Slate Auto drops ‘under $20,000’ pricing after Trump administration ends federal EV tax credit

Slate Auto, the electric vehicle startup backed by Jeff Bezos, has stopped selling that its upcoming pickup truck will begin “below $20,000” following passage of President Trump’s tax lower invoice. The invoice, which is anticipated to be signed into legislation by Trump on July 4, will trigger the federal EV tax credit score to finish in September — a $7,500 incentive that Slate had counted on to assist its all-electric pickup clear that mark.

When Slate got here out of stealth mode in April, the startup closely promoted that its all-electric pickup would begin at “below $20,000” with the $7,500 federal EV tax credit score. That language was nonetheless on Slate’s web site as lately as yesterday based on the Net Archive.

The change is a possible blow to the younger firm’s try to make a radically reasonably priced electrical automobile.

Slate didn’t present a exact worth for the EV at its launch occasion; and it has but to say what the precise beginning worth of its automobile shall be, sans-credit. A Slate spokesperson declined to touch upon the change.

The corporate received’t begin constructing the truck till the tip of 2026 on the earliest. Slate’s enterprise can be constructed round making this automobile extremely customizable, which implies it’s potential that few individuals will purchase the bottom mannequin to start with.

The sub-$20,000 worth had been a big attraction point for the model new firm’s product, and it was a serious focus following its April launch event.

The auto business has “pushed costs to a spot that almost all People merely can’t afford,” chief industrial officer Jeremy Snyder mentioned throughout the occasion. “However we’re right here to alter that.”

“We’re constructing the reasonably priced automobile that has lengthy been promised however by no means been delivered,” CEO Chris Barman added on the time.