- Slate says that it doesn’t have plans to sell its cheap EV pickup in Canada.
- The automaker wouldn’t reveal more, but pricing and tariffs could be to blame.
- Once Canada’s reciprocal tariffs are applied, Slate’s truck would cost around $44,500 CAD—or more than both the Ford Maverick and Chevy Colorado.
One of the biggest reasons that folks can’t stop talking about Slate’s tiny electric pickup is its price. At under $25,000, it’s a bargain. But it turns out that bargain will be reserved for the U.S. for now.
According to Automotive News, which cited a Slate spokesperson, the EV won’t be headed to Canada at all.
Photo by: Tim Levin/InsideEVs
“We do not have plans to sell vehicles in Canada,” the spokesperson told Automotive News in an email.
The company did not elaborate why it didn’t plan to expand its offering north of the border, but when you start to look at the price tag and Slate’s pitch for value, the math shows where things might be falling apart.
Slate’s pickup starts at a pretty respectable $24,950 in the U.S. It’s one of the few new vehicles that feels like it could be affordable to your average American, and that’s because Slate built the truck’s identity entirely around being the anti-truck truck. No giant touch screens, no powered everything, no leather-covered seats that massage you on that semiannual trip you take to Lowes. It’s just a bare-bones, modular, electric truck on the cheap.
However, that falls apart when tariffs come into play. Canada’s 25% reciprocal tariff on vehicles imported from the U.S. would mean that Slate’s cheap electric pickup instantly shoots up to at least $31,100 once it crosses the border. (That assumes the entire tariff cost gets added to the price, which wouldn’t necessarily be the case.) With exchange rates, that puts it at $44,500 CAD.
For comparison, the Ford Maverick starts at $38,095 CAD. Stepping up to the Ranger will cost $46,065, or pivoting to the Chevy Colorado costs $43,043 CAD. Granted, none of those are EVs like the Slate, but they all at least come with power windows.
While Slate didn’t say that tariffs were the reason for not setting up shop in Canada, they clearly don’t help.
Midsize pickup sales jumped 30% in Canada last year, which outpaced the industry as a whole by about 13 times. Canadian EV sales are also up 75% year-over-year. It all means Slate’s tiny electric pickup could have been a hit if it were available even remotely close to the price it plans to offer for the U.S. market. But for now, would-be Canadian buyers will simply see Slate’s affordable truck as a neat idea that’s happening somewhere else.
