Canoo to build its first electric vehicle factory in Oklahoma

Extra Crunch

CEO Shishir Mehrotra and investor S. Somasegar reveal what sings in Coda’s pitch doc

The benefits of pitching a doc (not a deck)

Jordan Crook

Spotify acquires Podz, a podcast discovery platform

Amanda Silberling

Ford acquires Electriphi as it prepares to woo EV fleet customers

Kirsten Korosec

KeepTruckin raises $190 million to invest in AI products, double R&D team to 700

Rebecca Bellan

Mobile dialysis startup eyes human trials in 2022 following encouraging animal study

Emma Betuel

The Latest

Owning the paycheck is the key to fintech success

Natasha Mascarenhas7:00 PM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Equity Podcast icon

Tiger Global in talks to back BharatPe at $2.5 billion valuation

Manish Singh4:00 PM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

UK’s ICO warns over ‘big data’ surveillance threat of live facial recognition in public

Natasha Lomas2:26 PM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Ford acquires Electriphi as it prepares to woo EV fleet customers

Kirsten Korosec4:00 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Ford E-transit

Delivery service Gopuff acquires rideOS for $115 million

Rebecca Bellan3:50 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Spotify acquires Podz, a podcast discovery platform

Amanda Silberling3:23 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

spotify app icon iphone

KeepTruckin raises $190 million to invest in AI products, double R&D team to 700

Rebecca Bellan3:13 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Daily Crunch: Google’s first retail location opened today in NYC

Henry Pickavet3:10 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Canoo wants to connect owners to all of their vehicles — not just Canoo’s

Aria Alamalhodaei2:52 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

canoo app

Mobile dialysis startup eyes human trials in 2022 following encouraging animal study

Emma Betuel2:16 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

TechCrunch Disrupt 2021Sep 21 – 23Join the founders making their startup dreams come true alongside the VC funders supporting their vision at DisruptBuy Now

Extra Crunch

CEO Shishir Mehrotra and investor S. Somasegar reveal what sings in Coda’s pitch doc

Jordan Crook2:04 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Sign up for Newsletters

See all newsletters(opens in a new window)The Daily CrunchWeek in ReviewStartups WeeklyEvent UpdatesAdvertising UpdatesExtra Crunch AnnouncementsExtra Crunch EventsExtra Crunch RoundupEmailSubscribe

US lawmakers want to restrict police use of ‘Stingray’ cell tower simulators

Igor Bonifacic1:26 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Following lawsuits, Snapchat pulls its controversial speed filter

Amanda Silberling1:25 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Where we’ll be next

Extra Crunch Live: Emergence and Retail Zipline

Jun 23Learn MoreBe a Sponsor

Extra Crunch Live: Maverick Ventures and Cityblock Health

Jun 30Learn MoreBe a Sponsor

TC Early Stage 2021 – Marketing & Fundraising

Jul 8 – 9Buy TicketsBe a Sponsor

Extreme Tech Challenge Global Finals

Jul 22Learn MoreBe a Sponsor

TechCrunch Disrupt 2021

Sep 21 – 23Buy TicketsBe a Sponsor

TC Sessions: SaaS 2021

Oct 27Buy TicketsBe a Sponsor

TC Sessions: Space 2021

Dec 14 – 15Buy TicketsBe a Sponsor

TechCrunch Early Stage 2022

Mar 30 – 31Learn MoreBe a Sponsor

TechCrunch Disrupt 2021

There are only a few spots left in Startup Alley at TC Disrupt 2021

Marquise Foster1:06 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Extra Crunch

How to launch a successful RPA initiative

Kevin Buckley1:03 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

3D illustration of robot humanoid reading book in concept of future artificial intelligence and 4th fourth industrial revolution . (3D illustration of robot humanoid reading book in concept of future artificial intelligence and 4th fourth industrial r

Transform launches with $24.5M in funding for a tool to query and build metrics out of data troves

Ingrid Lunden12:52 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Anduril raises $450M as the defense tech company’s valuation soars to $4.6B

Taylor Hatmaker12:23 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Anduril's Anvil counter-UAS drone

Hit game PUBG Mobile returns to India with scores of questions

Manish Singh12:14 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

Extra Crunch

Mobility startups can be equitable, accessible and profitable

Rebecca Bellan12:03 AM GMT+5•June 18, 2021

tc sessions

Vitosha Venture Partners launches $30M fund to back Bulgarian-related early-stage startups

Mike Butcher11:12 PM GMT+5•June 17, 2021

Vitosha team

Canoo to build its first electric vehicle factory in Oklahoma

Kirsten Korosec@kirstenkorosec / 11:05 PM GMT+5•June 17, 2021Canoo delivery vehicle

Image Credits: Canoo

Canoo, the electric vehicle startup that recently became a publicly traded company through a merger with a SPAC, plans to build a factory in Oklahoma that will employ up to 2,000 workers, newly appointed CEO Tony Aquila said Thursday during the company’s investor day presentation.

The factory will be located on a 400-acre site in the MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor, Oklahoma about 45 minutes from Tulsa. The facility, which the company describes as a “mega microfactory” will include a paint shop, body shop and general assembly plant and is expected to open in 2023. The site is near a number of manufacturing and logistics businesses, Aquila noted.

“It’s a hub that we think is going to grow like crazy,” Aquila said at the event. “In addition to that, it puts you dead center for logistics and movement across North America, so you can get anywhere, same day and back is pretty important.”

Canoo, which has said it will deliver its first EV in the fourth quarter of 2022, also announced it is partnering with Netherlands-based contract manufacturer VDL Nedcar to handle initial production while the factory is being built.

Canoo’s announcement comes nearly a year after Oklahoma lost its bid to convince Tesla to build its next factory in the state. Tesla ultimately picked a site near Austin for the factory, which it has said will produce the Cybertruck, the Tesla Semi and the Model Y and Model 3 for sales to customers on the East Coast.

“We’re super pumped — we think we are the flavor of the month and we are the right place for manufacturing,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said, noting that the state has the lowest electricity costs in the entire country. Those lower rates have helped attract companies like Google, which operates a data center in Pryor.

Canoo’s investor day featured a variety of engineers, designers and executives, all of whom focused on certain aspects of the company’s vision. Canoo is focused on products for consumers and commercial customers. All of Canoo’s EVs will share the same skateboard and use different cabins or “top hats” that can be paired to create unique vehicles. The company has unveiled several vehicles, including an electric microbus, a pickup and one designed for business-to-business applications. The company has scaled up its workforce to about 435 people as of the end of the first quarter of 2021, and plans to expand to 690 people by the end of the year, according to CTO Pete Savagian.

It was also the first major public event with Aquila steering the company that has had a bumpy ride in the past year.

Canoo started as Evelozcity in 2017, founded by former Faraday Future executives Stefan Krause and Ulrich Kranz. The company rebranded as Canoo in spring 2019 and debuted its first vehicle several months later. The unique-looking vehicle and Canoo’s initial plan to offer it only as a subscription helped the company gain the attention of investors and the media. Canoo even landed a partnership with Hyundai to co-develop EVs, but that deal fell apart earlier this year after the company changed its business model and decided to not offer engineering services to other automakers, according to comments made in March by Aquila.

Canoo also lost its co-founders, first Krause, and more recently Kranz. And in May, the company disclosed that it is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The investigation is broad and covers the special purpose acquisition company Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp.’s initial public offering and merger with Canoo, the company’s operations, business model, revenues, revenue strategy, customer agreements, earnings and other related topics, along with the recent departures of certain of the company’s officers, according to a quarterly earnings report posted May 17.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *