There’s a lot of EV makers that feel quite close to becoming “real,” but maybe aren’t quite there yet. Canoo is one of my favorites in this category, as I think they have some genuinely novel design and packaging in their Lifestyle Delivery Van (LDV), and the cab-over pickup truck as well. The company has started building these EVs, but so far in limited numbers for fleet use. (Like the Astronaut Transfer Vehicle they built for NASA, where they delivered a fleet of one (1) vehicle). They’ve managed to sextuple (the sexiest kind of -tuple) their order this time, with a contract to supply six LDV190 electric vans to the United States Post Office, still America’s favorite place to get stamps.
The vans will be right-hand drive to facilitate mail delivery, and seem to be part of the Post Office’s evaluation program for electric vehicles, and are unlikely to be responsible for delivering all of America’s mail, divided among six vans. As Canoo’s press release states:
Canoo is honored to participate as one of the potential suppliers in the groundbreaking electrification and modernization of the U.S. Postal Service’s delivery fleet as announced by the USPS on January 22, 2024. This effort is part of the USPS’s $40 billion investment strategy to upgrade and improve the organization’s processing, transportation, and delivery networks.
These Canoo LSVs seem like a pretty decent choice for EV mail trucks; their cabover design means there’s no length wasted to some greedy hood, with nearly the whole length of the vehicle dedicated to either people or cargo. Plus, the interesting lower front window that is a hallmark of Canoo’s design looks like it would be quite useful for a vehicle that must roam neighborhoods filled with kids and pets and the occasional runaway Roomba.
If we look at the image of the USPS liveried Canoo LDV190 shown in the press release, you can note a few differences when compared to the LDV190 shown on Canoo’s site:
One strange thing about that picture there – is that front corner window opaque? What’s going on there? It seems like it would be far too large to be an opaque window, right? But what exactly is going on in that image?
The wheels on the USPS van are nice basic steelies, the side mirror is higher on the…what pillar is that? A? B? Let’s say B. There’s also more reflectors and side marker lamps, and it looks like larger vertical taillamps in the middle of the rear doors, which also have a raised section that houses the license plate, too. There’s also a missing seam or body panel cutline before the rear wheelarch, but that could be hidden under a wrap? I’m not sure. It’s quite close overall, though.
The USPS delivery van is notably different than the vehicle delivered for Canoo’s other high-profile US-government client, NASA, which used the smaller Lifestyle Vehicle, their people-hauling EV.
These LDV190 are just six of 66,000 EVs the USPS will be buying by 2028, 45,000 of which will be the Next Generation Delivery Vehicles still being developed. The Post Office just showed off the first of their new EV chargers a couple days ago, starting at an Atlanta mail sorting center. The Canoo LDV190 has a range of about 250 miles, 200 horsepower, and a cargo capacity of 1,624 pounds of Amazon packages and junk mail.
Mail routes are pretty ideal for electric vehicles; set routes of known distance, plenty of overnight recharging times, low speed, stop-and-go driving, silent operation; these are all things that are great for EVs and lousy for gas or diesel vehicles.
I like the design of these Canoo LDVs a lot, and that makes me hope they’ll catch on. I think the packaging is great, and I’d like to see these guys humming along neighborhood streets.
EVs delivering mail feels like fruit hanging so low it’s scraping the dirt. This is something that should have already happened, so I’m happy to see any progress at all.
Good luck selling more than six to the mail carriers, Canoo!
No sliding driver’s door means mail carriers will not like working out of this rig. USPS already has a huge fleet of Mercedes Metris vans with the same issue; no sliding driver’s door. Most of us prefer to use a ~36 year old LLV instead because it’s easier to work out of, even if it is objectively more terrible than a brand new Metris in every conceivable way. This vehicle, in it’s current form, isn’t “the answer”.
Seems like it would ergonomically routes that 90% street mail boxes (like in the country) but would stink if you drop off door to door (like in a city). But being an electric vehicle it would work better in the city and worse in the country due to range.
Hello Canoo. Remember Grippy? Did lot of work as part of a business pitch with you guys years ago. Took my work and stopped retuning calls? Hope your fucking batteries set all the mail afire. Karma, bitches.
Well this seems like a fun story.
The street view window all but guarantees that there won’t be a frunk.
Well, these would be good Canoo vans to live in next to my canoe down by the river…while eating government cheese!
“Of course nobody really needs mail”
-Newman
Let me tell you something about zip codes….they’re meaningless
I’ve seen the USPS Ford E-Transit with fleet number 0000001 running a route in Vienna, Virginia.
sextuple = (“1868 George Washington B-Grill”, “Inverted 1869 Declaration of Independence”, “Two Penny Blue”, “Baden 9 Kreuzer Error”, “1918 Inverted Jenny”, “The Whole Country Is Red”)
All I can think of is:
Q – How is sex in a canoe the same as a Coors lite?
A – They’re both fuckin’ close to water.
Alternate A – They both come close to water.
The Canoo delivers the mail when the streets are flooded 😀
“You don’t work in the rain? You’re a mailman!”
“Neither rain nor sleet nor snow …..” It’s the first one!”
Am I wrong or is this Canoo the first canoe you’ve written about that wasn’t trying to sink you?
I would think that this is just an order for a few units for testing. If the testing is successful, then a much larger order may follow.
Note that this is being done in the context of them having to suddenly change plans after there was an uproar over their initial choice for a next gen delivery vehicle… which was this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshkosh_NGDV
And this thing was noted for its shitty fuel economy.
Instead of that stupid 2L Ford Ecoboost, they should have equipped it with the same hybrid powertrain that Ford uses in the Maverick and other vehicles.
And the electric version of that Oshkosh is just as unimpressive… with just a 70 mile range.
Not surprised they are looking at other options like Canoo.
The 70 miles is likely for cost savings, as most postal trucks go just a few miles in a day
The MPG thing was a bit overblown, in that news sites kept comparing the new one with AC to the old one without. That said, there’s no excuse these days for going with a plain powertrain over BEV or PHEV on something that’s doing stop-and-go all day.
Can you imagine the cost of these? At only a 6-vehicle run, they have to be a half-mil each.
I doubt it’s that expensive. It’s just a minor modification on their existing van design.
Can’t wait for more EV delivery vehicles, as the dog goes crazy at the engine/exhaust of every box truck and LLV that hit the street. An Amazon Rivian delivers packages in my neighborhood every now and then, so it’s a nice surprise when I have a package the dog didn’t warn me about.
I have a strange pet peeve with the design of the Canoo. It is most definitely not a “cab-over pickup truck” as stated in the article.
Look at the NASA picture and look at where the driver seats are located. They are way, way behind the front wheels. So there is a huge amount of space in front of the driver inside of the vehicle. They had to put that street view window low on the front so you could actually see things like, you know, small kids.
So while I think the Canoo looks cool, I really don’t understand why they pushed the cabin so far forward but did not actually move the driver further forward? Maybe it has to do with crash standards?
After this announcement, I wonder if another round of Canoo investment will be floated.
You’d have to be careful, it might go underwater.
Could happen, oar not.
It might be a good way to paddle your portfolio a little.
In today’s investment climate, I don’t think that theory holds water.
Out here in the sticks all the mail delivery vehicles are personally-owned RHD imports. Our mail person drives a right-hand drive 2nd gen Odyssey with a fart-can exhaust that I am sure she didn’t install herself. I think they have a deal with Duncan Imports which is 90 minutes away.
That would be a step up for my mail lady. She is rolling in a rusty Buick. It appears she straddles the bench seat and drives with her left hand and foot while delivering out of the passenger side.
My rural mail carrier is driving an LLV for some reason, I guess that happens sometimes?
From past discussion with a family friend that was a fill-in mail carrier, rural route carriers frequently find the stipend for using a personal vehicle more advantageous than using a USPS vehicle, but one will be made available if they prefer it.
He had the best of both worlds for a while, as he used a retired mail jeep as his personal mail delivery vehicle before upgrading to one of the Cherokees that seemed to be the dominant rural route vehicle around here.
I’ve been watching Canoo with interest, and I’m having a real hard time determining whether these small unit “sales” are actually sales or merely government trials. I know they have an EPA certification for 2023 but as of now (according to an associate with access) there are none yet showing up on registration data, and it’s not confirmed whether their steer-by-wire has passed NHTSA muster. Also from what I’ve read, Canoo’s in a tenuous financial spot as far as being able to ramp up production.
I think the van looks cool, and these would serve great in last mile, light delivery. But it’s do or die time for these small EV startups. It will be interesting to see whether the USPS (or someone else) will give them the lifeline they’re looking for.
I have been watching them closely as well. They have all but abandoned consumer vehicle development at this point, and seem to be focusing on commercial. Around the time Rivian said we can’t do too many vans for Amazon because we need to do consumer vehicles was about the time Walmart got into Canoo. I like their designs, but see them only ever surviving as a commercial vehicle first and foremost. Maybe 2030ish will bring consumer vans and trucks, if they can survive.
What seems ridiculous is ev vans for commercial (local) use makes so damn much sense
And this Is a thing that exists already in Europe.
This particular maker & model seems mis-configured being a fake cab-over design and therefore wastes a tremendous amount of space up front. If they’re going to do that, just give it a normal mini-van (or Lucid Gravity same thing) more aero front end.
The huge wasted space up front and low likelyhood of actually making it to production, bc lets be honest the 7 units ‘sold’ are beta test units at best And thats exactly why I now am now Much more in favor of seeing Telo succeed.
No it (Telo) is not cabover, but it doesn’t pretend it is either, it simply is a pretty small (same footprint of a Mini Clubman) vehicle that still is able to have an 8′ bed or carry 4-5 people with a 5′ bed.
Of course Telo wants to make a van version as well which seems like it could be perfect as an inexpensive (operating cost) local delivery vehicle
https://www.telotrucks.com/
Look, look, were not just another EV vaper ware start up. See! We made 7 vehicles now, and six of em, count em, six carry mail ha ha! Actually, I hope Canoo makes it. The lower windshield, I guess you’d call it, would be amazing to have in tight metro areas.
put down a $100 deposit on one of their trucks ages ago. I dont really like my odds anymore….
I’m still waiting for my Elio to be built.
That’s ok my Dad put money down on a new Tucker……….
Psh, my new Avanti will be delivered any day now….
Maybe I should send my recently-refunded Cybertruck deposit Canoo’s way.
Using – and even building – vehicles for mail delivery is something the German „Post“ has tried with mixed results.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/StreetScooter
Clearly Canoo doesn’t settle for small production numbers. Why else would their name boast not one, but two o’s.
Canoo also recently delivered FOUR vans to various Oklahoma state government agencies. I also hope they manage to get off the ground. It’s a tiny sliver of hope that they’ve actually managed to deliver a handful of real, tangible products into customer hands, and are targeting fleets instead of consumers.
Four vans! I guess that means they’re doing OK.
*rimshot*
I’m really surprised NASA only bought one astronaut transfer van. The government rarely buys one of anything.
It also seems awfully small to hold four astronauts, the driver and various support personal that ride with astronauts.
NASA allegedly has orders for 2 more (or maybe they’re just options for 2 more, who knows, but they at least have an ambition of one day having 3 Canoos).
Boeing is using customized Mercedes-Benz Sprinter-based Airstream Atlas motorhomes for their Starliner program, assuming that thing ever actually launches with people on it, which may be a big assumption at this point, and SpaceX has been famously using pretty stock looking Model Xs for Crew Dragon launches
Only thing that’s going to suck about EV postal vehicles is that I will no longer know my mail has been delivered without having to look. The sound of the LLV is distinct. Seriously though, I’m glad the postal service might, one day, eventually, go electric. I don’t think the LLVs even have catalytic converters. I can smell the exhaust from them even after they’ve left my block.
Rockauto has the LLV in its parts catalog and it shows a cat, but interestingly you can’t purchase one directly, you have to send in your original for “rebuild”. That’s a new one for me.
They’re concerned about the crazy cat hoarders
If it is only 6 of them, are they just using them as a test group? It seems very odd to only have that small group.
I’m sure that’s all it is, but that’s still something. See how they hold up in real-world use and not just in controlled test environments, before scaling up production/orders.
Good for them, as far as I’m concerned. More competition is probably better.