In April 2025, a new company called Slate Auto came out of stealth and shocked the car industry. Not only was this startup focused on making an ultra-cheap, customizable electric pickup truck with funding from Jeff Bezos, but it had also been operating in secret for three years in Troy, Michigan — the backyard of major automakers like Ford and General Motors.

TechCrunch was first to the story, reporting in early April about the company’s existence, its involvement with the Amazon founder, and its curious and unique business model. The weeks between our report and Slate’s official coming out party in late April provided a whirlwind of news, with prototypes of the startup’s truck popping up around California.

Slate is an aberration in the U.S. EV sector, where bankruptcies, failed product launches, and pivots have become commonplace. And while its current backers, executive lineup, first product, and business model provide a compelling path forward, the road is still riddled with potential hurdles as it pushes toward production in late 2026. 

Here’s a timeline that charts out everything you need to know about Slate Auto, from its origin story and backers to its product, business model, and production plans.

Inside the EV startup secretly backed by Jeff Bezos

April 8 – After a year-long investigation, TechCrunch published a story revealing that a secretive EV startup called Slate Auto had been operating for three years with the financial backing of Jeff Bezos and LA Dodgers owner Mark Walter. 

Unlike other EV startups, Slate had been working on developing an extremely low-cost electric pickup truck that would start at around $25,000. This truck would be deeply customizable, leveraging the experience of many former employees from Harley-Davidson and Chrysler, two companies that have extensive accessories and aftermarket parts businesses.

Slate Auto’s pickup truck spotted in the wild

April 10 – One day later, a photo of a nondescript electric truck started circulating on the r/whatisthiscar subreddit, with Redditors speculating it could be Slate’s mystery EV. 

TechCrunch was able to confirm the photo was, in fact, of a prototype of Slate’s truck parked outside the company’s Long Beach, California design center.

An EV that can change like a ‘Transformer’

April 21 – Slate began putting concept versions of the Slate EV on public streets to generate marketing buzz ahead of its planned launch event on April 24. Curiously, some of them appeared to be styled more like SUVs or hatchbacks, not just pickup trucks. 

TechCrunch was able to confirm the company had developed the EV to have “Transformer-like” modular capabilities, and that this stunt was a way to tease this customization.

The analog EV pickup truck that is decidedly anti-Tesla

April 24 – Slate made its debut at a launch event in Long Beach, California, where it revealed its customizable electric pickup truck. Slate also announced the truck would be available for under $20,000 — with the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. 

The base version of the truck was revealed to be very bare-bones, with just 150 miles of range, no power windows, no main infotainment screen, and not even any paint. Slate promised essentially everything about the truck would be customizable, even down to the number of seats and the overall silhouette. 

A former Indiana printing plant eyed for EV truck production

April 25 – TechCrunch reported that Slate had identified a former printing plant in Warsaw, Indiana as the location for its truck factory. The 1.4 million-square-foot facility was built in 1958 and had been dormant for around two years. 

Slate Auto crosses 100,000 refundable reservations in two weeks

May 12 – Slate confirmed to TechCrunch it had already surpassed 100,000 refundable $50 reservations for its affordable EV truck. It was evidence that the company’s ideas had caught on with a wide audience, despite no one knowing about Slate just two months prior. 

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

July 3 – The Trump administration pushed through a massive tax-cut bill that, among many other actions, set a September end-date for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. That means Slate’s truck will no longer be able to lean on that credit to reach the “under $20,000” starting price the startup was touting. As such, Slate pulled that language from its website before the bill was even signed into law.

Why this LA-based VC firm was an early investor in Slate Auto

July 8 – Slate’s 2023 funding round included at least 16 investors — one of them being Bezos. While most of those investors have still not been identified, Los Angeles-based Slauson & Co. spoke to TechCrunch about why it threw in with the EV startup in that initial funding round, as well as Slate’s Series B.

Slate Auto appears on the TechCrunch Disrupt main stage

October 30 – Slate Auto CEO Chris Barman sat down for an interview on the main stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, where she talked about Jeff Bezos’ involvement, the challenge of building an automaker from scratch, and how the company plans to make a marketplace for customization.  

Slate passes 150,000 reservations

December 16 – Despite EV growth cooling off in the U.S., Slate Auto crosses 150,000 refundable reservations for its truck and SUV, showing there is still serious interest in the vehicle despite the loss of the federal tax credit. And with fewer EVs set to come to the U.S., it appears that the startup will have very little competition at the low end of the market. 

2026 

A surprise CEO swap

March 9 – Slate pulls a surprise and swaps in a new CEO: former Amazon Marketplace VP Peter Faricy. Former CEO (and Slate’s first hire) Chris Barman is staying with the company though, shifting over to a “President of Vehicles” role. Slate tapped Faricy to get the startup ready for its end-of-year commercial launch — starting with converting the reservation list into as many full orders as possible.