Slate Auto, the Bezos-backed electric truck startup, has opened its first test-drive and experience center in a former Tesla store at 1053 W Grand Ave on Chicago’s Near West Side, Electrek reported on Oct. 15, 2026. The space is aimed at Midwest fleet buyers and automotive journalists, and it is built around a pickup that Electrek frames as what promises to be the most affordable new vehicle in America.
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The building matters almost as much as the truck. Slate took over a space already laid out for a small showroom, a garage and a retail area, and already wired for NACS electric vehicle charging. For a company selling a deliberately bare-bones vehicle, borrowing a ready-made EV storefront is a frugal way to get its first physical presence.
A showroom in a former Tesla store
In his Electrek write-up, Jo Borrás said he rode as a passenger rather than driving, and found the truck quiet and smooth, free of squeaks and rattles on rough Chicago roads, and quick enough. He described the door handle, steering wheel, manual seat adjusters, tailgate latch, charge port cover and center console as solid, despite the console’s plastic look, and summed up the build with the line “Slate may be inexpensive, but it’s not cheap.”
Conversations with Slate technical staff about using the same fasteners throughout the vehicle led Borrás to speculate about a 3D-printed tuner culture, a possibility he flagged as speculation. He also wrote that the Grand Avenue location has a record of getting EV-curious visitors behind the wheel, which is the job the new center now takes on for Slate. The center is Slate’s first brick-and-mortar presence of any kind, so it doubles as the first place a prospective fleet buyer can inspect the truck without relying on photographs.
The $24,950 pickup behind the center
Slate’s electric truck starts at $24,950 before taxes, title, registration, destination and documentation fees, according to Electrek’s June 24 pricing report. The estimated range is about 205 miles, from a single 65 kWh LFP battery pack with 63 kWh usable, powering a 181-horsepower rear motor. Slate switched from two SK On NMC packs planned to reach about 240 miles to the cheaper LFP chemistry to hold the price down. The truck is a two-seat pickup that owners can convert into a five-seat SUV, a conversion that starts at $29,950, and it has hand-crank windows, no infotainment screen and a single gray composite body finish.
Slate sells directly to customers without traditional dealerships, and the June report said first deliveries were expected by the end of 2026. It plans to sell customizable wraps instead of paint, and the report compared the direct model to those of Tesla, Rivian and Lucid. Preorders opened on the day Slate revealed the price, and the earlier range estimate of 150 miles was raised to 205 miles with the move to the larger LFP pack.
Fleet buyers, accessories and a Ford rival
Fleet customers are the stated audience of the Chicago site, and Slate’s accessories are following them. A report from the Instagram account Slate Auto Mods, which Electrek said it had not independently confirmed, attributed to Christian Kreipke, Slate’s fleet business development and government sales lead, details of a high-roof cargo topper for the pickup priced from around $3,000. Kreipke reportedly said that “companies and municipalities are already dreaming up creative uses” for the kit. Kreipke also reportedly said the next-generation Slate would keep the same basic design dimensions, a claim that would help third-party upfitters but that Electrek likewise presented as unverified. The kit was reported to come in a standard square-back version and a high-roof version with a spoiler cap that replaces the top of the cab, both in white and black, and the details surfaced at Slate’s ongoing Portland ride-along event.
The location also sits in a favorable market. Electrek reported in its analysis of Illinois EV sales that the state registered 9,821 new electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2025, up from 6,535 a year earlier, growth of more than 50% against a Cox Automotive projection of 12% nationally. The figures came from Crain’s Chicago Business, and the drivers Electrek listed included state rebates of up to $4,000 on new electric cars and a $90 million ComEd incentive program. The ComEd program has driven a surge in medium-duty commercial EVs in Classes 3 through 6, which are eligible for $20,000 to $30,000 in utility rebates, while Class 1 and 2 vehicles can receive up to $7,500, a detail that matters to the fleet buyers the new center targets.
Competition is arriving as well. In an August Electrek reader survey, about 2,700 respondents were asked whether Ford’s Fathom, an all-electric pickup priced at about $30,000, had killed the Slate before it arrived, and most answered “Maybe” or “Too soon to say.” Electrek argued that Ford’s announcement could chill orders because the Fathom costs just a few thousand dollars more than the bare-bones Slate, and Borrás called Slate’s success far from a sure thing even as the Chicago center makes the truck easier to see in person. Electrek added that neither truck was on sale yet when it wrote, and that the Fathom’s arrival date was not specified.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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