EV Startup Canoo Ceases Operations
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Canoo, the maker of roly poly-looking electric vans and trucks, announced Jan. 17 it had begun bankruptcy proceedings and ceased operations, effective immediately.
“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. We are truly disappointed that things turned out as they did,” said chairman and CEO Tony Aquila in a press release.
In August 2024, Canoo confirmed plans to move its headquarters from California to Justin, Texas, where production operations had been located.
Canoo announced furloughs and idled its Oklahoma factories in December while it worked to secure the capital necessary to continue operating. The news release said that Canoo failed to secure financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office, and that efforts to secure foreign investment were unsuccessful.
Canoo Inc. Announces Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Filing
“In light of the fact that these efforts were unsuccessful, the board has made the difficult decision to file for insolvency,” the release said.
The bankruptcy proceedings will result in the liquidation of Canoo’s assets and distribution of proceeds to creditors.
Though production vehicles never materialized, Canoo found some success in its fleet vehicle efforts. Since its founding in 2017, Canoo secured multiple high-profile partnerships with NASA, the U.S. Postal Service, Walmart and others.
Most notably, specialized Canoo vans were intended to transport astronauts to the launch pad as part of NASA’s Artemis II mission, which will send four astronauts around the moon and back in 2026. In 2022, Walmart announced an agreement to purchase 4,500 Canoo vehicles for use in last-mile delivery.
Representatives for Canoo, NASA and Walmart did not immediately respond to request for comment. It is unclear how Canoo’s bankruptcy will affect these partnerships.
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