Canoo Unveils Fully-Electric Multipurpose Work Vehicle

Canoo, a company developing electric vehicles (EVs), has revealed its all-electric multipurpose delivery vehicle. Priced at $30,000, the vehicle is purposefully designed to maximize return on investment for its customers, the company said, and is based on Canoo’s proprietary electric platform and will be offered in two initial size variants, with others to follow. Limited availability will begin in 2022, with scaled production and launch planned for 2023.

“We created our multi-purpose delivery vehicle from the inside out, with the ergonomics of the driver in mind and with attention to detail to help them be happier and more productive at work,” said Tony Aquila, executive chairman, Canoo. “The vehicle is affordable and offers greater cargo capacity than the current electric delivery offerings in its class. We aim to lower the total cost of ownership and increase return on investment for everyone from local small business owners to large fleets.”

As an integral part of Canoo’s business strategy, the functional design of the multi-purpose delivery vehicle is meant to service a wide range of customers. It was built specifically with the needs of small businesses and large last-mile delivery companies in mind, the company said.

Large customers, such as last-mile and package delivery fleets, retailers, major corporations and logistics companies, also have the option to co-develop a custom vehicle with Canoo to meet their specific requirements.

With this vehicle, Canoo plans to achieve best-in-class total cost of ownership through range and space efficiency, as well as durability and low maintenance costs.

Canoo’s proprietary electric vehicle platform is the flattest in the industry, the company said, and has enabled potentially class-leading interior cargo volume on a small vehicle footprint. Interior volume is also maximized through Canoo’s driver-forward architecture.

To maximize user functionality, the production vehicle plans to offer a bi-directional onboard charger in lieu of adding a separate DC-AC converter, which will transform the vehicle into a power plant for equipment and tools. A 125V or 240V AC output power plug can be incorporated into the vehicle so tools such as saws, drills and air compressors can be powered up at remote destinations. The vehicle also enables various workstations. For example, drivers who have to take notes per delivery or job will have the ability to place a laptop or other devices to the left of the driver’s seat.

Additional vehicle customization examples include high roof height, storage lockers, roll-up style door, ramp slide outs and more. Both vehicle variants are designed to offer a low step in height of 17 inches.

The vehicle will also utilize Canoo’s steer-by-wire technology which eliminates hand-over-hand driving and increases range of motion and route options.

The multi-purpose delivery vehicle is a ground up electric design, meaning it was not retrofitted or designed based off of a gas- or diesel-powered model.

The multi-purpose delivery vehicle will be built on Canoo’s proprietary EV platform which features a steel frame construction, transverse composite leaf springs, a double wishbone suspension system, variable ratio steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire. The vehicle will be fully connected with data reporting capabilities and will feature Level 2.5 autonomy and over-the-air software updates. The vehicle will also support software-as-a-service (SaaS) to help fleets improve their total cost of professional ownership (TCPO) by allowing them to manage their assets, route plan, run diagnostics and support drivers with safety, awareness and ergonomic information, the company said. Canoo’s steer-by-wire system will allow for the transition into self-driving capabilities once full autonomy becomes commercially available. Steer-by-wire also helps accelerate the internationalization plans for the vehicle, allowing for rapid deployment of a right-hand drive offering.

The two vehicle variants, multi-purpose delivery vehicle 1 (MPDV1) and multi-purpose delivery vehicle 2 (MPDV2), are expected to offer three battery sizes—80, 60 and 40 kilowatt-hours (kWh)—with the 80-kWh size featuring a DC Fast Charging time of 28 minutes from 20% to 80% charge.