Canoo electric pickup revealed with 600 horsepower and lots of features

There’s a new contender in the electric pickup battle and its name is Canoo. The LA-based EV startup is ready to take on the likes of the Rivian R1T, Ford’s electric F-150, and the Tesla Cybertruck with its own ute that does away with the combustion engine altogether. Instead, it features a single electric motor for the base rear-wheel-drive version or a dual-motor setup if you upgrade to the AWD model.

It offers as much as 600 hp and 746 Nm (550 lb-ft) of torque, 200+ miles (322+ kilometers) of range, and a payload capacity of 816 kg (1,800 lbs). Numbers aside, it’s all the clever features Canoo has managed to implement we find more interesting. Being a truck, the main highlight is obviously the cargo bed, which features a pull-out section that extends its length from 6 feet to 8 feet (1.8 meters to 2.4 meters).

The bed has “wings” in the sense there are deployable tables on either side of the bed, while the lower area between the rear doors and rear wheel arches has a built-in step along with an extra storage compartment mounted below. Speaking of which, another storage area is located between the headlights and it too extends to serve as a fold-down worktable.

Further bolstering the Canoo truck’s practicality is a compatible roof rack for additional storage capacity. At an additional cost, a camper shell will be offered, complete with a tent mounted on top to serve as your home away from home. You’re not going to see any badges on this zero-emissions pickup because the company says its swanky LED headlights and taillights are unique enough to serve as brand identifiers.

That third brake light also serves a double purpose by working as an overhead light to illuminate the bed, which has its own strips of light around it, ensuring proper lighting even in the darkest of nights. Canoo mentions the pickup rides on the company’s in-house platform for EVs and adopts a cab-forward design to maximize cargo capacity while keeping the footprint as small as possible.

Even though the company will open the order books in the second quarter of the year, deliveries won’t kick off until 2023. Pricing remains a mystery at this point.

Source: Canoo