Slate Auto, the EV startup backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has opened its first customer showroom in Chicago, giving shoppers a permanent place to see its $26,400 pickup before deliveries begin late this year.
“We’re setting up shop in Chicago. Come check out the truck in person, see accessories and wraps, and skip the dealership pressure. 1053 W Grand Ave, Chicago. The first Slate Experience Center is open starting today,” the company said in a post on X on Thursday.
“Book a demo ride for this weekend,” Slate added.
The brand is offering ride-alongs at the site from October 15 to 17, by appointment between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., with walk-ins added to a waitlist, according to its events page.
A Former Tesla Store
The building previously housed a Tesla store.
Tesla announced the site, near the Kennedy Expressway in the River West neighborhood, in March 2009 as its Midwest regional sales and service center, calling it “the first of seven retail facilities” it planned to open that year, according to its press release.
The 9,089-square-foot building, then net-leased to Tesla, sold for about $4.6 million in 2020.
Rides First, Drives Later
For now, visitors can ride in the truck rather than drive it.
Slate said each stop on its current tour offers the chance to walk around a display model “and possibly hop in for a ride along,” with rides reserved for existing reservation and preorder holders.
“We’ll do our best to take as many people for a spin as we can but demand is even greater than expected, so we can’t make any promises for walk-ups,” the company said on its events page.
InsideEVs reported that Slate said customers would be able to test drive trucks from the center, though the company’s own listing advertises ride-alongs.
A Slate spokesperson declined to elaborate on plans for further locations or how quickly they would open, according to the same report.
The Chicago opening comes as Slate takes its truck on the road, with ride events scheduled at The Shops at Chestnut Hill near Boston from October 21 to 25 and at the Radwood car show in Alameda, California, on October 24.
The company lists the greater New York City area, Washington, Raleigh, Atlanta, Miami and Orlando as coming soon, with the last five planned for November and December.
What Buyers Will See
The base truck, which Slate calls the Blank Slate, starts at $24,950 before a $1,450 destination charge, bringing the starting price to $26,400.
Slate also sells two five-seat SUV versions, the Squareback and the Fastback, from $29,950, and says buyers can convert a pickup after purchase.
Its other kits include an Open Air Kit, which seats five with no hardtop or rear windows, and a Cargo Kit that adds van-like covered storage, which Slate pitches as “perfect for fleets or small businesses.”
“We upped the range, not the price,” the company says on its website, after raising the estimated range by 37% to 205 miles when it confirmed pricing on June 24.
The figure is a company estimate based on an approximation of the EPA test cycle, not an official EPA rating, Slate says.
The truck uses a single rear motor rated at 135 kW and a lithium iron phosphate battery with 65 kWh of capacity, 63 kWh of it usable.
Slate estimates a 0 to 60 mph time of 8 seconds and a top speed of 90 mph.
It charges through a NACS port at up to 120 kW, which Slate says takes it from 20% to 80% in about half an hour, and the company has secured access to Tesla’s Supercharger network.
The pickup weighs 4,048 pounds, carries up to 1,550 pounds of payload and tows up to 2,000 pounds.
There is no touchscreen, and Slate says the truck has “fewer than half the parts of the typical truck.”
Owners instead mount their phone on the dash, with accessory brackets for a tablet and optional speakers.
“Built-in infotainment systems raise a car’s price, and they become outdated quickly and have high failure rates,” Slate says on its website.
It is designed to be wrapped rather than painted, and Slate says full wraps cost under $500 and more than 80% of its 200-plus accessories are priced below that level.
Preorders cost $300, or $250 for those who already paid a $50 reservation, and the June release said first deliveries were expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Slate had received more than 180,000 refundable reservations when it opened preorders in June.
Unlike the reservation, the preorder deposit is not refundable, though it counts toward the purchase price, according to Slate.
No Dealers, No Service Centers
Slate sells directly to customers and does not plan its own network of service centers.
It instead partnered with RepairPal in October 2025 to handle accessory installation and warranty work through independent shops.
That network now includes more than 3,000 RepairPal shops, including more than 100 service centers able to perform high-voltage EV service, according to the June release.
Slate also offers a 10-year, 110,000-mile battery and powertrain warranty, along with a four-year, 50,000-mile limited vehicle warranty and roadside assistance for the same period, according to its FAQ.
It encourages owners to do most repairs themselves with its Slate U guides.
From Funding to Factory
The truck will be built at a converted factory in Warsaw, Indiana, where Slate says it will invest nearly $400 million and create more than 2,000 jobs.
Slate raised $650 million in a Series C round led by TWG Global in April, bringing its total funding to about $1.4 billion since its founding in 2022.
The company replaced its chief executive in March, appointing former Amazon and SunPower executive Peter Faricy, while Christine Barman became President of Vehicles.
Chief Executive Officer Faricy told CNBC in June that every Slate truck would be gross margin positive and that the company would reach positive free cash flow and EBITDA by 2027.
Faricy put Slate’s break-even point at roughly 80,000 vehicles a year, just over half of the 150,000-vehicle annual capacity it plans for the Warsaw plant, according to the same report.
Barman told CNBC the company expected SUVs to make up 60% of sales, even though the pickup is the base model.
“It’s an ambitious goal,” Faricy said. “Nothing’s guaranteed in life, but you have to have ambitious goals if you want to achieve big things.”
It has also hired heavily from Lucid and plans to add 392 jobs at its headquarters in Troy, Michigan.
Slate’s price advantage faces a challenge from Ford, whose midsize electric Fathom pickup starts at $28,350 for the standard-range version.
Ford plans to open preorders and fully reveal the truck in early 2027, with deliveries later that year, and Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley has warned that launching it at scale will be “a heck of an effort.”
