Canoo, an electric vehicle (EV) startup, is facing significant changes as its chief technology officer, Sohel Merchant, has departed from the company. Merchant was one of the founding team members who established the startup in 2017. With his departure, only one of the original founders, chief engineer Christoph Kuttner, remains with Canoo.
This news comes amidst a period of reorganization for Canoo. The company is shutting down its Los Angeles headquarters and requesting that most of its approximately 200 employees relocate to either Texas or Oklahoma. Canoo already has a corporate office in Texas and is aiming to establish a manufacturing facility in Oklahoma.
Canoo has undergone various transformations since going public in late 2020 through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Following the merger, chairman Tony Aquila assumed the role of CEO and shifted the company’s focus away from selling electric vans to the general public. Instead, Canoo began targeting the commercial EV space.
Aquila’s plans for Canoo have evolved over time. In late 2021, he announced the relocation of the company’s headquarters from Los Angeles to Bentonville, Arkansas, the hometown of Walmart. Canoo was courting Walmart as a high-profile customer. While a deal was eventually signed with Walmart in 2022, it was a low-risk arrangement for the retailer, and Canoo has yet to deliver a significant number of vehicles as part of the agreement. Additionally, the proposed move to Bentonville did not materialize. Instead, Canoo shifted its focus to Oklahoma, where Aquila announced plans for a large-scale manufacturing facility that is still in the planning stages.
Despite these changes, Canoo is currently engaged in testing vehicles for notable clients such as the United States Postal Service, NASA, and the Department of Defense. However, the company is facing financial constraints, with only $19.1 million reported as of June 30.
Over time, Canoo has experienced the departure of nearly all its founding team members. Co-founder and former CEO Stefan Krause left the company in 2020, followed by fellow co-founder Ulrich Kranz in 2021, who went on to work on Apple’s secretive EV project. Chief designer Richard Kim, another core co-founder, left Canoo in 2023.
These recent developments raise questions about Canoo’s future trajectory. The departure of key team members, the reorganization of its headquarters, and the ongoing challenges in delivering on major contracts indicate a period of uncertainty for the company. Canoo will need to navigate these changes and find stability to establish itself in the competitive EV market.