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It has been nearly a decade since Ridley Scott last made a sci-fi movie. He’s returning to the genre this year — in August, in fact — with The Dog Stars , which features Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin . Scott has stayed away from sci-fi longer than Steven Spielberg did before Spielberg returned to the genre this year with Disclosure Day . Spielberg’s last sci-fi film was Ready Player One , which debuted theatrically in 2018, a year after Scott’s last sci-fi movie. Scott has since focused almost exclusively on period films of various kinds. However, a string of recent underperformances at the box office could have prompted him to shift gears. Not that he can be slowed down; Scott famously juggles multiple projects at the same time, pivoting to whichever seems most likely to get produced sooner.

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The Slate Truck’s options can nearly double its attractive entry-level price.

Converting the pickup into an SUV adds thousands before accessories even begin.

Customization is the brand’s biggest strength and its biggest pricing trap.

Slate has built its entire pitch around simplicity, affordability and endless customization. Those goals sound great together, but spend just a few minutes in the company’s online configurator, and you’ll discover they can also work against each other.

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It’s already easy to question the truck’s value compared to the Ford Maverick , but start checking option boxes without much restraint, and the budget-friendly EV suddenly looks a lot less like a bargain.

More: Carvana May Have A Foot In Bezos’s Slate Auto Already

The startup’s electric pickup starts at $24,950 before destination charges, but that’s only the beginning. Buyers wanting something more practical than the standard pickup can choose either the Squareback SUV conversion for $29,950 or the Fastback SUV for $31,950, both of which add a bed cap and rear seating. From there, it’s remarkably easy to inflate the sticker price.

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The Accessory Rabbit Hole

Slate’s business model revolves around personalization, and the accessory catalog is extensive. Exterior wraps alone can add $1,599.99, while decorative decals, auxiliary lighting, roof racks, fender flares, alternate grilles, spare tire carriers, and upgraded 20-inch wheels all pile onto the total. The configurator even lets buyers choose whimsical graphics, including faux business branding, alongside more traditional racing stripes.

The interior follows the same philosophy. Buyers can add a center console, upgraded armrests, storage accessories, floor mats, and optional speakers because the truck doesn’t come with a traditional audio system as standard. A front-center speaker costs $249.99, while additional dash speakers add another $149.99. Even the dashboard-mounted tablet, which serves as the infotainment interface, a feature that will no doubt be popular, still doesn’t have a published price.

Also: Ford’s New $30K EV Truck Barely Clears An Expedition’s Shoulder

As Car and Driver found, and as we confirmed ourselves, stack enough of those accessories together and the math changes dramatically. A fully optioned Fastback SUV sailed past $46,000. Ours hit $46,607.49, to be exact, and you still have to crank your windows by hand, at least until the electric kit Slate has hinted at actually shows up. Keep in mind, there are some more exotic options like a lift kit, off-road tires, and more that aren’t priced or available yet, so the figure will go up. Importantly, none of this is a criticism of the strategy.

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The Upside Of Paying For It

Pretty much every legacy brand boasts about all the customization buyers can do, but none of them come close to this. Slate lets customers choose exactly where to spend their money without hiding unique features behind a giant trim upgrade. Someone who simply wants a basic electric pickup can still buy one at the advertised starting price, while enthusiasts can build something far more distinctive.

That all said, it’s an important reminder that while a $24,950 truck makes headlines, the price out the door can be dramatically higher.

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Photos: Slate Auto

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How many American stars working right now can justifiably claim that they’ve starred in more than one movie that redefined its genre? Leonardo DiCaprio is a clear contender, having headlined the epic disaster movie Titanic and the sci-fi blockbuster Inception . Tom Cruise has achieved wonderful things in the sphere of action cinema. Ryan Gosling , Anne Hathaway , and Russell Crowe have starred in genre-defining movies as well. But has anyone starred in movies as monumental as Speed , The Matrix , and John Wick ? Keanu Reeves ’ career has been marked by its share of ups and downs, but there’s no denying the influence that his work has had on how modern audiences perceive movies.

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Video showcases China's road-mobile electromagnetic catapult launching an aircraft for the first time

The footage comes from a now-deleted social media post from the Beijing Institute of Technology's School of Mechanical Engineering

Leverages China's existing EMALS tech by miniaturizing what it already uses on its aircraft carrier

China seems to have solved one of the biggest challenges modern drones face: deploying without a runway anywhere on the planet, thanks to a miniaturized version of the EMALS catapults found on its newest aircraft carrier.

A short video clip that surfaced towards the tail end of last month, from a social media post by the Beijing Institute of Technology's School of Mechanical Engineering, shows three eight-wheeled trucks linked together in a Lego-like fashion to form a runway that allows a propeller-driven drone to take flight.

The footage also shows all three trucks detached, coupling with each other, and exhibiting all-wheel steering that, in principle, enables them, if given enough space, to launch drones or small aircraft in any direction.

Replacing a runway in the modern battlefield?

China's move is not one that occurred in a vacuum: the United States was the first country in the world to deploy an Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), sparking an arms race when it launched its first aircraft in 2017 aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford.

China followed suit with its own aircraft carrier, the Fujian, which sports three EMALS catapults to the US's four, possibly accounting for the Chinese carrier's smaller size relative to its principal naval rival's largest.

China has, however, beaten the US to the punch when it comes to demonstrating a portable EMALS, it seems, with its three-truck solution essentially marking a first for either country.

Chinese state-owned giants account for a significant share of the 70+ organizations directly involved in an impressive achievement that sets the stage for the next generation of drone-based combat.

Despite the video making its way across social media, it was taken down by the Beijing Institute of Technology's School of Mechanical Engineering, which originally posted it. The move, however, has not stopped defense forums and Chinese analysts from offering insights into what is clearly a major technological achievement for the country.

With France and India both committed to launching EMALS (albeit on future aircraft carriers for now), only two countries currently have the tech deployed on a ship, and only one of them has a land-based, portable option in play for now: China.