Where does Jeff Bezos’ electric car project stand?

Slate Auto aims to revolutionize the market for affordable electric vehicles with a minimalist and modular pick-up.

When Slate Auto, a young American startup financially backed by Jeff Bezos, unveiled its minimalist electric pick-up in the spring of 2025, the project immediately attracted attention. Promising a simple, robust, and affordable electric vehicle, the concept stands out against the technological excess of the market. By the end of 2025, the project is progressing, but it now faces very concrete industrial and economic realities.

Named Slate Truck, the vehicle is based on a radical philosophy: reducing costs by eliminating the unnecessary. No central screen, no radio, no power windows. Instead, a deliberately stripped-down technical base and a modular approach, allowing the pick-up to be transformed into an SUV or a closed utility vehicle with additional kits. This logic quickly won people over: Slate Auto now claims more than 150,000 reservations, compared to about 100,000 a few weeks after the initial presentation. However, these reservations are based on a refundable deposit of $50, approximately €46, which invites caution regarding their actual conversion rate to sales.

Smooth Start

Jeff Bezos is not involved in the operational side. His support comes through his family office, without a direct link to Amazon. This is neither an “Amazon car” nor a project aimed at the group’s logistics, but rather an investment in an alternative industrial vision of the electric car.

On the production side, Slate Auto plans to start industrial operations by the end of 2026 in a factory located in Indiana. The company aims for a rapid ramp-up, with a target capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year starting in 2027, an ambitious goal for such a young organization.

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The most sensitive point remains the price. Initially announced at around $25,000 (≈ €23,000), the vehicle could, with American federal tax credits, drop below $20,000 (≈ €18,400). The removal of these aids, equivalent to $7,500 (≈ €6,900), has significantly altered the equation. Now, the expected price is likely between $26,000 and $27,000 (≈ €24,000 to €24,800). In a context marked by difficulties, even bankruptcies, of many electric startups, the Slate project appears both credible and fragile. The concept is appealing, the reservation figures are impressive, but the real test will begin with industrialization and the first deliveries. At this stage, Jeff Bezos’s gamble remains promising — without being won yet.

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