Slate says your truck will never track you!
Slate Auto gets serious about privacy for its bare-bones EV pickup
ARSTECHNICA Jonathan M. Gitlin – Jun 2, 2026 10:49 AM
Slate Auto may be one of the most interesting companies in the American automotive industry right now. Based in Warsaw...
I really wanted one of these until I realized it wasn’t 4WD, which is pretty much required in a place with 6-8 months of snow. I love the utter simplicity of a steering wheel and not much else. My current truck has crank windows and manual locks, and a radio I haven’t turned on in 5 years.
4wd/offroad ability is one of the core pillars that makes a truck a truck. The other being the ability to carry a bunch of shit. And maybe a third being the ability to pull heavy stuff, but that’s basically just the first two, combined. I’d argue that the ability to carry a bunch of shit is the most important thing defining what makes a truck different from a car or van.
4wd/offroad ability is one of the core pillars that makes a truck a truck
That’s debatable. The core function of a pickup truck is the ability to haul and/or tow a lot of shit. The 4WD aspect allows one to do so in rough terrain. But there are plenty of 2WD truck trucks as well. The old 70s Chevy/GMC C10 and C20 pickups come to mind. Those were the go-to for contractors back in the 80s and 90s (my late contractor grandpa swore by them) when they were “just an old piece of shit”; same with the 2WD Ranger, Hilux, Tacoma, S10/S15, Dakota, etc… Great utility trucks.
I love the utter simplicity of a steering wheel and not much else
That’s our 1980 Mercedes 240D in a nutshell. Fully mechanical diesel engine, manual transmission, crank windows, vacuum-powered locks (yeah that’s right), and manual HVAC with functioning A/C.
It’s my wife’s absolute favorite car. She says we are never buying another automatic. God…I want to marry her all over again.
I really wanted one of these until I realized it wasn’t 4WD
That put me off as well. As much as I would love a little runabout EV pickup, I would 100% lift it with larger tires and take it out to the local rock crawling areas. But 2WD makes that fairly difficult.
it wasn’t 4WD, which is pretty much required in a place with 6-8 months of snow
Pickups only need 4WD because they have 1920s designs with all the weight at the wrong end of the vehicle from the drive wheels. Ev pickups have a perfect weight distribution from the battery pack and don’t need 4WD.
I live in Canada and have never need 4WD, just proper winter tires.
I really wanted one of these until I realized it wasn’t 4WD, which is pretty much required in a place with 6-8 months of snow. I love the utter simplicity of a steering wheel and not much else. My current truck has crank windows and manual locks, and a radio I haven’t turned on in 5 years.
I’ll keep an eye on it though.
4wd/offroad ability is one of the core pillars that makes a truck a truck. The other being the ability to carry a bunch of shit. And maybe a third being the ability to pull heavy stuff, but that’s basically just the first two, combined. I’d argue that the ability to carry a bunch of shit is the most important thing defining what makes a truck different from a car or van.
That’s debatable. The core function of a pickup truck is the ability to haul and/or tow a lot of shit. The 4WD aspect allows one to do so in rough terrain. But there are plenty of 2WD truck trucks as well. The old 70s Chevy/GMC C10 and C20 pickups come to mind. Those were the go-to for contractors back in the 80s and 90s (my late contractor grandpa swore by them) when they were “just an old piece of shit”; same with the 2WD Ranger, Hilux, Tacoma, S10/S15, Dakota, etc… Great utility trucks.
yeah a lot of the cheaper f 150s are 2wd, but they run 70-80k
Oh please…maybe for TV commercials. 99% of real world pickup buyers won’t even get the beds dirty.
That’s our 1980 Mercedes 240D in a nutshell. Fully mechanical diesel engine, manual transmission, crank windows, vacuum-powered locks (yeah that’s right), and manual HVAC with functioning A/C.
It’s my wife’s absolute favorite car. She says we are never buying another automatic. God…I want to marry her all over again.
That put me off as well. As much as I would love a little runabout EV pickup, I would 100% lift it with larger tires and take it out to the local rock crawling areas. But 2WD makes that fairly difficult.
Pickups only need 4WD because they have 1920s designs with all the weight at the wrong end of the vehicle from the drive wheels. Ev pickups have a perfect weight distribution from the battery pack and don’t need 4WD.
I live in Canada and have never need 4WD, just proper winter tires.
I’m in fields and cutlines with no roads, fencing and checking animals. I need 4WD.