EV startup Canoo will begin 2023 with a goal of executing on requirements to receive a $1 million incentive package passed by the Oklahoma City Council.
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To get the money, Canoo has to create as many as 550 manufacturing jobs at the Oklahoma City plant it is setting up, according to Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt.
“If these jobs are created, Canoo will receive up to $1 million in incentives from our voter-approved fund that can only be used for economic development,” Holt said in a series of December 20 tweets after the City Council passed the incentives package.
However, the mayor is also making it clear that taxpayers won’t be on the hook if for a Canoo can’t follow through with the jobs.
“If nothing ever happens, we’ll have expended nothing. But if the plans are realized, OKC will have gained hundreds of high-paying manufacturing jobs in a growing sector of the modern economy,” Holt Tweeted.
Fox 25 in Oklahoma City reported the vote passed 5-2.
As EV Rider has previously reported, Canoo announced it plans to achieve a run rate capacity of 20,000 units in 2023 at the plant and double that capacity in 2024. Canoo is also setting up an EV Battery Module Manufacturing Facility in Pryor, OK.
So far, Canoo has about $2 billion worth of orders for its fleet vehicles from companies that include Walmart and NASA. It’s also accepting preorders from individuals for its Lifestyle Vehicle electric minivan.
Canoo announced it was acquiring the Oklahoma City plant in November of 2022 and described it as production ready.
Editorial Disclosure: The author of this post is a Canoo stockholder.