Hundreds turn out for first glimpse of Canoo electric vehicle models

But laying his eyes and hands on the company’s electric vehicles put him at ease.

“They are nicer than I thought they would be, really,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect. That’s why I came out here.”

Hundreds of people filed through the EXPO Center to get a glimpse of what Canoo’s lifestyle, pickup truck and multipurpose delivery vehicles have to offer.

The startup company has pledged to provide at least 1,500 jobs by building a 3-million-plus square-foot factory at MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor.

“My son has bought some stock, and the man that is with me has actually spent a lot of money in their stock,” Klucevsek said. “It will be good for the area. It’s going to create a lot of work for people. I hope we have enough people to fill the vacancies.”

Locust Grove’s Tony Morris brought his 13-year-old daughter, Aubrey, to the showcase.

“I told her wouldn’t it have been cool to have been there when Ford Motor Company was first showing its Model A’s,” he said. “With her generation, I didn’t want her to miss out on that experience.”

The vehicles have rectangular yokes instead of steering wheels, as well as drive-by-wire technology, encompassing electronic systems that either augment or replace traditional mechanical controls. They also feature jump seats, peg boards for hanging items and slide-out work benches equipped with electricity.

“These look further developed than what we were expecting,” Tony Morris said. “The ergonomics look good. I’m not sure of the repair-bill aspects, but I’m curious about that. I remember in the development stages that they all had the same frame and basically changing the bodies was like changing clothes. I thought that was pretty interesting.

“We might end up with one. We’re not scared of the technology. We definitely want to embrace it.”

Canoo CEO Tony Aquila attended the event, stumping for a company that already has 14,000 vehicles on pre-order, according to Canoo associate Ven Katmannem.

“Any innovation has its own level of risk,” Aquila said. “But if you look at the whole geopolitical backdrop, it’s kind of tail-winding this whole movement. You get four times more return on capital than a gas vehicle. And that’s only getting worse on the fuel side. These vehicles are just designed to combat inflation.”

Depending on extras, Canoo’s trucks will retail between $30,000 to $50,000 and have a range of 250-350 miles, a company rep said. They will sit on a chassis targeted for a million miles and feature changeable “top hats,” or bodies, Aquila said.

“Think of the traditional approach being canvas,” he said. “We’re more like Nike. It’s a configurable model instead of just stamping something out.

“The traditional guys push steel. It’s one big thing. It happens once. What we wanted to do is let you come in and out as you change your life.”

A nod to MidAmerica’s military munitions history, the Pryor plant will have a Quonset hut design. Set to start operations in 2024, it is expected to be able to produce 300,000 units annually, Aquila said.

Canoo is setting up its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, where an advanced manufacturing facility also will be built. For its workforce at both sites, the company will lean heavily on the Cherokee Nation and military veterans, Aquila said.

“Oklahoma has a lot more going for it than people think because people like us wouldn’t come here if there wasn’t something here,” he said. “… These two states, in my opinion, are the best arbitrage on quality of life, quality of people, long-term trajectory. And they have the ability for us to combat China by using the nation and infrastructure to be able to license parts and keep those communities alive.”