Is Slate’s Official Crayola Collaboration Worth The Cash?

The upcoming Slate electric pickup truck is built entirely around structural simplicity. Shipped from the factory with unpainted, industrial gray composite body panels, the vehicle acts as a rolling blank canvas.

To help owners inject some personality into that default gray, the automotive startup has announced a highly unexpected branding partnership with Crayola.

The corporate collaboration will introduce five distinct vehicle wraps matching classic crayon colors: Cerulean (blue), Fern (green), Dandelion (yellow), Jersey Tomato (orange), and Razzmatazz (pink).

What Comes in the Crayola 'Starter Pack'?

Sold as a premium "starter pack," each individual color kit retails for $1,549.99. That price tag represents a significant step up from Slate's baseline vinyl options, which start at $500 for standard hues and $669.99 for specialty colors. Professional wrap installation is targeted to cost an additional $500 through the brand's network.

The thematic kits bundle a few extra physical elements beyond the core exterior vinyl:

• Graphic decals designed to recreate the distinct black wavy lines found on traditional Crayola crayon wrappers.
• A color-matched exterior cap for the vehicle's key fob.
• A small, clip-on crayon accessory designed to be affixed to the interior windshield glass.

For buyers who don't want a full-body crayon look, Slate will offer partial wraps, racing stripes, and custom door numbers for a lower price. The brand claims its accessory marketplace will feature over 100 alternative wrap colors at launch.

Mechanically, all entry-level models utilize a 65-kilowatt-hour lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery pack (with 63 kWh of usable capacity) providing a single electric motor with 181 horsepower. Operating purely as a rear-wheel-drive platform, the pickup clocks a zero-to-60 mph acceleration time of 8.0 seconds unladen.

The vehicle features a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of 5,689 pounds. Given the truck’s baseline curb weight of 4,048 pounds, commercial operators will need to pay close attention to cargo weight distribution when approaching the 1,550-pound maximum payload limit.

The Screenless, Throwback Cockpit Strategy

The interior layout doubling down on absolute simplicity may shock modern car buyers. The cab completely discards embedded infotainment displays, digital touchscreens, and power amenities in favor of old-school manual crank windows and a blank dashboard featuring a simple, integrated smartphone cradle for navigation.

Despite the spartan equipment list, early test rides indicate that the platform provides a surprisingly smooth, quiet, and well-dampened ride on city streets.

The highly modular nature of the vehicle allows buyers to purchase an aftermarket conversion shell that transforms the open cargo bed into an enclosed, two-row SUV.

Adding that SUV enclosure, rear benches, and a healthy dose of exterior accessories spikes the total purchase price to roughly $35,000. Because selling a bare-bones EV for under $25,000 leaves virtually zero financial breathing room, Slate's long-term profitability heavily depends on buyers adding high-margin accessories—like the Crayola wrap kits—to their orders as production ramps up. Official customer deliveries are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of this year.

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