Canoo, a U.S. EV startup, said it plans to launch an all-electric pod-like pickup truck in 2023, adding to a fast-growing choice of electric vehicles available to American buyers.
The company showcased the truck at the Motor Press Guild's Virtual Media Day this week, saying it will start accepting preorders this month.
"We are so passionate about building vehicles that can change people's lives," said Tony Aquila, Canoo's executive chairman. "Our pickup truck is as strong as the toughest trucks out there and is designed to be exponentially more productive. 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."
"This is like no truck you've ever seen," Aquila told Reuters in an interview. "It's the size of a Ford Ranger, can take the payload of a full-sized pickup and (has) the turning radius of a Prius."
Competition in the electric truck segment is heating up, with Tesla's Semi and the Cybertruck, which became the butt of many jokes, GM's all-electric revival of the Hummer, to be released later this year, and the electric Ford F-150.
There's also Rivian's R1T, which the startup plans to launch also before this year's end, and a Chevy pickup truck from GM, to be released in a few years, according to plans. Another pickup truck to hit the market this year is Lordstown Motors' Endurance, for which the company said it had already received more than 100,000 preorders from commercial fleet operators.
The trend is in line with consumer habits. People seem to be buying increasingly larger cars, with the portion of SUVs in total car sales in Europe and the U.S. rising steadily over the past few years.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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Irina is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry. More