EV Warning: Bezos-Backed Slate Auto Disruption Ahead

The seemingly staged drama between President Trump and Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk might distract shareholders. TSLA stock rebounded from a brutal 14% daily drop last week. Speculators bet that Tesla’s prospects will recover, despite global boycotts against the firm.Tesla’s growth is not assured. The cyber cab, self-driving software, and ties to AI are not firm. In addition, the CEO of China’s Geely, Daniel Donghui Li, said that the global EV market faces serious overcapacity.Former Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos might disrupt the EV market further. Bezos backed Slate, an EV startup. This firm has plenty of prototypes, a lab to test its designs, and vehicles that the firm has crash-tested.Slate wants to release a no-frills, affordable EV at $20,000. That assumes a $7,500 federal EV tax credit on the under $27,500 price tag. The company has more than 100,000 reservations, with customers paying a $50 deposit.Slate raised $700 million in its first two rounds of financing. The company has an edge over the competition. Unlike Rivian (RIVN) and Lucid Motors (LCID), Slate is capital-light. It believes that it does not need billions in spending to achieve mass-scale production. The company’s vehicle benefited from superior engineering and production. As a result, people will get an affordable model.Markets are starting to worry: General Motors (GM) is going down while Ford Motor (F) is trading in a range. Stellantis (STLA) is down by 24.4% so far in 2025.