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Slate Auto
American EV startup company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Slate Auto is an American startup company that is developing electric vehicles. It was founded in 2022 inside of Re:Build Manufacturing by Miles Arnone, William Barker and Jeff Wilke, and is based in Troy, Michigan. Its investors include Jeff Bezos, Mark Walter, and Re:Build Manufacturing.[3] Its first product will be the Slate Truck, an electric pickup truck that can be converted into an SUV.
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History
Slate was founded in 2022, and operated in stealth mode until it revealed the Slate Truck on April 24, 2025.[4] It was originally called "Re:Car", as a project within Re:Build Manufacturing, a domestic manufacturing platform. Slate's three co-founders and co-chairman Miles Arnone, William Barker and Jeff Wilke are all co-founders and leaders at Re:Build Manufacturing. Slate's first several hundred employees include many with experience at Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, and Harley-Davidson.[3] The company is headquartered in Troy, Michigan; has a design studio in Long Beach, California; and is expected to produce its Truck at a former printing plant in Warsaw, Indiana,[5] where the company expects a capacity of up to 150,000 vehicles per year.[6]
Slate raised at least $111 million in Series A financing, including an undisclosed amount from Bezos. Slate then raised $600 million in 2024 from Mark Walter, the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, Jeff Bezos, and General Catalyst, a venture capital firm.[7] In mid-2025, the company said it was launching a third round (Series C) of financing.[6]
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Vehicles
Slate's first vehicle, a battery-powered pick-up truck, was announced on April 24, 2025. The company expects to price it under $28,000.[8] The vehicle can be transformed from a truck into a 5-seater SUV through a kit that Slate will sell to customers.[9]
As a publicity stunt, Slate parked at least three prototype vehicles on the streets of Venice, Los Angeles, ahead of the official announcement.[10] The vehicles were wrapped with branding for fictitious companies, and resembled a pick-up truck, a "coupe-like" sports utility vehicle (SUV), and a boxier SUV that resembles a Land Rover Defender. The vehicles are non-functional design bucks; images of them were shared widely by journalists and Reddit contributors.[11]
Prior to its official announcement, the company had trademarked "Blank Slate" and "We Built It. You Make It."[12] The vehicle has been both called "anti-Tesla"[13][14][15] and "anti-Cybertruck";[16] the name "Slate" has been noted to be an anagram of "Tesla".[17][18]
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References
External links
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