Last night, a new company called Slate Auto unveiled its first product, a spartan two-seater electric truck with a mere 150 miles of range and a world of possibility. There's no paint, no distracting infotainment screen, and no stereo or even radio. It doesn't tower over your average 12-year-old, and it may sell for under $20,000 (including incentives) when it arrives in 2026.
If it arrives, of course. We don't need to get into the litany of obstacles that lie in the path of Slate's future success - including a global trade war and a presidential administration openly hostile to EVs - because instead I'm interested in talking about the truck as a possible antidote to our growing obsession with overpowered, oversize trucks and SUVs.
You've probably noticed this problem if you have eyes and live in America in 2025. Our roads are packed with these roving land yachts. Sales of SUVs and pickup trucks reached new highs in 2024, accounting for 75 percent of total vehicle registrations. A decade ago, these two segments made up just half of the market. Today, they represent three out of every four new vehicles sold in America.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) says it’s delaying shipments to the US this month while it works out how it will deal with the wide-ranging tariffs President Donald Trump announced this week, according to The Guardian.
“As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions, including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans,” JLR told The Guardian. The automaker is responding to a 25 percent Trump-ordered tariff on imported vehicles that went into effect Thursday and could add $5,000 to $10,000 or more to the price of a new car in the US.
JLR said this week that its business remains “resilient,” but those living in the town where its cars are made weren’t optimistic, with one telling The Guardian that the tariffs could lead to job losses. About a quarter of the 400,000 vehicles JLR sells every year go to US buyers, as The Sunday Times notes in its own story about the pause this morning. It’s thought that the automaker has enough existing US stock to last about two months, and it would take about 21 days for more to come once shipments resume, the Times writes.
Honda is looking to the stars for its next hydrogen breakthrough.
The automaker is teaming up with space tech companies Sierra Space and Tec-Masters to test its high-differential pressure water electrolysis system on the International Space Station. The test is part of Honda’s vision to support life on the Moon and elsewhere in space using regenerative fuel cell technology that continuously produces hydrogen, oxygen, and electricity.
It’s another risky move from Honda, which is more bullish on hydrogen than most other automakers. Hydrogen-powered cars have historically faced a lot of hurdles, including fueling challenges and pricing pressures. But Honda is counting on hydrogen to help it decarbonize its vehicle fleet by 2040. And now it wants to tap into the most abundant element in the universe to power its push into space.
Honda says it envisions its hydrogen-powered regenerative system as part of a human settlement on the lunar surface. But it also hopes that by stress testing the technology on the Moon, it can prove its utility on Earth.
It’s another risky move from Honda, which is more bullish on hydrogen than most other automakers
Here’s how Honda’s system works: during the lunar day, the system will use electricity generated by solar panels capturing sunlight. The company’s high-differential pressure water electrolysis system will then produce hydrogen and oxygen from water. When the Moon rotates away from the Sun, some of the oxygen will be used for astronauts, with the rest put toward generating electricity. The only byproduct of the electrolysis process is water, which is recycled back into the regenerative system, creating a closed-loop energy cycle.
Honda plans on testing the process in the microgravity environment on the ISS. The company says it will work with NASA to transport the equipment on Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane, with Tec-Masters as the ISS technology expert.
Creating a reliable source of oxygen and electricity in space would help humans establish livable habitats off-Earth in an era when space travel seems more achievable than ever. While the science community has explored the use of electrolysis as a means to sustain life in the vacuum of space, it has found that low gravity environments will have some effect on the gas-evolving process. A study published in 2022 concluded that around 11 percent less oxygen was created through electrolysis in a lunar environment as compared to the gravity of Earth.
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