EV company Canoo unveiled on Thursday its electric “multipurpose” commercial vehicle to be priced starting at approximately $33,000.
The reveal comes five days before a shareholder vote to take the company public via a $600 million reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. IV (NASDAQ: HCAC).
Canoo’s electric vehicle, which can be used as a delivery van, will be offered in two initial sizes, with others to follow, the company said in a release.
Limited availability will begin in 2022, with scaled production and launch planned for 2023. Customers can preorder the vehicle for a refundable deposit of $100 per vehicle.
Multiple use cases
Based in Los Angeles, Canoo is one of a handful of companies working on electric cargo vehicles, designed for the smaller packages and more frequent delivery routes that have come to define the e-commerce era.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) showed off its new model, custom built by Rivian, in October. In partnership with UPS (NYSE: UPS), UK startup Arrival also is developing an electrified last-mile delivery van.
Casting a wide net, Canoo targets not only last-mile delivery companies, but other businesses, independent contractors, utilities and service technicians.
With its “multipurpose” offering, it plans to provide customers “best-in-class total cost of ownership, class-leading cargo volume, and functionally-designed features,” the release said.
Canoo’s electric vehicle platform allows for increased cargo volume on a small vehicle footprint. Specific features include high roof height, storage lockers, a roll-up style door and ramp slide outs.
Its roominess enables various workstations, with space for laptops or other devices to the left of the driver’s seat. A bidirectional onboard charger will transform the vehicle into a power source, to be used, potentially, for equipment and tools.
Looking beyond the initial vehicle, large customers, such as last-mile and package delivery fleets, retailers, major corporations and logistics companies, have the option to co-develop a custom vehicle with Canoo, the company said.
In good SPAC company
Canoo is the latest in a string of electric vehicle makers that have taken a SPAC route to public ownership.
It follows battery-electric and fuel cell startup Nikola Corp. (NASDAQ: NKLA) and hybrid electric driveline producer Hyliion Holdings (NYSE: HYLN) among others.
Shareholders will vote on the merger Monday. The company will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol GOEV.
