"The Slate truck is coming together. After the lovable two-door electric pickup conquered the internet with its bare-bones interior and appealing price tag, the Jeff Bezos-backed startup hasn't rested on its laurels. Founded in 2022, Slate went to Nevada this summer to put a couple of road-going prototypes through their paces in one of the hottest environments in the United States."
"Engineers and designers alike drove to the Davis Dam near Laughlin, Nevada, to see if the battery cooling system and the interior air conditioning systems could keep temperatures in check while driving up a 6% incline with a full truck bed and a trailer attached to the rear."
"Going up the grade without issue is fantastic, said Rod Romain, Head of Vehicle Integration at Slate. But in the development phase of a vehicle, we will find issues. So, even having issues is a good thing. We can find them, we can understand them, what caused them, and fix them."
Slate sent American-made prototypes to Nevada for real-world thermal and performance testing under extreme summer heat. Engineers drove several mules to the Davis Dam and climbed a 14-mile, 3,500-foot route with a 6% grade while carrying a full bed and a trailer. The compact electric truck has roughly 1,400 pounds payload and about 1,000 pounds towing capacity. During the hot climb, the unpainted prototypes' battery cooling and interior air conditioning systems performed as expected, and teams logged any issues for analysis. Prior virtual testing over three years informed expectations, and engineers used findings to identify causes and implement fixes.
Read at insideevs.com
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