Last week was an exciting one for Canoo and their fans alike. Monday morning Canoo announced an expanded partnership with the DOD that included delivering a scalable battery pack for the US Navy and the next day they delivered a small fleet of Crew Transport Vehicles to NASA.
Not only did they supply NASA with vehicles destined to be seen by the world over for the Artemis II launch next year, the vehicles also happened to be the companies first ever deliveries. It's not clear if the market in general just wasn't paying attention earlier in the week or if there was something else happening in the background, but Friday saw the stock propel upward and end the day 26% higher with around 188M shares traded on the daily, the most in the history of the company's stock.
Last week, amidst the excitement surrounding the NASA delivery, another noteworthy event took place but received much less attention. Two Canoo LDV's were spotted in Washington, DC outside of the United States Postal Service Headquarters. One being the original LDV we know and love, and the other being the new LDV+ with a modified square back that has been teased by Canoo on their Twitter account twice before.
The photos appeared on the subreddit r/whatisthiscar titled "what are these Walmart vans" as both LDV's were banded with Walmart logos. The LDV+ notably had the "InHome" logo, which is Walmart's home delivery service being marketed as "Delivery beyond your door" where the driver will deliver goods straight to your fridge if you want it.
If you are new to the Canoo story, you should know this is not the first time Canoo has visited the USPS headquarters. Back in October of 2022, Canoo had a busy week in DC visiting partners and friends showing off their vehicles including this very same location at USPS.
When we spoke with an anonymous USPS employee after their last visit, the feedback we got was that USPS liked the vehicles but 121 cu ft. of cargo capacity just wasn't really enticing enough. Perhaps this explains why Canoo is back at their doorstep showing off the LDV+, no doubt taking advantage of the time there visiting with Walmart at their DC Offices and leveraging the proximity of many important partners and potential clients. We don't know much about it as far as specs or capacity goes, but it's obviously bigger and increases the utilization of available space with the square back instead of a rounded one. The rear also sports 2 doors that swing outward as opposed to the upward hatch of the OG LDV, surely making it more convenient for accessing.
There is one downside of the LDV+, while it has the bigger rear, it's just not as cute as the little roly poly LDV. Apologies for veering off on a tangent, but that is one thing we love so much about the Lifestyle Vehicle - it somehow simultaneously can be cute and/or badass at the same time. It is exciting to think about all the different ways people(and companies) will be able to transform theirs with wraps or accessories to become vibrant reflections of their personalities.
The latest update on USPS's moves to electrify it's fleet came earlier this year in February when they announced they would purchase 9250 Ford E-Transits, 9250 gas powered Ram ProMaster vans and 14,000 charging stations. They gave an updated target of purchasing a total of 106,000 delivery vehicles by 2028, with 66,230 of those being electric. with 9250 already being awarded to Ford, and 45,000 NGDV's supposed to be coming from Oshkosh, that leaves almost 12,000 COTS "commercial off the shelf" electric delivery vehicles up for grabs over the next 5ish years. USPS stated that for any COTS vehicles purchased, a preference for domestic manufacturing will be included.
Only getting a slice of 12,000 vehicles over five years doesn't sound like anything to cheer about, but it is part of the overarching strategy we perceive Canoo to be weaving, and we like the basket. We'll be taking a closer look at that strategy soon and why investors should be excited by it's potential to facilitate and cement long term growth.
Authors disclosures: I am long Canoo - I own common shares, warrants and call options.
Canoo LDV+ Spotted at USPS Headquarters