在回声悠长的长滩工作室里，一支充满雄心的设计师团队正试图彻底革新电动汽车的制造方式。
Slate汽车公司已集结了一支来自特斯拉、Rivian等企业的电动车工程师团队，致力于研发美国市场最经济的电动卡车。在邻近建材商店和西部主题酒吧的仓库里，设计师们打造了可定制电动卡车的黏土模型与原型车，其成本可能仅为竞品的一半。
这家公司已从亚马逊创始人杰夫·贝索斯（Jeff Bezos）等投资者处筹集逾7亿美元资金，并宣布将于明年推出一款售价约2.5万美元的卡车。
该公司计划如何将标价维持在如此低的水平？
买家将从一张白纸开始——一辆没有电动车窗甚至没有喷漆的基础款卡车——然后可以根据个人喜好随意定制。
消费者可额外付费选装电动车窗、音响系统、彩色贴膜或车漆。甚至还能通过价值5000美元的改装套件将卡车变为运动型多用途车（SUV）。
在尽可能压缩成本的同时，让不同选项的组装变得像乐高积木一样简单，这需要复杂的工程设计。正因如此，该公司决定将其设计工作室设立在南加州。
该地区人才济济。
Slate公司首席商务官杰里米·斯奈德（Jeremy Snyder）表示，尽管公司总部位于密歇根州特洛伊市，且车辆将在印第安纳州生产，但其外观设计与组装方案的诸多细节均是在洛杉矶地区完成的。
他表示：“西海岸地区，尤其是洛杉矶的设计力量，长期以来一直是汽车产业的重要组成部分。这里汇聚的人才资源至关重要。”
若这一理念能获得足够多消费者的认同，公司高管们相信，其独特的商业模式将有力推动电动汽车的普及。
怀疑论者认为，目前尚无法证明美国消费者真正需要一款回归基础功能的汽车，但已有数千名潜在电动车车主表现出兴趣。
超过15万名潜在买家支付了50美元定金，以预订该卡车上市后的购买资格。
斯奈德表示，其中很大一部分需求来自洛杉矶。
他表示：“洛杉矶在零排放汽车产业中发挥了至关重要的作用，我认为它将在Slate汽车的推广中扮演非常重要的角色。”
该公司首批交付预计将于2026年底完成。
斯莱特（Slate）正选择在一个艰难时期进入电动汽车市场——在特朗普政府执政期间，绿色汽车的需求已经降温。这位总统终止了多项旨在推动更多消费者和企业转向电动汽车的税收优惠和法规。
电动汽车制造商Rivian于10月裁员逾600人，而特斯拉今年销量也有所下滑。
特斯拉通过搁置其平价电动汽车计划，证明了围绕经济型电动车开展业务的艰难程度。
近来，埃隆·马斯克似乎更专注于为大众开发人形机器人，而非经济型电动汽车。
Slate认为，如果价格大幅降低，市场需求将会显现。该媒体推测，部分消费者并不需要四门设计、标准尺寸或动力性能的卡车，也不需要特斯拉的自动驾驶技术。
Slate公司押下重注，认为大幅降低标价和采用新型商业模式能够重新点燃人们对这一行业的热情。该公司希望客户会为节省开支而欣喜不已，然后只在他们想要的功能上挥霍一番。
“我们将负责打造卡车，之后由你来赋予它个性。”Slate公司的传播主管杰夫·贾布兰斯基说道。
Slate卡车采用钢制车架和可包裹任意颜色的外部塑料面板。客户若想为车辆上色，既可自行操作，也可前往合作店铺完成。
标准版本的电动续航里程为150英里。若支付额外费用升级更大容量电池，续航可提升至240英里。
而这些只是最显而易见的部分选项。
Slate的在线定制工具赋予客户随心设计电动车的自由。雅布兰斯基表示，潜在客户已在线上创建了逾1000万种不同的Slate卡车配置方案。
Slate公司希望，如果能让电动汽车的购买价格更加亲民，新的消费者群体将有机会体验到电动汽车在拥有和维护成本上也往往更低。
斯奈德表示：“整个公司都是围绕经济型汽车的理念建立的。我们像审视汽车一样严格审查每一个配件，以尽可能保持低价。”
尽管Slate公司500名员工中仅有约25人在长滩工作室办公，但该工作室对公司产品的影响力却远超其规模比例。
为了在竞争激烈的电动汽车市场开拓并取得成功，该公司决定在加利福尼亚州以及传统汽车制造中心底特律及其周边地区设立据点。
贾布兰斯基表示：“我们深知必须在两地同时布局，才能真正了解民众需求。有些企业自称是加州公司，有些则标榜底特律企业。而我们需要成为一家真正的美国企业。”
In an echoing Long Beach studio, an ambitious team of designers is trying to reinvent how electric vehicles are made.
Slate Auto has assembled a team of EV engineers from Tesla, Rivian and elsewhere to develop Americas least-expensive EV truck. In the warehouse space near construction supply shops and a Western-themed bar, designers have built clay models and prototypes of a customizable EV truck that could cost half as much as the competition.
The company, which has raised more than $700 million from Amazons Jeff Bezos and others, says it will have a truck on the market next year for roughly $25,000.
How does it plan to keep its sticker price so low?
Buyers will start with a blank slate a basic truck without power windows or even paint and can then customize it however they like.
They can pay extra for power windows, speakers, colored wrap or paint. A $5,000 kit even converts the truck into an SUV.
Squeezing out as much cost as possible while making it as easy as Legos to snap on different options has required complex engineering, which is why the company decided to set up its design studio in Southern California.
The region is full of experts.
Although Slates headquarters is in Troy, Mich., and its vehicles will be manufactured in Indiana, much of how they will look and be assembled came together in the Los Angeles area, said Jeremy Snyder, Slates chief commercial officer.
The design presence on the West Coast, specifically in Los Angeles, has been a huge part of the automotive industry for a very long time, he said. Having that pool of talent that resides here was super important.
If the idea clicks with enough consumers, company executives are hopeful that their unique business model will bolster widespread EV adoption.
Skeptics say it has yet to be proved that American consumers really want a vehicle broken down to the basics, but thousands of potential EV owners already have shown interest.
More than 150,000 potential buyers put down $50 deposits to reserve their place in line to buy the truck once it is on the market.
A large slice of that demand is coming from Los Angeles, Snyder said.
Los Angeles has played such a critical role in the zero-emissions auto industry, he said. I think that it is going to play a very important role in the roll-out of Slate vehicles.
The companys first deliveries are expected in late 2026.
Slate is entering the EV market at a difficult moment, as demand for green cars has cooled under the Trump administration. The president ended many tax breaks and regulations that were created to nudge more consumers and companies into EVs.
The EV company Rivian laid off more than 600 workers in October, and Tesla sales have slid this year.
Tesla has shown how tough it is to build a business around an affordable EV by putting its own affordable vehicle plans on the back burner.
These days, Elon Musk seems more focused on developing humanoid robots for the masses than on an affordable EV.
Slate thinks that for a radically reduced price, there will be demand. It is imagining that there are customers who dont need four doors, the size or the power of a standard truck or the autonomous driving tech of a Tesla.
Slates big bet is that a radically reduced sticker price and a new kind of business model can rekindle excitement about the industry. The company is hoping that customers will be thrilled to save the money and then splurge only on the features they want.
Were going to make the truck, and then after that, you make it yours, said Slates head of communications, Jeff Jablansky.
Slate trucks have a steel frame and external plastic panels that can be wrapped in any color. If customers want to paint their vehicle, they can do it themselves or take it to a partner shop.
The standard version will have an electric range of 150 miles. That can be increased to 240 miles by paying more for a bigger battery.
And those are some of the most obvious options.
Slates online customization tool gives customers the freedom to design their EV however they want. Jablansky said potential customers have created more than 10 million different configurations of a Slate truck online.
Slate hopes that if it can make EVs more affordable to buy, a new group of consumers will get to experience that EVs also often cost less to own and maintain.
The entire company was built around this idea of the affordable vehicle, Snyder said. We scrutinize every accessory in the same way that we scrutinize the vehicle to keep prices as low as possible.
Although only about 25 of Slates 500 employees work out of the Long Beach studio, it has a disproportionate effect on the companys product.
To trailblaze and succeed in the harsh EV market, the company decided it needed a presence in California, as well as near the traditional heart of car building in and around Detroit.
We knew we needed to have a presence in both places to really understand what people wanted, Jablansky said. Some companies say theyre a California company, some say theyre a Detroit company. We need to be an American company.
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