Slate Auto’s sub-$30,000 EV pickup is due next year—here’s the factory

WARSAW, Indiana—The Blank Slate pickup scratches a particular itch for some, fulfilling the desire for an EV powertrain without all the bells and whistles associated with a modern vehicle. Gone is the infotainment screen, the lane-keeping assistance, and, for those concerned about surveillance, a modem. Instead, it’s an unpainted modular pickup and can be configured post-production into nearly anything the owner wants. Oh, and it’s cheap.

This Old Factory

For decades, the RR Donnelley & Sons printing plant in Warsaw, Indiana, pumped out catalogs. Glossy shopping books from JCPenney, Sears, and—my personal favorite—Radio Shack left the plant and were shipped all over the country to eager shoppers looking for their next mail-order delight. Then the Internet broke all of that.

The last employees clocked out in 2023.

A room formerly used in the printing process is filled with locals, elected officials, and journalists. The plan is to use this room in the future as a customer center and potentially a delivery location. The company is toying with the idea of allowing customers to take delivery of their pickups at the factory. No word on whether that would eliminate the delivery fee.

For now, it’s a meeting place, a way for Slate to meet with an audience at its factory. A chance in a post-EV tax incentive world to remind people that its vehicle is coming to market in “the mid twenties,” which is likely in the upper portion of that spread. ($27,500 seems like a good guess.)

Slate CEO Chris Barman took the stage and reiterated the company’s plan to start production at the 1.4 million square-foot (130,000 m2) site beginning in the fourth quarter of 2026. Barman noted that, unlike traditional pickups built with up to 6,000 parts, the Slate will be assembled with just 600 parts. Also, there’s no need for a paint shop or large stamping. The size of the facility is relatively small for vehicle assembly, but it’s apparently perfect for Slate.