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Slate Drops Optional Longer Battery, Sets EV Pickup Starting Price at $24,950 with 205-Mile Range
Slate revealed its starting price on Wednesday and switched to lithium-iron-phosphate cells. The move eliminated the optional longer-range pack while raising standard range to 205 miles.
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Slate revealed its starting price of $24,950 before destination, taxes, and other fees on Wednesday and eliminated the optional 240-mile battery pack. The company increased the standard battery pack range from 150 miles to 205 miles by adopting lithium-iron-phosphate cells.
TechCrunch reported that Slate initially planned to use nickel-manganese-cobalt cells but shifted to the less expensive LFP chemistry.
LFP battery packs cost about 40 percent less than NMC packs. The startup is working with Hefei-based Gotion to source the cells, which will be built at a factory in Illinois. The policy change that removed federal EV tax credits removed prior restrictions on foreign-sourced batteries.
Earlier rules under the Inflation Reduction Act had limited credits to batteries with domestically sourced materials or those from free-trade partners. Slate is using cell-to-pack construction for its battery packs. Ford, GM, Rivian, and Tesla already offer models that use LFP cells.
LFP cells can be charged to 100 percent with fewer degradation concerns than NMC cells. GM is betting on an entirely different battery chemistry than LFP or NMC.
