US electric vehicle (EV) startup Canoo has filed for bankruptcy and has ceased operations with immediate effect, seven years after it was founded.
Billing itself as “an advanced high-tech mobility company”, Canoo was founded in 2017 as Evelozcity, born out of its co-founders having had disagreements with former employer and fellow US EV maker Faraday Future.
The company’s only vehicle which was shipped to the public was the Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle, a futuristic people mover available with five to seven seats. Deliveries began in late 2023.
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Canoo LDV
Canoo planned to make a cargo version called the Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (or LDV, but not the Chinese brand), a ute called The American Bulldog, and a much blockier Multi-Purpose Delivery Vehicle.
It also developed and delivered three Crew Transportation Vehicles for NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida and secured a contract with the United States Department of Defense to supply battery modules for analysis and demonstration.
However, Canoo appeared to be in troubled waters in 2022, when it posted a A$185.6 million loss in the first quarter and issued a ‘going concern’ warning.
It recovered slightly after signing a non-binding agreement with Walmart to supply 4500 electric delivery vehicles, with the US retail giant having the option to purchase up to 10,000.
The American Bulldog
That won’t happen after Canoo’s bankruptcy filing, with TechCrunch reporting the firm said in its Chapter 7 documents – filed with the Delaware Bankruptcy Court – that it had more than US$164 million (AU$264m) in total liabilities.
“We would like to thank the company’s employees for their dedication and hard work. We know that you believed in our company as we did,” said Tony Aquila, company chairman and CEO and one of its largest investors.
“We are truly disappointed that things turned out as they did. We would also like to thank NASA, the Department of Defense, The United States Postal Service, the State of Oklahoma and Walmart for their belief in our products and our company. This means a lot to everyone in the company.”
Canoo is the second US EV maker to file for bankruptcy within the past year, following the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Fisker in June 2024.
Fisker was established in September 2016, just three years after its namesake founder and former BMW designer Henrik Fisker’s previous car-making venture, Fisker Automotive, filed for bankruptcy.
Unlike the original Fisker, which launched one of the world’s first plug-in hybrids with its Karma sedan, the new Fisker brand built only EVs.
While EV giants like Tesla use their own factories to build their vehicles, Fisker contracted manufacturing giant Magna International to produce its Ocean SUV in Austria, which was revealed in November 2021 with deliveries beginning in June 2023.
However, the wheels soon started to come off the venture, with Fisker unable to shift the Ocean in meaningful volume, which was followed by a scaling back of production from which it never recovered.
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