Walmart has signed an agreement with Canoo, a high-tech advanced mobility company, to purchase 4,500 all-electric delivery vehicles, beginning with the Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV), with the option to purchase up to 10,000 units. The vehicles will be used to deliver online orders in a sustainable way which will also contribute to Walmart’s goal to achieve zero-emissions by 2040.
While the LDV is expected to begin hitting US roads in 2023, the companies plan to kick-off advanced deliveries to refine and finalise vehicle configuration in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex in the coming weeks.
As with all Canoo vehicles, the LDV is built on a proprietary multi-purpose platform (MPP) architecture that integrates the motors, battery module and other critical driving components.
It offers a modular design and 120 cubic feet cargo volume.
Canoo anticipates starting production of the Lifestyle Delivery Vehicles beginning in Q4, 2022.
Tony Aquila, Investor, Chairman and CEO of Canoo, says: “We are proud to have been selected by Walmart, one of the most sophisticated buyers in the world, to provide our high-tech, all-electric, American made Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle to add to their impressive logistics capabilities. Our LDV has the turning radius of a small passenger vehicle on a parking friendly, compact footprint, yet the payload and cargo space of a commercial delivery vehicle. This is the winning algorithm to seriously compete in the last mile delivery race, globally.
He adds: “Walmart’s massive store footprint provides a strategic advantage in today’s growing ‘Need it now’ mindset and an unmatched opportunity for growing EV demand, especially at today’s gas prices.”
“We’re thrilled to continue diversifying our last mile delivery fleet with Canoo’s unique and sustainably focused all-electric technology which will provide our associates with safe, ergonomic delivery vehicles,” comments David Guggina, senior vice president of innovation and automation, Walmart US. “Today, the closest Walmart to customers is right in their pockets – it’s the Walmart app. By continuing to expand our last mile delivery fleet in a sustainable way, we’re able to provide customers and Walmart+ members with even more access to same-day deliveries while keeping costs low.”
In 2021, Canoo announced it had selected Bentonville, Arkansas, as its headquarters and Pryor, Oklahoma as the site for its U.S. manufacturing, further establishing an EV ecosystem in the heartland to create thousands of technology and manufacturing jobs in the surrounding communities.
