this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2025
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[–] n3m37h@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Features I look for in a car

  • 4 wheels
  • radio
  • power windows
  • reverse cam

How hard is this?

[–] Retrograde@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

Kind of like what Steve Martin looks for in cars:

  • 4 Fucking Wheels
  • A seat

[–] LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 week ago

Legally, you need quite a few more features than this just to be able to sell it.

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[–] Gowron_Howard@lemm.ee 17 points 1 week ago

This is a truck I’d actually feel comfortable driving. Unlike those gender affirming, semi truck adjacent, embarrassing pavement princess trucks that you see everywhere now.

[–] shininghero@pawb.social 15 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You know what... Give me an option for a bigger battery, and ensure that replacement batteries are going to be available for a while, and I'll definitely look into it.

[–] TimLovesTech@badatbeing.social 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The article says they will have a 240 mile battery upgrade available at some point, that can be done at some yet undisclosed service center (article assumes a car service chain).

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[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (7 children)

It only seats two yet has a bed big enough to hold a sheet of plywood. It only does 150 miles on a charge, only comes in gray, and the only way to listen to music while driving is if you bring along your phone and a Bluetooth speaker.

Instead of steel or aluminum, the Slate Truck’s body panels are molded of plastic. Or, as Slate calls them, “injection molded polypropylene composite material.” The theory is that this makes them more durable and scratch-resistant, if only because the lack of paint means they’re one color all the way through.

By eliminating paint, and thus eliminating the paint shop, Slate’s manufacturing process is massively simplified. So, too, the lack of metal body parts. “We have no paint shop, we have no stamping,”

[–] invertedspear@lemm.ee 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Plastic with no paint is not going to do well in places like the Southwest. But I’m sure that getting it painted or wrapped won’t be a huge deal.

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[–] ysjet@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (11 children)

Am I reading this right and it only offers 1000lb towing capacity? Isn't that kind of utterly useless?

[–] CoffeeJunkie@lemmy.cafe 18 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Oh, not at all. Not at all. Now as a full-fledged TRUCK, and hauling, yeah it's pretty pathetic. But the truck platform that this uses is clean, simple, and fucking brilliant.

A lot of non-truck city people like to cite some damning statistic, something-something-87% of truck owners haven't hauled anything significant in the past year. Correct, and I think most people simply don't have that need. The number of oversized trucks I see, that go from home to cubicle work to WalMart & back home again... 🙄🙄🙄

Full-sized trash cans don't fit in a car very well. But they fit nicely in a truck. This truck can "haul"...all kinds of bulky, awkward shit that doesn't weigh much. I've got a lot of that in my life.

I could use this as a nice, basic farm shuttle vehicle. Chores. Daily driver to & from work. Camping even, obviously light tent camping. Drive-in movie theaters. Parties. "I don't have room in my car for [junk] ." Well, throw it in my truck. Problem solved, yay 🥳

It's electric, so you could even drive it part-time & fully recharge it with the fucking sun.

I adore the standard cab, small, working man's truck. It is not kind of utterly useless, it just doesn't allow you to be the manliest man that ever manned, bro. Lift kit & shoxxx for offroading, bro. Best in class for towing, bro. Extended cab, bro. It runs on endangered species of owls, bro. ...you can keep all that. I'll take this. 🤗

[–] yukichigai@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 1 week ago

Full-sized trash cans don't fit in a car very well. But they fit nicely in a truck. This truck can "haul"...all kinds of bulky, awkward shit that doesn't weigh much. I've got a lot of that in my life.

Yep, furniture especially. A Queen-size bed is bad enough, but at least you can tie that onto the roof of most sedans. A table and some chairs? Some dressers? Doesn't matter how light they are, you run out of space real quick, and that's assuming you've got your Luggage Tetris skill maxed so you can cram everything in perfectly.

...or you could just set it all in the bed and put a net over it if you really wanna make sure it won't go anywhere. I know which one I prefer.

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[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

If you need to tow something, sure. The vast majority of people who own a pickup don't tow jackshit. That goes for urban and rural areas.

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[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 11 points 1 week ago

Equivalent towing capacity of a Chevy Impala, so yes.

This is less of a truck and more of a truck-shaped go-kart.

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I have an older Ranger. I don't do much truck stuff. The bulk cargo area is the draw, not the weight capacity. The heaviest load I carried was 800lbs of plywood, which was 15 sheets or something. I have a 4x8 trailer that can also help haul bulky household goods for moves, a motorcycle, lumber, or furniture. While the trailer is rated for 1700lbs payload and weighs 300lbs itself, I have never put more than 500lbs on it, despite filling the 4x8 floor stackef 4ft high. I made the trailer before getting the Ranger, so now they're redundant and never actually hauled together.

If you're already towing, this probably isnt the truck for you. If you aren't towing, it provides an option to tow something if you have to. The reason I chose the Ranger is because it's cheap, gets good fuel economy, and has the capacity to grab full lumber sheet goods on my commute home. While I could find a 30mpg car for the same price, I'm still in the mid 20s. Maybe I could spend 30k on a newer F150 V6 and get similar, but then it costs 10x what I paid. Bulk space and handling scratchy cargo is the main goal. I think of the Slate as being what the Ranger should've been now.

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[–] Wahots@pawb.social 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don't need a truck, but this is perfect for people who want to take a bunch of mountain bikes out to the downhill mountain bike park. Throw 5-6 bikes in the back, take the riders in a separate car.

That said, I hope they come out with a smaller wagon or sedan with clearance (so a hitch can be installed for mountain bikes).

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[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 9 points 1 week ago (5 children)

How are they going to get around the backup camera requirement? I guess it could be done through your phone but that sounds like it might be a support nightmare.

[–] Wahots@pawb.social 14 points 1 week ago

It has a small screen in the speedometer.

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[–] Makeitstop@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Getting closer to what I want, which is a reasonably sized and priced EV truck built for actual utility. I'm ok with it leaving out all the extras that I don't need, and hopefully that means it isn't also going to be tracking people and harvesting their data.

My biggest objection to the truck itself is that it's still trying to look like an ICE truck. There's no engine in front, you could easily slide the cab forward a bit to make room for a larger bed. I would much rather have a tiny frunk and an 8 foot bed, even if it means making the whole thing slightly longer. It's shorter than a corrolla, so it's not like they couldn't add a little length to the design if necessary.

Bezos being involved is also a massive turn off, but than I'm not sure who is going to go into mass manufacturing EVs without some rich asshole funding it.

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[–] WhatSay@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 week ago

Since incentives are being killed, it will probably be about $30k. Still looks like a good design

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The kei truck comparison seems apt. This seems like it's for people who need a runner for their ranch or farm, or local town handyman work.

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

One of my neighbors has a kei truck and I want one so bad.

Like, I love the functionality of a pickup, but they are wildly impractical for everyday use...not to mention the...implications....

Something cheap enough to be an auxiliary vehicle, that can carry 4x8 sheet goods and 12ft boards without much hassle would be awesome though.

As it is now, we have two cars (A VW Passat (sedan) and a Honda Odyssey (minivan)). The minivan can carry 4x8 goods and 12ft dimensional lumber, but it requires removing the middle row. Kind of a pain in the ass. It's rather uncommon to need both cars at the same time (but still comes in clutch, pardon the pun, when we do need it)...generally the sedan is for solo trips and the minivan is for family outings. I'd replace the Passat with a kei in a heartbeat.

[–] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

What I would love to see for a pickup like this is a rentable battery slab you could drop into the bed and temporarily boost the mileage for longer trips.

[–] pageflight@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

From caranddriver with no sign-in requirement.

Apart from its digital gauge cluster that also serves as the rearview camera display, power locks, cruise control, and a forward-collision-warning system with automated emergency braking, the Truck offers little in the way of luxuries.

Sounds nice. I do like highway lane following, but not essential.

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