The Canoo Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV) is a pod-like van
The company seems to have escaped its financial troubles
Walmart said it is open to ordering additional vans in the future
Walmart announced it has ordered 4,500 units of the Canoo Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV) in order to reduce its fleet’s emissions.
Canoo is a start-up electric automaker that unveiled its pod-like LDV a couple of years ago and followed it with a pickup truck and a larger commercial van.
The LDV will be available in both passenger and cargo variants, with the former seating seven occupants and the latter offering almost 4,000 liters of cargo space.
This cargo version is what Walmart will use for its lighter-duty needs, such as delivering orders to local customers.
In order to offer a range of around 250 miles (402 kilometers), the LDV will use a proprietary platform that will include an 80-kWh battery as well as the company’s own steer-by-wire system, which will remove the physical connection between the steering wheel and the road. This last feature could hint at the availability of autonomous driving features in a few years.
This announcement is somewhat of a surprise since Canoo announced it was on the verge of bankruptcy in its latest earnings report. Nevertheless, the company still aims to begin production of its vehicles by the end of the year.
Due to this contract, most vehicles that will exit the brand-new factory in Oklahoma will be sent to Walmart, with the first deliveries planned in 2023.
Receiving the support of such a large company might be the only way Canoo will be able to bring its vehicles to production since this contract will generate a lot of revenue for the small company that has yet to make any money on its own.
Indeed, the base price for the LDV was previously said to be $34,750 in the US, which means that the 4,500 units bought by the retail giant could generate over $156 million if they are sold at their full price.
