Canoo nonetheless hasn’t delivered a single automotive to shoppers, but the upstart EV firm is inking offers left and proper with authorities companies. First, they teamed up with NASA for shuttle transport automobiles, then the Oklahoma state authorities – even the US Army evaluated Canoo’s capabilities. Now the United States Postal Service (USPS) is pinging Canoo for a pint-sized fleet of mail supply vans.
The USPS positioned an order for six right-hand-drive variations of the Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle 190 – an prolonged variant of its electrical van with an enclosed rear cargo maintain. Yes, simply six automobiles.
The USPS ought to have the ability to get round 200 miles of vary with the Canoo LDV 190, which has a 79.0-kilowatt-hour battery pack with DC quick charging capabilities, and 200 horsepower on the bottom model (or as much as 350 hp on sure specs). The cargo maintain can carry as much as 172.0 cubic toes and haul as much as 1,624 kilos of mail. Converting the Canoos to right-hand drive was a comparatively easy course of, notes Canoo CEO Tony Aquila.
“The multi-purpose platform with steer-by-wire technology and a unique low-profile suspension system allows for a readily configurable right-hand drive system,” says Aquila.
The electrical vans play a small position within the Postal Service’s bigger $40 billion funding towards upgrading and enhancing its fleet. In 2022, the federal government introduced Oshkosh Defense would construct a brand new fleet of mail vehicles for the USPS, however after delays surrounding powertrain points, these upgraded mail vehicles have been put on hold till later this yr.
The six Canoo vans shall be delivered to the USPS early this yr, and by the tip of 2024, we might see these USPS EVs and Oshkosh mail vehicles on the street concurrently.
In an announcement from the USPS to Motor1, the group mentioned that’s persevering with to “explore commercial-off-the-shelf electric delivery vehicles that have the potential to meet the unique requirements of our delivery mission.” So if it likes the Canoo’s efficiency, we might be seeing an entire lot extra Government-owned startup electrical vans sooner or later.