Los-Angeles based startup Canoo revealed its newest — and now third — electric vehicle, a pickup truck that does away with the sharp corners and huge engine housing of both comparable EV trucks and legacy diesel pickups and is aimed at both commercial customers and weekend warrior-minded consumers.
The truck, which Canoo says is the most space efficient on the market, was leaked Wednesday evening in advance of an official reveal set for Thursday afternoon.
The three Canoo vehicles all share a design language. But the important part, and the cornerstone of Canoo, is the foundation. Canoo uses the same platform architecture on all of its vehicles, only altering the cabins, or top hats, with each new model. Canoo’s proprietary platform is like a thin, flat skateboard that houses the critical components of the EV powertrain. The company said this type of design gives its truck a similar flatbed size as a best-selling traditional pickup.
The truck will open for preorders in the second quarter of 2021, with deliveries set to begin as early as 2023.
The truck clocks in at 184 inches in length (in comparison, Tesla’s Cybertruck is 231 inches long and the Rivian R1T is 218 inches). But where Canoo’s model stands out is in its pull-out bed extension, which stretches the truck bed from six feet to a fully enclosed eight feet, and extends the length to a more competitive 213 inches. It also boasts up to 600 horsepower and has a battery range of more than 200 miles.
Image Credits: Canoo
Like Canoo’s other vehicles, the pickup has all kinds of options to change it. There are dividers for the truck bed, for instance as well as a camper shell that can turn it the vehicle into a van. There’s even a rooftop tent — at least in its photos — which suggested that Canoo is thinking about an accessories business to go along with its vehicles.
There’s also cargo storage area that has a fold down work table and additional electrical outlets, side tables that can flip down, a hidden step to the truck bed that contains even more storage, and a roof rack.
“Our pickup truck is as strong as the toughest trucks out there and is designed to be exponentially more productive,” Canoo executive chairman Tony Aquila said in a statement. “This truck works for you. We made accessories for people who use trucks – on the job, weekends, adventure. You name it, we did it because it’s your platform and she’s bad to the bone.”
Last December, Canoo went public through a merger agreement with special acquisition company Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp., with a market valuation of $2.4 billion. It joined a string of EV automakers and charging infrastructure companies that Fisker Inc., Nikola Corp. and Lordstown Motors in forgoing a traditional IPO on the road to a NASDAQ listing.