Slate Auto drops “under $20,000” pricing after Trump administration ends federal EV tax credit

Slate Auto, the electric vehicle startup backed by Jeff Bezos, has stopped promoting that its upcoming pickup truck will start “under $20,000” following passage of President Trump’s tax cut bill. The bill, which is expected to be signed into law by Trump on July 4, will cause the federal EV tax credit to end in September — a $7,500 incentive that Slate had counted to help its all-electric pickup to clear that mark. When Slate came out of stealth mode in April, the startup heavily promoted that its all-electric pickup would start at “under $20,000” with the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. That language was still on Slate’s website as recently as yesterday according to the Web Archive. The change is a potential blow to the young company’s attempt to make a radically affordable electric vehicle. Slate didn’t provide a precise price for the EV at its launch event; and it has yet to say what the actual starting price of its vehicle will be, sans-credit. A Slate spokesperson declined to c