Canoo, the EV maker whose economic issues were so serious it warned its future was “doubtful” and resulted in the delay of construction of its manufacturing plant in northeast Oklahoma might have just received a lifeline.
Walmart announced it will purchase 4,500 electric delivery vans from Canoo and have an option to acquire up to 10,000 units. The new EV vans should be on the road providing service for Walmart stores sometime in 2023.
The vans will be manufactured at Canoo’s plant near Dallas.
Shares in Canoo shot up nearly 70% upon word of the Walmart purchase and traded at $4 a share. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
Walmart plans to use some of the pre-production EVs to deliver online orders in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. Canoo said it will use it as a test bed to refine and finalize vehicle configuration in the coming weeks.
The Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle, or LDV, is expected to be in production in the fourth quarter of this year.
The Walmart acquisition could be enough to save Canoo from failing. Company leaders warned in May that the company might go out of business before the Pryor, Oklahoma manufacturing plant was ever built.
Leadership indicated in the company’s 2022 Q1 earnings statement that the firm was experiencing cashflow problems. Shareholders were warned Canoo might go out of business before the end of the year. The report said the company’s future was “doubtful.”
