grue

I'm torn because the fastback looks cooler but it has less cargo capacity (both inside and on the roof rack).

Then again, I also really like the "open air kit" which apparently requires the squareback, so maybe the decision would be easy.

The telematics module is an optional extra-cost accessory! It doesn't come with it by default!

Oh, that explains why the fastback is more expensive than the squareback. I'd been wondering about that.

This is the exact fucking polar opposite of an oversize truck. It's nearly identical in size to a compact pickup from the '90s.

But it will be a real vehicle made by a real company with things like a ‘radio’

That's a bad thing, because "radio" these days implies "spying and enshittification."

Slate is the only EV on the entire market that isn't fucked with that deal-breaker.

I wonder which is actually more aero between the squareback and fastback options?

My only problem with the Slate's range is that, being a truck/SUV, I would want to use it for overlanding (the kind of use-case where even gasoline vehicles need extra fuel tanks strapped to them, as shown here). Trying to do that with an EV with anything less than exceptional range would be limited and take careful route-planning.

Obviously it's not a "regular" use and therefore shouldn't rationally be a deal-breaker, but nevertheless taking a couple of jerry cans is a lot less weird and complicated than towing a generator. (And the fact that I'm seriously considering the latter as an option just goes to show how much I like the Slate truck anyway.)

The Santa Cruz is exactly as much as a truck as the Ford Maverick is (which is to say, they're both unibody vehicles).

Never mind the low price, not having that shit built in is the killer feature for me, making it the only new car I would even consider buying. (It's just too bad they won't have a 4x4 version for another couple of years.)

It is kinda good that there's an optional module available, though, because it means there's an interface that, in theory, a third-party module running Free Software could hook into.

I didn't say it shouldn't be done. Just that it's logistically and politically complicated.

It's not that simple. The tax money doesn't flow through the state; it is paid directly from companies and individuals to the Federal government. The state would have to figure out a mechanism to disrupt that process, and it would end up being a Constitutional crisis (not that we shouldn't have had several in the last few years already...).

We're talking about big enough numbers to whip out the scientific notation. Even counted in billions.