The Cheapest New Truck on the Market Can Cost More Than a V8 Ford F-150 Once You Add the Extras

Slate Auto’s new electric pickup is a throwback in the worst way. It starts at $24,950, making it the most affordable highway-capable EV you can buy. But to hit that price, Slate stripped the truck to the bone. There’s no radio. No speakers. Manual windows. It’s a bare-bones machine that forces you to pay extra for almost anything you’d consider standard.

Think of it as the Spirit Airlines of trucks, cheap on the surface, but the add-ons pile up fast.

Option one up, and the numbers get wild. Start with the body style: a two-door pickup is standard, but you can swap in an SUV conversion kit for $7,000. 99. Add a roof platform, light bar, spare tire carrier, upgraded bumpers, and animated taillights, and the total climbs fast. 41, more than $12,000 in options alone.

Car and Driver managed to push one past $46,000.

For that money, you could buy a full-size pickup with a V8. The Ford F-150 XL starts at $42,380 and comes standard with a 400-horsepower V8, power windows, a radio, and phone mirroring. The Chevy Silverado 1500 WT starts at $39,695. The Ram 1500 Tradesman and Toyota Tundra SR also undercut the loaded Slate while offering four-door cabs, greater payload, and towing up to 9,000 pounds.

Even the Ford Maverick, a compact unibody truck, tops out at $45,030 for the off-road Tremor trim, which includes all-wheel drive, heated seats, and a heated steering wheel. The Slate remains the cheapest EV truck you can buy. But if you don’t need electric power, you can get a lot more truck, and a lot more comfort, for the same price.