Canoo Technologies announced Monday that the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is significantly expanding the scope of its previously announced partnership with the EV startup.
Canoo says it has leveraged its commercial battery and integration expertise to deliver to the Department of Defense partners a technologically advanced battery pack that can be scaled for use on operational military platforms and will set the stage for standardization of energy dense lithium batteries for the U.S. Navy.
Related: Canoo Delivers EV Pickup To Army For Evaluation
The announcement follows DIU’s testing and analysis of Canoo’s proprietary technology since February 2023.
The partnership is part of DIU’s Jumpstart for Advanced Battery Standardization (JABS) program (DoD Prototyping Commercial Batteries To Electrify Future Military Platforms (diu.mil). JABS is working on accelerating “form-fit-function battery standards for defense” by using proven and protected commercial EV battery technologies in military applications.
“We are honored to deepen our collaboration with the Department of Defense,” said Canoo Chairman & CEO Tony Aquila in a news release. “We are inspired by their leadership and focus on encouraging American innovation. A core value to our re-founding is to invent and leverage our technology to contribute to our nation’s leadership in defense technology. We are guided by our commitment to continuously innovating our patented technologies to better equip our partners to win whether it be in commercial or consumer markets, or in aiding our nation’s defense.”
The EV startup is currently working on building out its Oklahoma City assembly line. In its first quarter report Canoo repeated it remains on track to end 2023 at a 20,000-vehicle run rate, ramping up to 40,000 vehicles in 2024. The EV maker recently released photos and video showing progress at the plant.
Canoo’s proprietary battery system is modular and offers what it claims to be industry-leading performance features, supporting various military applications and configurations.
Designed for flexibility, modularity, and compatibility, Canoo claims its battery system is future proofed due to its capability to incorporate the latest battery technology advancements.
Canoo believes its agreement with DIU will be instrumental in achieving U.S. strategic energy resilience.
Canoo has a battery module manufacturing facility at MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor, Oklahoma, within the Cherokee Nation. In phase one, Canoo says the new facility is expected to create over 200 advanced manufacturing jobs.
Canoo is also aiming to be the first technology company to produce battery modules and packs primarily using hydro and wind power sources from the Grand River Dam Authority based in Oklahoma, Aquila notes.
Canoo says the DIU partnership expansion validates it’s technological and operational reliability as a select partner for what it says are some of the U.S. government’s most demanding projects. Canoo has delivered its Light Tactical Vehicle (LTV) to the U.S. Army and is supplying Crew Transportation Vehicles (CTVs) to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the Artemis lunar landing missions.
Investors are anxiously awaiting a date for Canoo’s 2nd quarter earnings call to get a sense of whether Monday’s announcement may help improve the company’s financial picture.
The start up lost almost $91 million in the first quarter against an order book valued around $2.8 billion, raising concerns about whether Canoo can generate enough cash to make it to a production ramp-up.
Financial terms of the DUI partnership expansion were not immediately announced by Canoo Monday but since the DUI is a government agency and Canoo is a publicly traded company, the value of the expanded partnership will likely be posted in the public domain soon.
Editorial disclosure: The author of this post is a Canoo stockholder.