Canoo to Deliver Large Capacity Electric Delivery Vehicles – First Glimpse

Canoo has revealed its electric Multi-Purpose Delivery Vehicles (MPDV) with large cargo capacities and expected cost savings. Canoo announced its first vehicle last fall, a mobile shared mobility lifestyle vehicle called the canoo. The design of the MPDV has some familiar canoo elements plus and added technology for special deliveries.

Richard Kim, Chief Designer at Canoo, shares details about the unique tech and design features of MPDV1 and MPDV2.

Designed from the Inside Out

The design of the vehicle started from the inside-out, ensuring ergonomics, efficiency, and safety. The vehicles have a low step height of 17” (43 mm), making it safer and easier to step in and out constantly, says Kim.

“We also allow easy curbside exit thanks to our open, walkthrough cabin design. The manoeuvrability of our platform combined with steer-by-wire makes it easier to park in tight spaces. The vehicle also has a driver-facing camera to notify them if they are not paying attention,” says Kim about the safety features.

Like the first canoo, the vehicle has the iconic LED headlights. The design is pure Canoo in that it is all-electric.

“We designed the MPDV around our proprietary electric platform, which will serve as the basis for most of our future vehicles. It includes our level 2.5 autonomy with over-the-air updates. The bold, simple, minimalist design is also one of our hallmarks,” says Kim.

The pure-electric design makes the MPDV spacious, efficient and practical. Due to the skateboard platform, the MPDV has 30% more cargo volume than other comparable vehicles.

At first glance, the flat glass panels are reminiscent of rugged outdoor vehicles such as Jeeps and Land Rovers but there are good reasons for it.

“The flat, squared lines are representative of a style that provides maximum utility, space, function and safety with low material costs to make the vehicle affordable. Flat parts are easier to assemble and customise for specialised use cases”, adds Kim.

Similar to the original canoo, the front street view window allows for seeing to the curb with the added ability to open.

Some sparkling design aspects of the outside of the vehicle are coated metal, anodized aluminium and heat-treated steel. The side step, mud/flat and front bumper are made of post-consumer recycled plastic.

Canoo Electric and Tech Functions

The vehicle interiors offer many handy features for connections, storage, loading, delivering, and comfort.

Go Configure

On the driver’s door, there are two electrical outlets, two-cup holders and smartphone holders for up to three devices.

Across the dash is a covered LED panel that will show basic vehicle and entertainment functions like battery range, turn-by-turn directions, music, and speed, says Kim.

Canoo interviewed drivers to see what they wanted in a delivery van and created customisable features.

“We interviewed several drivers and got their feedback on features, details, and measurements that mattered to them,” says Kim. He notes that the prototype currently shows a shelf to the right of the driver. However, that area can be easily customisable as well.

There are also cameras on the side and rear of the vehicle integrated into the door handles that are Bluetooth enabled. Facial recognition could be an option if requested by large fleet customers, says Kim.

The roof of the cargo area allows for plenty of light made from translucent polycarbonate. The interior floor is made of recycled rubber while the cargo bay can be configured in many ways.

Sassy SaaS

Canoo will provide connected vehicle, over-the-air updatable software. The SaaS will be mobile/smartphone compatible and will have other fleet management functions that collect and report data to the owner. The production vehicles will also likely have an optional embedded tablet option to interact with the software, explains Kim.

The exterior bi-direction charging port sports several electrical outlets and may become V2G in the future.

“It is the plan to make vehicles Vehicle-to-Grid, in the future,” says Kim.

The battery packs could supply power for food service, ice cream or other power-intensive industries. One configuration of the MPDV shows a side opening like those on food and ice cream trucks.

“There are special power and thermal requirements for food and ice cream trucks. However, our vehicles are designed to support all of those possible use cases. We also wanted this vehicle to work hard for all businesses: plumbers, electricians, construction workers, or anyone that needs to move and power a lot of equipment safely,” says Kim.

The vehicle is optimised for custom wrapping to suit customer’s brand, making the vehicles into billboards for businesses,

The two vehicle models, MPDV1 and MPDV2, will come in three battery sizes—80, 60 and 40 kilowatt-hours (kWh). The 80-kWh battery pack expected to have a DC Fast Charging time of 28 minutes from 20% to 80% charge.

Pricing for the MPDV1 with the 40kWH battery pack starts at $33,000 before incentives with 230 cubic feet (6.51 cubic metres (m³)) of cargo storage. The larger MPDV2 can hold 500 cubic feet (14.15 m³) of cargo space with a standing height of 6’5” (1.9558 metres) tall enough for standing.

Canoo estimates customers can benefit between $50,000 to $80,000 improvement on return on capital in six to seven years, depending on use compared to other top-selling delivery vehicles.

Large volume delivery fleets, retailers and logistics companies may co-develop custom vehicle designs with Canoo. Customisable features include roof height, storage lockers, roll-up style door, ramp slide outs as well as vehicle wrapping.

“The vehicle is optimised for custom wrapping to suit customer’s brand, making the vehicles into billboards for businesses. Large fleet customers can customise the vehicle in any colour they want,” says Kim.

Pre-order of MPDV1 and 2 with a refundable deposit of $100 per vehicle, start today. Limited availability will begin in 2022. Scaled production and launch are planned for 2023.

Canoo plans a larger MPDV3 in the class 3 truck category. Following its U.S. commercial debut, Canoo intends to launch MPDV in other markets such as Canada, Mexico and Europe.