# Infrastructure Scaling, EV Pricing Disruption, and Behavioral Hardware

**Podcast:** TechCrunch Daily Crunch
**Published:** 2026-06-25

## Transcript

This is TechCrunch.
Streaming was never so wow.
You might be surprised to hear the price on Slate Auto's radically simple electric truck.
I'm Imran Shaikh and Thursday's edition of the Daily Crunch starts right now.
Now, Brick stands apart from your standard screen time app because it takes things, well, a step further into the physical world.
You see, the $59 gadget is a branded NFC-enabled square that only lets you deactivate your custom screen time limits.
If you tap your phone to the brick, just like you're buying something at a tap-to-pay kiosk.
Brick was born from a personal need.
Our phones were getting in the way of living.
The co-founder told TechCrunch via email, continuing, We searched for solutions to this problem in our lives, but we found that nothing was quite right.
So, we decided to build something for ourselves that would solve this problem.
Now don't fret too much because users are provided a small number of emergency unbricks just in case you're out when your phone bricks and you really need a specific app like Google Maps or Uber to get home safely.
Also, as quick commerce becomes India's next e-commerce battleground, Walmart-backed Flipkart said Wednesday that its minutes service has built a network of 1,000 micro-fulfillment centers, which are small, strategically located warehouses designed to enable deliveries in minutes, less than two years after launch.
A milestone Amazon is also targeting as it expands its fast delivery business in the South Asian nation.
Flipkart said it plans to expand the network to 1,500 micro-fulfillment centers by the end of 2026, a rapid build-out that would further strengthen its position in India's fiercely competitive quick-commerce sector, where Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy, Instamart, and Amazon are racing to add infrastructure and customers.
Based on current store counts and announced expansion plans, Flipkart could emerge as India's second largest quick commerce network by micro-fulfillment center count behind Blinkit, which operates 2,243 such centers, according to a recent note by Jeffries.
And for all you petrol heads out there, or should I say electric heads, Slate Auto, the EV startup backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos, has finally revealed the starting price of its electric truck.
Are you sitting down?
$24,950.
That's excluding taxes, title, license, registration, governmental fees, destination charges, documentation fees, and any optional equipment, according to the company.
Now, Slate started taking pre-orders for the truck on Wednesday.
Crucially, Slate also said that it has boosted the estimated range of its base model from 150 miles to around 205 miles.
Although that does come at the cost of abandoning plans for a larger 240-mile battery pack.
Now, this aggressive pricing, which is half the average cost of a new car in the US, puts Slate in position to capture a share of the lowest end of the new car market, which has few gas and fewer electric options these days.
The Chevrolet Bolt is one of Slate's closest EV competitors on price, starting at around $29,000, while the Nissan Leaf starts at around $32,000.
And of course, Ford has been teasing a $30,000 electric truck that's due in 2027.
The price reveal comes more than a year after Slate Auto emerged from stealth.
Since then, the company has been steadily detailing the extremely basic, transforming EV, which starts as a two-seater pickup truck, but can't be modified into a five-seater SUV.
Now, the SUV version will start at $29,950, Slate said Wednesday.
And folks, that's your Daily Crunch!
Today's stories are reported by Sean O'King, Amanda Silberling, and more awesome TechCrunch journalists.
We'll see you here tomorrow, same Tech Time, same Crunch channel.
And until then, find us at TechCrunch.com.