Buzzy new EV startup Slate Auto has racked up greater than 100,000 reservations for its customizable low-cost electrical pickup truck, the corporate has confirmed to TechCrunch.
Slate crossed the milestone over the weekend, just a bit greater than two weeks after popping out of stealth mode and unveiling the truck at an occasion in Los Angeles, California. The corporate has mentioned the truck will begin beneath $20,000 after making use of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit score and plans to construct the autos at a former printing plant in Warsaw, Indiana, as TechCrunch first reported.
“We’re really humbled by America’s response to Slate’s model launch and the launch of our truck,” Slate’s chief industrial officer Jeremy Snyder mentioned in an announcement to TechCrunch. “We’re excited for what the longer term holds.”
Amassing 100,000 reservations so shortly is one signal of how a lot curiosity there was in Slate because it revealed the truck, however it’s no assure these reservations will translate to gross sales. The corporate is simply asking potential patrons to plop down $50 to order their place in line to finally order the truck; the payment is refundable.
Many different EV startups have touted reservations up to now solely to fail to dwell as much as the expectations of such huge, spherical numbers. Fisker filed for chapter having bought only a few thousand Ocean SUVs regardless of as soon as claiming greater than 60,000 reservations. Lordstown Motors, in the meantime, was charged by the Securities and Change Fee (SEC) for deceptive buyers in regards to the variety of “preorders” for its personal electrical pickup truck. (Lordstown Motors equally filed for chapter and in the end settled with the SEC.)
Slate has huge objectives for its truck, which — for a presently undisclosed value — will also be remodeled into an SUV. The corporate says it’s going to have capability to make as many as 150,000 autos by the tip of 2027 on the Indiana manufacturing unit. And it has huge backers serving to Slate attempt to attain that purpose, together with Jeff Bezos (by way of his household workplace, Bezos Expeditions), Guggenheim Companions CEO Mark Walter, and VC agency Basic Catalyst.
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