Bezos-backed Slate Auto reveals its new customizable $20,000 EV

Slate Auto’s new vehicle is designed to make EVs more accessible by making most features optional add-ons. The company says it will start delivering vehicles in 2026.

A new auto startup is launching with a made-in-America EV that with federal tax credits will cost just $20,000. Backed by Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt, Slate Auto says that affordable price is possible because of its pared-down, basic model that can then be customized—and even transformed from a truck into an SUV.

Slate Auto has been in stealth for almost three years, says CEO Chris Barman, who worked as a Chrysler executive until 2017. Based in Michigan, Slate spun out of Re:Build Manufacturing, a company cofounded by Jeff Wilke, former CEO of Amazon’s worldwide consumer business. Slate purports to be “rekindling American industry” with a suite of U.S. industrial businesses, from batteries to composite manufacturing. (Barman is employee number two at Slate; the company now has more than 400 employees.)