Canoo this week unveiled a civilian spinoff of the electrical pickup truck it delivered to the U.S. Military final yr for analysis.
Dubbed the American Bulldog, the pickup relies on the Canoo Gentle Tactical Car which, when first proven practically a yr in the past, featured dual-motor all-wheel drive and 600 hp, plus Kevlar armor, a raised suspension, and 32-inch all-terrain tires. Previous to that, in March 2021, Canoo confirmed a civilian pickup with 200 miles of vary.
Canoo did not present a lot element on the American Bulldog, substituting jingoistic press-release jargon. The corporate claims the pickup “performs like a battleship,” a questionable bit of images for a comparatively compact car design for the Military, designed for a 1,500-pound max payload.
Canoo American Bulldog
The American Bulldog has a four-door quad cab as a substitute of the Gentle Tactical Car’s two-door cab, however rides on the identical skateboard platform. The platform incorporates steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire methods, with a honeycomb design that gives substantial rigidity, Canoo claims.
The truck is 201 inches lengthy, with a 9.2-inch floor clearance and 31.5-inch wading depth. It seems to omit the navy model’s Kevlar, although.
Canoo now lists the vary for the Gentle Tactical Car as being greater than 150 miles from an 80-kwh battery pack, with a 150-kw DC fast-charging time of 34 minutes (prone to 80%).
No manufacturing timeline was given. And since the navy car on which the American Bulldog relies was itself commissioned just for analysis functions, it is unclear if it would see navy service.
Which may take away among the advertising and marketing sizzle from the civilian American Bulldog, however would nonetheless go away an electrical for electrical truck considerers not within the extra typical designs from established automakers—or the form-over-function Tesla Cybertruck. Granted, that is one thing Canoo’s unique pickup design from 2021 additionally promised.
Canoo American Bulldog
A number of months after displaying that truck, Canoo shifted manufacturing plans from the Netherlands to Arkansas, with eventual plans to make its autos in Oklahoma. Walmart gave the corporate a lifeline in July 2022 when it ordered 4,500 electrical vans from Canoo.
The corporate initially designed its product for a very completely different market—targeted on California and a subscription mannequin. It then modified plans, focusing as a substitute on industrial autos. Canoo had later introduced that its $34,750 Way of life Car can be the primary to reach, in 2022, however that is been lengthy overdue due to monetary difficulties. Extra just lately it is raised the beginning value to $39,950.
In the meantime, different corporations have begun catering to the electrical commercial-vehicle market Canoo targets. Rivian simply this week confirmed that its electrical van, at first constructed solely for Amazon, is now out there to any fleet clients, but it surely’s nonetheless not for private use.