EV startup Canoo this week announced vehicle deliveries to NASA and expanded battery development projects with the US Department of Defense (DoD), but gave no updates on customer vehicle production. .
According to a Canoo press release, three Canoo EVs delivered to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, dubbed Crew Dragon Transport Vehicles (CTVs), will be used to transport spacecraft astronauts to the launch pad for the Artemis missions. The Artemis program aims to return humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
Visually unchanged from Canoo’s Lifestyle Vehicle, CTVs that can carry astronauts, flight support crews and related equipment are a perfect fit, according to Canoo. Range concerns will no longer be a concern because the distance to the launch pad is only 9 miles long.
The Canoo Crew Transport Vehicle for NASA’s Artemis Program
Canoo also announced earlier in the week the expansion of its previously announced partnership with DoD. After testing Canoo’s battery technology by the DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Canoo said it has delivered “a technologically advanced battery pack” for military applications, a separate release. said, would “set the stage for the standardization of energy-dense lithium batteries for the United States Navy.”
While no further details have been revealed about the military package, Canoo’s batteries for its potential civilian models are a structure pack, containing cells and modules, refurbished under Pete Savagian, former GM EV1 chief engineer, now no longer with Canoo. The startup announced back in 2021 that Lifestyle Media and others will get Panasonic cylindrical cells.
Canoo has a plan build your vehicle in Arkansas first, then Oklahoma, had no plans for the overseas contract production it was initially considered for. The startup says the battery modules will be manufactured in Oklahoma, at a facility powered primarily by wind and hydroelectric sources from the Grand River Dam Authority in the state.
Canoo Structured Battery Pack
These are not the company’s first government projects. It delivered a prototype last year Light Tactical Vehicle (LTV) for the United States Army.
Walmart placed an order for 4,500 electric Canoo cars in 2022, and at that point, it looks like the pace of production gains and scaling could accelerate. Since then, however, the startup seems to be working with optimism. In its most recent quarterly update, Canoo hinted that it could still exit 2023 with a run rate of 20,000 vehicles — even though the finances look slim.
It’s been a long time personal use subscription plan Canoo originally planned the business around.
