How Canoo's Upcoming Electric Pickup Could Reshape The Truck Market

Canoo is about to reinvent the pickup truck and its model might be a real game changer in this segment, thanks to its innovative approach.

Pickup trucks are not new on the market. Actually, the best-selling car of all time it's the Ford F series. But the times are changing. While in the past, this kind of light utility vehicle was mainly used to carry a working man to the field and back and became a jack-of-all-trade car suitable for most roads and situations. The only place where it wouldn't fit would be in front of the Monte Carlo Casino. That until someone will take one there and prove us wrong. Whether we're talking about a Chevy, a Dodge, or a Ford, these trucks have no social status. They have been driven by the rich and the poor, the high-ranking officials, or by farmers, men and women alike.

Moreover, during the Malaise era, a pickup truck became the fastest car in the U.S. It was the Dodge Lil' Red Express, a truck with features and attributes only true gearheads know. Over the years, these types of vehicles evolved not just in the technical area, but in the interior as well. In addition, they became more user-friendly and easier to drive and maintain. They became part of the family and of the American car culture. And they evolved a lot.

Now, Canoo wants to further improve the segment by introducing its electric truck and challenging competitors, with or without an electric drivetrain.

Take any pickup truck you want, and you'll notice a pattern: an engine at the front, an almost vertical windshield, a cabin with two or more doors, and a bed in the back. Sure, you might find significant differences in terms of styling or performance. But at the end of the day, they share the same basic structure. Even Ford and GM, when they introduced the Lightening and the Silverado EV, kept the general layout of their electric pickup trucks the same. Moreover, Tesla, one of the most innovative automakers in the world, didn't dare to change the overall shape (besides the sloped side panels flanking the bed). But Canoo did it, and we thought that we'd buy the all-electric Canoo pickup truck instead of the Cybertruck, not just because it might be priced lower but also because it's more practical.

At first sight, Canoo's Pickup Truck looks like it's missing the engine compartment. Since it's electric, it doesn't need a specific area for that. Instead, the automaker chose to push the cabin forward. As a result, it looks like a cab-over-engine vehicle. Its front fascia is flat and continued on its upper side by an arched panoramic windshield. The headlights are arranged uniquely, with two vertical and one horizontal line. Between them, the automaker installed a folding expandable table, which can be used as a working bench or an excellent place to put your espresso machine while camping. Fear not; there's a 110 plug right there behind that folding panel.

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From its sides, the cabin looks like a helicopter cabin, with generous glass areas surrounding it. Unlike many other pickups on the market, it doesn't offer yet a four-door choice. There are only two wide ones. The only traditional part of the vehicle is in the back, where a bed can hold your belongings while going camping. In addition, it has an expandable partition behind it that can be extended rearward, increasing the transport area and lengthening it from six to eight feet.

Inside the bed, the automaker installed a surrounding light, so if you need some lights next to the campfire, you may have it. In addition, Canoo installed several plugs on the walls to power your stereo or whatever else you do need. For instance, it can top up an EV bike. We found nine that are the best electric dirt bikes right now, which you might take with you in the woods to enjoy nature and not pollute it.

Thanks to its large battery pack, the Canoo Pickup Truck it's an excellent camping companion. Unlike other competitors on the market, it also features folding side panels that can be used as tables, so your plates will be protected by dogs and other domestic animals, other than cats and birds, of course.

At the time of writing, Canoo remained tight-lipped about the vehicle's clear technical information. Still, we already know that it will have a 500 HP motor setup for the most potent civilian version of the Canoo electric truck. The base version might share its platform with its sibling, the Canoo Electric Lifestyle Vehicle. In fact, the idea is not new. It was used by GM for its 2002 Autonomy Concept, but at that time, the electric vehicle was merely an idea, not a working project. Still, other automakers consider it useful, and Canoo is just one of them.

An upscale model will offer an all-wheel-drive solution and a larger battery pack. Considering this, most customers will find one that could suit their necessities. The Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle is already on sale, and Canoo is taking down payments for that. It is priced at $39,950, which might give us an idea about the pickup truck price. It will likely be lower than that for the version with the 40 kWh battery pack. The other two options will have a capacity of 60 kWh and 80 kWh.

esla was not the first company to launch an electric car in the modern era. It started low, with the Roadster, and continued upwards with more and more products. Slowly but surely, it became a mainstream brand and overtook many automakers in terms of units sold. The American company even dared to launch a self-driving mode, but later it admitted that its cars cause crashes and made massive recall to fix them. Canoo, on the other hand, plays a different game. It just wants common-sense vehicles, which customers could consider as Swiss-army-knife on wheels.

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Maybe they can't sprint from naught to sixty in less than two seconds like the Model S Plaid, and its trucks can't withstand a direct hit from a ball (oh, wait, Cybertruck couldn't do that either), and it doesn't have flat panels all around. In addition, a leaked report revealed major design flaws in the original Tesla Cybertruck, and as a result, the automaker had to postpone the vehicle's launch. Still, Canoo offers customers the choice to use them on a daily, either if they're going shopping, on a construction site, or camping. Can a Cybertruck do that? In theory, yes, but with a rumored starting price of $50,000, some people might think twice.

Canoo focuses on vehicles people actually could drive on a daily, not just brag about their performance. If you want, it follows the same recipe that made Ford a rich man and the blue-oval brand a worldwide success. So, we can say that the Canoo might be successful, maybe not like Tesla, for now. But we don't know yet, which are the company's future plans. After all, they have some smart people over there who used to work for major automakers.

Canoo pickup truck will be priced around $40,000, without taxes and incentives applied.

The Canoo Pickup Truck will deliver up to 500 horsepower for the civilian version, while the military model offers an extra 100 HP.

The towing capacity of a canoo truck is rated at 7,7000 lbs, which is more than enough for a family.

It takes 28 minutes to recharge the Canoo truck from 20% to 80%.

Tudor started his career in automotive journalism over 25 years ago as a contributor in a small editorial team of a printed magazine. Later, he evolved and led several car magazines as editor-in-chief, produced his TV broadcast, and traveled worldwide to car events from Italy to Pikes Peak, and from Laguna Seca to the Sahara Desert. Tudor continued learning and completed rally-driving and off-road schools. He also reviewed more than a thousand cars in his career before joining the HotCars team.