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Slate Auto, the\u00a0electric vehicle startup backed by Jeff Bezos<\/a>,\u00a0has stopped promoting that its upcoming pickup truck will start \u201cunder\u00a0$20,000\u201d following\u00a0passage of President Trump\u2019s tax cut bill. The bill, which is expected to be signed into law by Trump on July 4, will cause the federal EV tax credit to end in September \u2014 a $7,500 incentive that Slate had counted on to help its all-electric pickup clear that mark.<\/p>\n When Slate came out of stealth mode in April, the startup heavily promoted that its all-electric pickup would start at \u201cunder $20,000\u201d with the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. That language was still on Slate\u2019s website as recently as yesterday according to the Web Archive.<\/p>\n The change is a potential blow to the young company\u2019s attempt to make a radically affordable electric vehicle. <\/p>\n Slate didn\u2019t provide a precise price for the EV at its launch event; and it has yet to say what the actual starting price of its vehicle will be, sans-credit. A Slate spokesperson declined to comment on the change. <\/p>\n The company won\u2019t start building the truck until the end of 2026 at the earliest. Slate\u2019s business is also built around making this vehicle highly customizable, which means it\u2019s possible that few people will buy the base model to begin with.<\/p>\n The sub-$20,000 price had been a big attraction point<\/a> for the brand new company\u2019s product, and it was a major focus following its April launch event<\/a>.<\/p>\n The auto industry has \u201cdriven prices to a place that most Americans simply can\u2019t afford,\u201d chief commercial officer Jeremy Snyder said during the event. \u201cBut we\u2019re here to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are building the affordable vehicle that has long been promised but never been delivered,\u201d CEO Chris Barman added at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n