Her debut looks a bit like a VW Bulli had been doing weight training and also dropped the plump trim of the 50s. A “refreshing rethinking” of VW microbus attests the US online medium “The Verge” the startup Canoo, the until recently Evelozcity was called, The influential tech blog “Tech Crunch” finds a “rather radical departure from the traditional designs popular with other electric car manufacturers.” The Los Angeles Times describes Canoo’s car as a “van in the form of a lunch box”.
Anyway, Canoo CEO Ulrich Kranz caused a stir on Tuesday evening when he presented the first model of the start-up in Los Angeles. In December 2017, Kranz, who spent decades with BMW, founded Show stock market chart worked there and led their electric offensive Project i, the electric carStart-up in Los Angeles – along with two other top managers of the German automotive industry. Also on board is BMW’s former CFO Stefan Krause, with whom Kranz was supposed to bring the troubled electric car start-up Faraday Future back on track. And a third well-known German manager was one of the founders trio: Karl-Thomas Neumann, the former Opel boss.
Neumann has been in mid-July 2019 retired from his operational role at Canoo, Krause his CEO post in mid-August for private reasons initially dormant, The unrest in the former top trio, however, apparently did not affect the unusual approach of the electric car start-up. In just 21 months, Canoo has launched a prototype on four wheels – intentionally doing much different from the growing battery of electric car start-ups in China and the US.
This starts with the basic positioning: Canoo focuses on relatively cheap electric cars, which are rather sober in the interior and are suitable for rental and sharing service. Competitors such as Nio or Byton, however, rely on bulky SUVs with large screens and sophisticated infotainment inside.
Dispensing with mechanical steering column brings more space
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Canoos first model, which also confuses Canoo is a vehicle for the “post-SUV era,” said Kranz in a telephone interview. It is a “loft on wheels” that will provide a lot of space on a small traffic area. At only 4.40 meters in length, the car offers seven seats. The start-up has developed its own platform for the vehicle, a so-called “skateboard”, on which batteries and their electric motors can fit. The steering wheel is no longer connected directly to the axles via the handlebars, but transmits the steering signals purely electronically, as has been the case in some upper-class cars so far.
A mechanical steering column thus falls away, the drive electric motors are close to the axles. Canoo gains so much space that the start-up prefers the riders to make available instead of offering particularly large luggage compartments. The concept makes the structure very flexible, says Kranz. “It’s very easy to put almost every cabin on our skateboard, no matter in which dimension”.
On a hood Canoo waived, but the vehicles should be very safe even in accidents. In the past few months, all the crash tests used in the USA and Europe have been simulated, affirms Kranz. “Our goal is to achieve a five-star result, which is standard today,” says the Canoo boss in an interview. In the vehicle now shown, the driver and front passenger have been pushed forward as far as safety was possible. Two-thirds of the crash energy is absorbed by the skateboard platform, one-third of the cabin structure.
According to Kranz, the prototypes shown now account for 90 percent of the future series product. Can the electric motor afford slightly more than 270 hp, promises Canoo, 200 km / h maximum speed are in it. And the range is also good with around 400 kilometers per battery charge. From 2021 Canoos Neuinterpetation the minivan will then be delivered to end customers.
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