The stealthy EV start-up, Slate Auto, backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is expected to announce its plans as early as this week.
Founded in 2022, and initially known as “Re: Car,” Slate Auto began as a project within Re:Build Manufacturing, a domestic manufacturing incubator co-founded by Jeff Wilke, the former CEO of Amazon’s consumer division. The company is headquartered in Troy, MI, with a design studio in Long Beach, CA, and is believed to be planning a production plant in Indiana.
Slate has attracted significant investment, raising at least $111 million in Series A financing. Notably, Bezos is among its investors, alongside other prominent figures such as Mark Walter, the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, and Thomas Tull, a lead investor of Re:Build Manufacturing.
The company's first vehicle, a battery-electric pickup, is expected to be announced this week. Slate aims to offer this vehicle at a starting price of around $25,000. Ahead of the official announcement, Slate recently parked at least three prototype vehicles on the streets of Venice, CA, wrapped with branding for fictitious companies. These non-functional design bucks included a pickup, a “coupe-like” SUV, and a boxier SUV resembling a Land Rover Defender.
Filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office suggest the base model may be called the “Blank Slate,” and the company has also trademarked the phrase, “We Built It. You Make It.” The vehicle is reportedly designed to be adaptable to different body styles quickly, indicating a modular approach to EV design.
The low price tag for the vehicles comes at an interesting time. Tesla, which is under great sales and financial stress due to global boycotts and protests of the company over CEO Elon Musk’s right-wing political activities, heavy spending to influence elections and his alignment with President Trump on shrinking the federal government, has delayed the company’s “affordable” EV. Meanwhile, the Trump Admin. is trying to roll back as many subsidies for EVs as possible along with regulations aimed at driving EV sales.
Amazon already has an interest in EVs by way of its equity stake in Rivian, which includes an agreement to supply the online retail giant with electric delivery vans. But Slate’s backing comes by way of Bezos’s personal resources, not Amazon’s.
Bezos has not publicly commented on his investment in Slate Auto. However, documents and reports indicate his involvement through his family office. Specifically, Melinda Lewison, who manages Bezos’s family office, is listed as a director on Slate Auto’s filings with state and federal agencies. This suggests that Bezos is backing the company via his personal investment channels.
As of early 2025, the U.S. EV market is experiencing a slowdown in growth, partly due to affordability concerns. Bank of America analysts recently noted that the lack of affordable EV options under $30,000 is limiting adoption in the U.S., contributing to a slowdown in EV demand in 2024. The average transaction price for EVs in 2023 was approximately $61,702, significantly higher than the average for internal-combustion-engine vehicles.
Legacy automakers are responding to the demand for more affordable EVs. Chevrolet plans to relaunch the Bolt as the “most affordable” EV on the market, suggesting a price below $30,000. Honda aims to introduce a sub-$30,000 EV in North America by 2026.
Key executives at Slate come from inside and outside the auto industry. CEO Christine Barman has been leading Slate Auto since May 2022. She brings more than two decades of experience from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, where she held various leadership and engineering roles.
Others include executive chairman Rodney Copes who spent 20 years at Harley-Davidson, where he held several executive roles; Ryan Green, chief financial officer, previously served as CFO at Rivian and held financial leadership positions at Harley-Davidson; and Jeremy Snyder, chief commercial officer, brings over a decade of experience from Tesla, where he was instrumental in sales and business development. His knowledge of EV market dynamics will be crucial to Slate’s market entry plans.
