EV start-up Canoo to offer pod-like electric pickup in 2023

Los Angeles-based electric vehicle startup Canoo Inc will introduce an American-built pod-like electric pickup truck in the first quarter of 2023 and would begin taking pre-orders in the second quarter of 2021.

Canoo Executive Chairman Tony Aquila said the truck has the turning radius of a Prius, is the size of a Ford Ranger, and can take the payload of a full-sized pickup.

He added that they will build the rounded, snub-nosed truck in a US microfactory it intends to open.

The pickup will have up to 600 horsepower and an electric driving range of 300 miles or higher by the time the truck launches.

Canoo’s pickup will be aimed at both consumer and commercial customers.

According to Aquila, the pick-up has the potential to be a high-volume product that may require a small-scale, highly automated microfactory.

Canoo is in search of a potential site and will still use a contract manufacturer for its lower-volume vehicles.

The company has developed a low-rise platform, which bundles batteries and electric motors with chassis components as steering, brakes, and wheels, where various vehicle body types can be built.

AutoForecast Solutions estimates electric pickups to make up over one percent of North American pickup production in 2022, jumping to 5.7 percent in 2028.