assembly line. But air conditioning standard-Horrors!
The 350 mile range Telo is $47k. The 260 range version is $42k.
$152 reservation cost. And as your video indicated-no safety rating yet.
Motor Trend took a look see at the Telo:
Telo, this one’s serious: The MT1 needs real buttons. Find us a vehicle that’s improved by eliminating physical controls and putting everything in the touchscreen. We’ve never seen one.
Above about 30 mph, extreme wind and road noise filled the cabin of MT1 prototype two. Such cacophony isn’t acceptable for production vehicles. Even Telo’s team members were joking about it on the day of our drive.
Regarding the noisy Telo-it is likely a work in progress.
Of course MT like the 500hp.
The MT article was dated Oct 08, 2025. The Slate is further along in its development track.
These EV pickups are aimed at different demographics. I like the Slate, as I am a cheapskate.
