Monterey Car Week is always a playground for the world’s most extravagant automobiles, but this year’s event at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance delivered a surprise that had even seasoned car enthusiasts doing double-takes. Amid the usual parade of hypercars and luxury one-offs, U.S. Specialty Vehicles (USSV) and IAT Automobile Design unveiled the Truck Mad—a concept electric pickup that looks like it rolled off the set of a sci-fi blockbuster. As reported by CarBuzz, the Truck Mad’s debut on August 15, 2025, set tongues wagging not just for its wild design, but also for what it signals about the next chapter in American pickups.
USSV calls the Truck Mad “a declaration of USSV’s vision for the next era of the American pickup.” The company’s starship-inspired styling is no exaggeration: the truck sports a dramatic two-tone paint job—piano black up front, matte white at the rear—while the interior explodes in lemon-yellow. The effect is, as USSV puts it, “futuristic and commanding.” But beyond the visuals, the Truck Mad is an electric vehicle, built atop what USSV describes as a “mainstream US electric pickup platform.” Technical specifics remain sparse, with the company keeping details about range, power, and performance under wraps for now.
Inside, the Truck Mad is even more unconventional. Borrowing from the legendary McLaren F1, the driver sits centrally, flanked by two passenger seats, while a rear bench accommodates two more. The seats can pivot to face each other, transforming the cabin into a communal lounge—perfect for post-adventure storytelling or, perhaps, a mobile workspace. Access is via grand rear-hinged coach doors, and up front there’s a yoke steering apparatus paired with a sweeping cockpit display. The modular rear bed is designed for versatility, able to accommodate camping pods, mobile power stations, tool modules, and more, according to USSV’s vision.
Yet, as CarBuzz notes, much of what’s been shown so far is based on renderings. USSV claims a full-size prototype exists, but its operational status is unclear. The company’s ambitions are substantial: a pilot production run of 1,000 units is slated for 2027, with hopes of laying the groundwork for a U.S. market launch and, eventually, an IPO. But there’s skepticism in the air—many of the Truck Mad’s showiest features, like the swiveling seats and rear-hinged doors, would face steep regulatory hurdles before making it to American roads. Even the glossy piano black front end, while eye-catching, might not be practical in daily use.
USSV isn’t alone in trying to disrupt the electric pickup market. Slate Automotive, a startup backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is charting a very different path. As CNBC reported on August 15, 2025, Slate’s approach is all about simplicity and affordability. Their compact Slate Truck, which features just two doors and two seats in its most basic form, is designed to be as barebones as possible—no infotainment system unless you add it yourself. But customization is king: Slate plans to offer over 100 accessories, including a kit to turn the pickup into a five-seat SUV, and is opening up the platform so that third parties can develop their own add-ons.
Slate’s business model is a direct response to one of the biggest hurdles in EV adoption: price. According to a May 2025 J.D. Power survey, nearly half of American car shoppers cite sticker price as their top concern with electric vehicles. Slate initially advertised a starting price below $20,000, thanks to the federal $7,500 EV tax credit. However, after the Trump Administration issued an executive order in July 2025 rolling back EV incentives, Slate quietly removed that language from its website. With the federal tax credit set to expire in September, the effective price of the Slate Truck is expected to rise to around $27,000–$28,000. Still, Slate maintains that its truck will remain a compelling option even without the subsidy, though the competition is fierce. Vehicles like the Ford Maverick, priced below $30,000 and packed with more features, loom large. Market analysts, such as Sam Abuelsamid from Market Research Telemetry, caution that while Slate could lower prices to stay competitive, doing so would eat into already thin profit margins.
Despite these challenges, Slate’s minimalist approach has struck a chord—over 100,000 people have already reserved the truck. The company’s strategy is rooted in a growing body of research suggesting that most drivers simply don’t need the massive battery packs and long ranges that have become the norm in the EV world. According to InsideEVs, a recent report from Recurrent found that U.S. EV drivers use just 12.6% of their vehicle’s EPA-rated range per day—about 40.9 miles—aligning closely with government data on average daily driving. For trucks with 350–375 miles of range, that means most of the costly battery capacity sits unused.
“Data from over 40,000 EVs shows EV owners in the U.S. are leaving a lot of the range they pay for on the table,” Recurrent noted. The implication is clear: smaller batteries could mean cheaper, lighter, and more efficient vehicles, opening the door for broader EV adoption. As Recurrent put it, “A 200-mile EV could handle 99% of these daily usage patterns, yet manufacturers are adding cost and weight for range that often goes unused.”
Slate’s planned 150-mile range fits this narrative. The company freely admits its truck is more suited to city driving than cross-country road trips. Ford, too, is getting in on the act, recently announcing an electric pickup with a 51-kilowatt-hour battery, roughly the same size as Slate’s. Former Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson told InsideEVs that he sees 180-mile EVs as “the future, definitely,” especially as charging infrastructure expands and range anxiety fades.
That last point is crucial. Range anxiety—the fear of running out of battery before finding a charger—has long been cited as a key barrier to EV adoption. But as more people make the switch, those worries are diminishing. Survey data from Plug In America, highlighted by Recurrent, shows that only 22.8% of EV drivers still cite range as a concern, down by about half from pre-purchase levels. “This suggests the industry’s ‘range arms race’ is creating expensive solutions to problems that don’t exist, or exist for only a moment before people really experience EV ownership,” Recurrent concluded.
Still, convincing the American public to embrace less range and fewer features won’t be easy. The U.S. market has long been conditioned to expect vehicles that can do it all—haul, tow, road-trip cross-country, and more. Yet, as the cost of batteries and vehicles remains a sticking point, and as federal incentives wane, the push for affordable, practical EVs like those from Slate and Ford may prove to be the industry’s next big test.
For now, the electric pickup landscape is a study in contrasts: from the flamboyant, futuristic Truck Mad targeting high-end buyers, to the stripped-down, customizable Slate Truck aiming at the budget-conscious. Both approaches reflect a market in flux, where innovation, regulation, and consumer expectations are colliding in real time. As these trucks move from concept to production, the next few years will reveal whether American drivers are ready for a new kind of pickup—one that’s built for the realities of everyday life, not just the dreams of the open road.
