The Slate Truck Is Way Smaller Than You Think

The new, sub-$20,000 Slate Truck is unlike anything on sale in America today. It’s also tiny. Like, really, really tiny. Like, shorter-than-a-Honda-Civic tiny. Initially, I was thinking the Slate would be about the size of a Ford Maverick, but we have to go way back in automotive history to find a similarly sized pickup.

Slate’s electric Truck is about the size of a 1984 Toyota Truck. No, really. Both the Slate Truck and a short-bed, single-cab 1984 Toyota Truck SR5 share an overall length of 174.6 inches. A Slate Auto representative says this is purely coincidence.

Other dimensions are somewhat close, too. The ‘Yota rode on a 103-inch wheelbase, while the Slate stretches things out to 108.9 inches; the 1984 SR5 was 66.1 inches wide, while the newcomer is just 70.6 inches. Perhaps the biggest size differences are in bed length and overall height. The Toyota stood just over 60 inches tall and had a 6 ¼-foot bed, while the Slate is 69.3 inches tall but has just a five-foot bed. But, the Slate has something the Toyota doesn’t—a front trunk.

That is genuinely shocking. The Maverick is the smallest pickup on sale, and it’s damn near 200 inches long. It dwarfs the Slate Truck, as do most modern vehicles. The only thing on the Slate that’s a lot bigger than the old Toyota are the wheels and tires—245/65R17 vs 195/75R14. But even by modern standards, the Slate’s are small.

The Slate Truck’s tidy dimensions are a reflection of both the packaging benefits ditching internal-combustion for electricity, but also a boldness on the part of the company. Anecdotally, it feels like enthusiasts have said for years that they long for the small, simple pickups of old. In more ways than one, that’s exactly what Slate is attempting to build.