I have been hearing bits about this other California EV startup; Canoo for a while. With their announcement this last week of a compact pickup model, I decided it was worth a closer look.
Like many folks looking for a more utilitarian EV, when Tesla trotted out their Cybertruck, my first thought was that I wanted one. Followed shortly by recognizing that it is a monster truck and I am already offended by all the monster trucks on the road, especially when used as commuters. Just don’t see any practical advantage to them being so huge. Conspicuous consumption, more like.
The divorce from traditional exterior design, on the other hand, is just fine, if in the interest of gaining other advantages. For the Cybertruck, those other advantages are focused towards manufacturability and durability. For Aptera the focus is hyper efficiency and a completely different paradigm of manufacturability.
Canoo has also pitched notions of traditional exterior design. All three of their announced vehicle designs are bricks, if maybe at least compact bricks, so aerodynamic considerations are pretty low on their list of priorities. Manufacturability seems to be centered around their common, ultra low profile skate board. Still trying to wrap my head around the cabin designs though. The near complete removal of a dashboard allowed by the steer-by-wire system just looks too weird. All the other open space inside the cab seems excessive too, though at least in the pickup one can imagine stuffing all kinds of tools and gear in there.
The pickup does score a lot of points for utility though. And it is a compact electric pickup. That’s worth a lot in my book.
Aptera first, for sure. 98% of my driving is my long range commute and similar errands so that’s a no brainer. But when it is time for a new pickup...
The one other thing about the company that has me scratching my head is their notion that getting one is a subscription rather than a purchase. Hard to get past the paradigm of maybe subscribing to services but still buying durable goods. Reminds one of the EV1 fiasco too. Guess we’ll see how that all turns out.
https://www.aptera.us/forum/aptera-design-discussion/increasing-average-efficiencies-by-rental-of-usually-uneeded-things under "TRAILERS", and the rest helps the case. this may be better than big trucks, although multiplatform trucks of higher power needs which work hard all the time may still be relevant.
I was looking at the crazy good deals on left-over Bolts the other day. New ones (left-over 2020s), can be had for about 19K. And if the new federal tax incentive comes back for them, then you're looking at getting a brand new Bolt for 13K. At that price, it's a no brainer. Tempting.
Canoo seems motivated by newer generation type thinking. No more permanent or secure jobs. You pick up and move to hip place like Seattle or something. You have a good gig going, so you subscribe to a nice vehicle which makes it easier to socialize with your new friends. The gig disappears for whatever reason and you have to drop the subscription.
I just bought a Chevy Bolt and I can tell you it's a nice car and really satisfying to drive. It's technically a sub-compact. But inside there's plenty of space. The floor is dropped way down because only battery skateboard is below. There is no "frunk," all the motivating components are under the front hood. So I can easily imagine if Canoo even moves up to the compact-size range, it could be like a small parlor. No dashboard, high ceiling and low floor.
Canoo has undergone some management "rearranging" since they first talked about their subscription only model. Me thinks they will now be selling in addition to offering a subscription.
I have been salivating over this new PU since I saw it a coupe days ago. IF it goes into production (big "if"), then I'm pretty sure I'll be getting one. It ticks all of the practicality boxes for me that the likes of the Cybertruck doesn't. I think it's an awesome design.
I too think the Canoo rigs are by subscription rather than lease or outright purchase. Even better if you own a sporty two seater and could really use a small utility pickup for a couple of days.
As for shape; The aerodynamic talk really doesn't become important to around 40 MPH or faster as I understand it.