Michigan is set to give as much as $5 million to help Jeff Bezos-backed electric vehicle startup Slate Auto expand its Troy headquarters.

A state economic development board on Tuesday approved the taxpayer-funded grant for the Michigan company, which is ramping up toward production of its mid-$20,000 battery powered pickup trucks by the end of the year.

To build a low-cost EV, Slate's government affairs head Will Nicholas said the company tapped engineers, product designers and other innovators who are "for the most part, all Michiganders with experience from the blue chip automotive brands that are synonymous with the state's heritage industry."

"We needed a team that had been in the metaphorical trenches," he told the Michigan Strategic Fund Board during a Tuesday meeting. "There are few places in the world that buzz with automotive innovation. Michigan is clearly one of them."

More: Slate shows its bare-bones, 'mid-$20s' EV truck at Detroit summit

Slate was founded in 2022 and so far has raised at least $650 million to begin production of the two-seater trucks, which can be converted into four-seater SUVs.

The company is planning to make its first deliveries late this year. More than 150,000 reservations, each requiring a $50 deposit, have been made for trucks. Workers at a Warsaw, Indiana, plant will build the vehicles.

Slate is promising close to 400 new corporate, engineering and design jobs in Michigan that pay a minimum of $43 an hour over the next five years as it ramps up production. The company employs abut 325 people in the state.

With its headquarters expansion, Slate is expected to make roughly $10.4 million in capital investments in Troy.

Under the terms of the state grant, Slate may request reimbursement for up to $2.5 million in construction, machinery, furniture, job training and other expenses. Slate could get another $2.5 million after meeting job creation and capital investment targets.

Slate missed a surge in pull-ahead EV sales last year as buyers and lessees rushed to take advantage of $7,500 tax incentives for battery powered vehicles that expired in September.

The company is entering the market amid slow-growing demand for EVs without the government incentives, but the truck's low starting price could offer an advantage, as could gas prices that have surged since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28.

Other automakers are rushing to bring EV costs down too.

Ford Motor Co. last year announced a $2 billion investment in its Louisville Assembly Plant to make a $30,000 midsize electric truck and abandon the traditional moving assembly line. General Motors Co. is keeping its already expansive EV lineup while also researching cost-cutting innovations behind closed doors in hopes of being market-ready once EV demand takes off.

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