- Canoo recordsdata for chapter after dismissing the rest of its workforce within the final two months.
- It was based in 2017 and, at its peak, employed 800 individuals, but it surely lived off loans and by no means turned a revenue.
- The corporate will liquidate all its property to repay its money owed and collectors.
Canoo was a kind of EV startups that appeared to have a future with a cool product that confirmed loads of promise. Nonetheless, after failing to safe the required capital to remain afloat, the corporate introduced yesterday that it’s submitting for Chapter 7 chapter.
We knew Canoo, based in 2017 and initially referred to as Evelozcity, was in deep trouble when, in November, it lower virtually 1 / 4 of its workforce (round 30 workers)—it employed round 800 individuals in 2021, so its workforce in 2024 was already significantly diminished. On the time, the corporate stated this was a brief transfer to assist itself stabilize financially, though one of many staff who have been proven the door spoke to the media and stated they didn’t see Canoo “lasting possibly till the top of subsequent yr.”
Nonetheless, one month later, Canoo determined to dismiss its 82 remaining workers, casting additional doubt about its future. Now, it’s the beginning of 2025, and the corporate has issued a press release saying its chapter and that it’s going to “stop operations instantly.” It can additionally start liquidation of all its property, and the proceeds will completely go towards paying its collectors and different unpaid payments.
Firm CEO Tony Aquila, additionally one of many principal traders, stated “We want to thank the corporate’s workers for his or her dedication and laborious work. We all know that you just believed in our firm as we did. We’re really dissatisfied that issues turned out as they did. We’d additionally prefer to thank NASA, the Division of Protection, the USA Postal Service (“USPS”), the State of Oklahoma and Walmart for his or her perception in our merchandise and our firm. This implies lots to everybody within the firm.”
Canoo appeared to have a viable product: its skateboard EV platform that would take varied physique kinds from a low-slung sports activities sedan to a van. This even obtained Hyundai to need to workforce up with the startup to collectively develop an EV platform. In 2020, Hyundai made this partnership official and acknowledged it “expects the brand new platform utilizing Canoo’s skateboard structure to permit for a simplified and standardized improvement course of, decreasing car worth.”
This might have been the deal that saved Canoo afloat, however round one yr later, the partnership appeared lifeless, and it by no means helped Canoo in any significant means.
The U.S. Postal Service ordered six Life-style Supply Automobile 190 vans from Canoo in early 2024 to check their effectiveness as a part of its mail supply fleet. The British postal service, the Royal Mail, additionally started testing two Canoo vans as a part of its fleet with plans to purchase 2,000 models in the event that they efficiently accomplished the trial interval.
In contrast to many EV startups whose merchandise generally bordered on vaporware, Canoo was an actual firm with an actual product that obtained plenty of real curiosity. Its plant in Oklahoma Metropolis might reportedly “help as many as 1,100 good-paying manufacturing jobs at full capability,” and it stated it sourced 90% of its components from North America, of which 70% got here from the USA.
