Ride along in Canoo’s eccentric electric van with two windshields as it navigates Indianapolis city traffic.
March 13, 2023 on 3:30 p.m. ET
Among the many electric car startups that have not yet reached the start of production, Canoo is probably the most promising.
The company plans to start production of the Lifestyle Vehicle, which can be used as both a passenger car and a van. Indeed, it’s the electric van variant that saved Canoo from going under last year, when the company received several significant orders for its Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle, or LDV.
Fleet customers such as Kingbee, Zeeba and Walmart ordered a total of nearly 17,000 Canoo LDVs, with an option for an additional 16,200 units. Now Canoo just needs to start producing these vans, and for that they bought a new vehicle factory in Oklahoma City last year.
We are not sure if Canoo will be able to start production in the second half of this year, as it estimated in November 2022, but we must admit that its first product is very well thought out and original, as the above video from TFLEV shows.
Although we’ve seen Sandy Munro take a closer look at the Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle last year, it was mostly static. This new video is arguably more entertaining because much of it is filmed from the front passenger seat while driving the vehicle in Indianapolis city traffic, giving the viewer a taste of the driving experience.
Gallery: Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle Electric Minivan
29 Photos
About it is the man behind the wheel Canoo’s Global Vice President-Customer Journey, Gary Gumushian, while next to him is Andre Smirnov. One of the first things he asks Gary is if the steer-by-wire system has been certified road-legal, and the answer is “all done,” which is great news.
The video also highlights the great visibility the driver has in the Lifestyle Vehicle, thanks in part to Canoo’s signature lower windscreen positioned below the main one. This is a great feature that eliminates many blind spots and increases driver comfort and confidence.
As there is no need for a traditional steering column, the entire dashboard of the LV is naturally reduced to a minimum for the benefit of visibility and space for the driver and front passenger.
There are many cool things about the Canoo and some of them are demonstrated in the video, such as the tight turning circle, different controls, the touch screen located to the left of the driver and much more.
The second part of the video shows the delivery van variant fitted to Schindler Elevator Corporation, which announced the purchase of 50 Canoo LDVs earlier this month. The equipped van was on display at Indianapolis Work Truck Week (March 7-10).