Earlier this week, Walmart made headlines by placing a huge order for thousands of Canoo electric vans to be used for last mile deliveries and transportation – but that was just the beginning of a tsunami of good news for Canoo fans shareholders, as well as NASA and the US military has moved forward with orders.
NASA has announced plans to use Canoo EVs as last-mile transporters to get astronauts to the launch pad. That’s not a huge assignment, of course, but one that is highly visible and emphasizes the large cargo capacities of the small vans (8 people, consisting of four astronauts, three support crew members, a driver and an assortment of duffels and tool sets).
NASA Electric Transport for Artemis Program
Image courtesy of NASA.
“But wait,” as the great Billy Mays might say, “there is more!” It seems like Walmart has even bigger plans for Canoo. Under the terms of the EV purchase agreement, which was made public following a recent SEC filing, it appears that a Warrant Issuance Agreement was also included, giving Walmart the option to exercise the purchase of 61,160,011 shares of fully paid up and non-calculable shares of Canoo common stock at a price of $2.15. The SEC filing reads::
The Warrant has a ten-year term and vests immediately for 15,290,003 ordinary shares. Thereafter, subject to shareholder approval as described below, if applicable, the Warrant vests quarterly for amounts commensurate with the net income realized by the Company and its affiliates from transactions with Walmart or its affiliates under the EV Fleet Purchase Agreement or made possible by any other agreement between the Company and Walmart, and any net income attributable to products or services offered by Walmart or its affiliates associated with the Company or its affiliates , until such net income equals $300 million, at which time the Warrant fully vests.
Pursuant to the Warrant Agreement, the Company will convene and hold a shareholders’ meeting to consider and vote on the issuance of the Warrant in respect of all common shares of more than 53,852,492 shares (representing more than 20% of the outstanding common shares of the Company at the date of the Warrant Agreement), in accordance with the applicable rules of the NASDAQ Global Select Market . In the event that shareholder approval is not obtained, in lieu of stock that would have been issued to Walmart, the Company is obligated to pay Walmart an amount in cash equal to the product of: (i) the excess of (x) the 30-day volume-weighted average price per share as of the day immediately preceding the applicable exercise date and (y) the strike price, times (ii) the number of shares that would have been issued on that applicable exercise date if shareholder approval had been obtained.
Walmart’s investment in the van startup business is a lot smaller than Amazon’s investment in Rivianbut it seems that Canoo is becoming a trend while Rivian is still trying to recover from an image tarnished by falling stock prices. Canoo stocks (NASDAQ:GOEV) are trading at a tick above $4.60 as I type this, with even more upward pressure on the stock coming from the The next big piece of Canoo news that came out this week: Canoo is now in the military!
Image courtesy of Canoo.
Canoo has been awarded a contract by the US military to provide an electric vehicle to test the platform in various service areasfrom on-base transport and cargo transport to armored transport (if the platform is up to the challenge).
“As a US company based domestically, it is an honor to be selected by the US military,” said Tony Aquila, investor, chairman and CEO of Canoo. “This is another opportunity to prove our patented technology – which is adaptable and adaptable for multiple use cases and special environments.”
Do you appreciate the originality of CleanTechnica and the coverage of cleantech? Consider becoming one CleanTechnica member, supporter, technician or ambassador — or a patron on Patreon.
