Ross Gerber backs Slate Auto’s low-cost electric pickup, drawing a comparison to an EV built by “top Tesla and Amazon” executives

Investor Ross Gerber, co-founder of Gerber Kawasaki, publicly endorsed Slate Auto’s planned low-priced electric pickup and offered a pointed analogy for why he thinks the vehicle could land with consumers. In comments carried by Yahoo Finance, Gerber said the truck is “what happens” when “top Tesla and Amazon” executives build an EV, adding that buyers will “love” it.

Slate Auto is aiming for a significantly lower price point than most mainstream electric pickups, with Gerber referencing a target price of about $25,000. The investor’s argument, as presented in the report, hinges on the idea that disciplined execution and product thinking from high-performance technology companies could reshape consumer expectations for what an electric truck should cost and how it should be experienced.

Gerber’s remarks also reflect a broader market debate about the next phase of EV adoption. After years in which most new electric vehicles have been priced well above mass-market benchmarks, companies have been pushed to demonstrate that cost reductions and manufacturing efficiency can translate into credible, appealing products rather than stripped-down alternatives.

While Gerber’s endorsement drew attention to the vehicle’s price and the “love” factor he expects from customers, the Yahoo Finance post did not, in the material available here, provide additional specifics on Slate Auto’s engineering approach, production timeline, reservation demand, or manufacturing plans. It also did not lay out how the company intends to support customers, including financing, charging access, warranties, or service coverage.

The comparison to Amazon executives is notable because Amazon has spent years building logistics and fulfillment systems around speed, reliability, and scale. Those capabilities are often cited as key advantages that technology and operations leaders can bring to hardware businesses, especially when the business depends on ramping supply efficiently and reducing per-unit costs. (Amazon is also active in publishing and technology initiatives, but this report focused narrowly on Gerber’s analogy rather than any confirmed Amazon involvement in Slate Auto.)

In corporate context, Amazon’s public newsroom is dominated by operational updates across retail, cloud, devices, and media. However, the Yahoo Finance report summarized here treated the “top Tesla and Amazon” line as a characterization of talent and mindset rather than as documentation of any corporate relationship between Amazon and Slate Auto.

Still, there are limits to what can be concluded from the available information. The excerpted reporting does not include a full quote from Gerber, nor does it include Slate Auto’s own detailed disclosures on pricing components, battery sourcing, vehicle range targets, or performance metrics. It also does not provide evidence such as preorder figures or production commitments that would allow an outside observer to validate the “love” prediction beyond sentiment.

What to watch next is whether Slate Auto follows through with concrete milestones that typically matter to buyers considering an EV pickup, including confirmed pricing at launch, delivery windows, and transparent specs that allow consumers to compare it with competitors. For investors and the broader EV market, the key question will be whether a low-cost strategy can be executed without eroding margins or customer satisfaction.