Commercial EV startup Canoo has announced is setting up a battery module manufacturing facility at MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor, Oklahoma.
Located in proximity to Canoo's future MegaMicro Factory vehicle assembly plant and the company's battery cell supplier Panasonic, the new site will produce modules in a total annual capacity of 3.2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) once fully ramped.
"We are accelerating our hiring plans in Pryor with the establishment of our EV Battery Module Manufacturing Facility, which will produce our proprietary battery modules, energy management system and thermal control technology for our MPP platform."
Tony Aquila, Chairman and CEO at Canoo
The executive added that this is the first building block for Canoo's production ramp strategy, "with more news coming very soon." Aquila also noted that Canoo will be the first EV company to produce its battery modules with hydroelectricity from the Grand River Dam Authority.
Gallery: Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle Electric Minivan
The company will begin renovations on its 100,000-square-foot (9,290-square-meter) building located on a 10-acre (4-hectare) campus in Q4, 2022, with the delivery of secured manufacturing equipment to follow in Q1, 2023. The Battery Module Manufacturing Facility will produce proprietary battery modules on high-capacity assembly lines with state-of-the-art automated machinery.
Canoo has refined and validated its battery module manufacturing over recent months and is awaiting delivery of machinery at the new facility.
The battery facility will be located next to Canoo's MegaMicro Factory, a 400-acre (161-hectare) industrial complex located near some of the nation's most highly traveled thoroughfares. When fully operational, the MegaMicro Factory will employ more than 2,000 people and will include a full commercialization facility with a paint, body shop and general assembly plant.
In recent months, Canoo announced several significant fleet orders for its Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV). Kingbee ordered 9,300 units, Zeeba 5,450 and Walmart 4,500—with an option to extend the order to 10,000.
Production of the LDV is scheduled to begin in 2023, but Canoo announced in August it would outsource initial production to an unspecified contractor. The company previously said it would assemble its own vehicles at a small facility in Bentonville, Arkansas.
