A startup electric vehicle company will establish its first factory in Oklahoma, company officials announced.
California-based Canoo said it would build a “mega microfactory” on a 400-acre campus near Tulsa, including an assembly plant, body, and paint shops, and a low-volume industrialization facility. The company did not detail project costs — except to indicate it would be a “significant investment” — but said it expects to open in 2023 and create more than 2,000 jobs.
The company’s vehicles feature a self-contained, multi-purpose platform that can be produced through a high-volume, highly automated assembly process, while a parallel production process allows Canoo to assemble cabins and chassis at lower costs and with improved throughput.
Canoo, whose pod-like vehicles have been compared to Duplo toys, plans to introduce its debut vehicle in the fourth quarter of 2022. The company will partner with Dutch contract manufacturer VDL Nedcar to produce its vehicles while the Tulsa campus is under construction.
“Our investment in this manufacturing and technology center means we will deliver vehicles faster at scale — and fulfill our mission to bring affordable, purpose-built EVs to everyone,” Canoo Chairman and CEO Tony Aquila said in the announcement.
