Slate, the startup electrical carmaker with backing from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, revealed on Monday it has secured over 100,000 reservations for its reasonably priced pickup truck. The refundable reservations value $50 every, which means Slate has raised over $5 million in reservation charges alone.

“We’re really humbled by America’s response to Slate’s model launch and the launch of our truck,” Slate’s chief industrial officer, Jeremy Snyder, instructed TechCrunch. “We’re excited for what the longer term holds.”

Photograph by: Slate

The milestone comes simply two weeks after Slate unveiled the finances pickup, which is predicted to start out at underneath $25,000 after federal incentives. It is a signal there’s important demand for a really low-cost, bare-bones utility automobile—a section that, at present, sits completely vacant within the US market.

Reservations do not at all times translate to gross sales, in fact. Cadillac, for example, mentioned it had sufficient Celestiq reservations to fill the primary 18 months of manufacturing. However as soon as the large EV lastly began rolling off the road, Cadillac revealed it had bought fewer than 25 examples.

As TechCrunch factors out, Fisker bought just some thousand Ocean SUVs earlier than going bankrupt, regardless of claiming greater than 60,000 reservations. Tesla was rumored to have greater than two million Cybertruck reservations, however after about 50,000 gross sales, stock of futuristic electrical pickup is languishing in storage tons.

The Slate Truck looks like a extra viable product, not less than from what we have seen to date. Its low worth and utilitarian nature imply there is a far bigger purchaser pool. Reservation holders will not have to attend terribly lengthy, both. Slate says its manufacturing unit in Indiana could have the capability to supply as much as 150,000 autos per yr beginning in 2027.

Manufacturing of Slate’s pickup is predicted to start someday subsequent yr. Within the meantime, we advise hitting up the truck’s complete configurator, which lets you equip dozens of equipment and select from three completely different physique kinds.