Californian high-tech advanced mobility company Canoo has announced a binding order for 9,300 American-made electric vehicles from Kingbee, a leading national work-ready van rental provider, with an option to increase to 18,600 vehicles.
Kingbee will upfit, wrap and deliver Canoo vehicles as work-ready fleets solutions for enterprise and small & medium sized business (SMB) customers across the US.
“At Canoo, we engineer and design for fleets, enterprise, SMBs and their workforce. This order is yet another key milestone as we allocate production capacity for the coming years. New and legacy innovators recognize a need for safety, efficiency and productivity in their fleet portfolio. Our LDV has it all in a fully electric multi-generational platform. with market pushing customization, that is made to last and outperform expectations,” said Tony Aquila, Chairman & CEO at Canoo. “Canoo’s proprietary platform and tophat technology enables Kingbee to adapt their fleet for evolving use cases at a class leading ROI, while allowing their customers to benefit from a vehicle, that is engineered for workers and optimized for ergonomics, with superior visibility, maneuverability and safety. “
Canoo vehicles are American-made commercial electric vehicles built on the company’s proprietary multi-purpose platform (MPP) architecture with modular configurations for a wide range of use cases and are a perfect complement to Kingbee’s focus on customized fleets for small business owners. Canoo provides most of the vehicle service, maintenance and updates over the air which decreases vehicle downtime and increases ROI for fleet operators. Designed and engineered with the driver in mind, Canoo vehicles feature a panoramic front window to improve road visibility and utilize true steer by wire technology, resulting in more usable interior space and better driver ergonomics. Feedback from our recent real-world deliveries confirmed the superior user experience, based on ride and in-cabin comfort, road visibility and maneuverability, as well as unprecedented user ergonomics resulting in an overall lower daily stress level on the workers’ wellbeing.
The LDV combines 120 cubic feet of configurable cargo volume with an 80kwh battery pack with the handling and turning radius of a small passenger vehicle, making it a safer and more familiar experience for drivers.
Kingbee provides a turn-key solution for fleet rental, delivering fully upfitted commercial solutions with optional signage to operators with flexible leasing terms. With customers in 27 states and growing, Kingbee is focused on flexible solutions for small and medium businesses.
“We are excited to partner with Canoo to provide sustainable work vehicle rentals to our customers,” said Scott Haslam, CEO of Kingbee Rentals. “Canoo vehicles are designed specifically for fleets to be upfit and last multiple users. This is exactly what we need. Our assets are our business and we need products that provide the best driver experience with durability. We’ve seen that small and medium businesses are looking for sustainable, affordable and flexible solutions that don’t tie up all of their cash so this is a win-win for Kingbee. Providing a customized solution that handles well and has great ergonomics for the work vehicle industry. Between Canoo’s platform and Kingbee’s work-ready upfits, our flexible fleet leasing model will significantly reduce the barriers to entry for many fleets owners who think they have to purchase all of their vehicles. It’s even more exciting that it comes in a zero emissions package.”
