\n<\/p>\n
NASA and the United States Postal Service have stopped using electric vans made by now-bankrupt EV startup Canoo, despite the former CEO\u2019s claim that he would provide support for the vehicles.<\/p>\n
NASA purchased three of Canoo\u2019s EVs in 2023 with the intention of using the vans to shuttle astronauts to the launchpad for its Artemis missions to the Moon. The space agency told TechCrunch that Canoo \u201cwas no longer able to meet our mission requirements.\u201d As of October, NASA said it is leasing the Airstream-built \u201cAstrovan\u201d from Boeing that the aerospace company commissioned for its own crewed space missions<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the USPS said in an emailed statement the six vehicles it purchased \u201cfor evaluation purposes\u201d in 2024 \u201care no longer in use.\u201d The \u201cevaluation has been completed,\u201d the postal service wrote, and \u201cno further investments are anticipated.\u201d The USPS declined to share any details or final results of the evaluation.<\/p>\n Canoo also provided at least one demonstration vehicle to the Department of Defense (DOD) before its bankruptcy. The DOD did not respond to emailed requests about whether it has continued using the van.<\/p>\n Canoo filed for bankruptcy in January 2025 after years of financial struggles and failing to establish a market for its electric vans. Soon after, former CEO Tony Aquila made a $4 million bid for the startup\u2019s assets in March<\/a>. Aquila told the bankruptcy trustee that a \u201cprincipal motivation\u201d for buying the assets was his \u201cdesire to honor [Canoo\u2019s] commitment to provide service and support for certain government programs.\u201d<\/p>\n NASA and the USPS declined to share whether Aquila ever approached either agency about supporting the vehicles. Aquila did not respond to a request for comment. A lawyer who represented Aquila in the bankruptcy proceedings also did not respond. <\/p>\n The bankruptcy judge approved the sale to Aquila in April<\/a>. He was not the only entity interested in buying the company\u2019s assets, though. <\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> As many as eight parties signed NDAs to evaluate Canoo\u2019s intellectual property, prototypes, and equipment, the bankruptcy trustee said at the time. A lawyer for Canoo said a handful of those parties came close to making a bid. One was Harbinger, a California-based electric trucking company that was created by former Canoo employees in 2021. Another was a mysterious financier from the U.K. named Charles Garson.<\/p>\n Harbinger, at the time, had accused Canoo of hiding assets from the sale process. It also claimed the bankruptcy trustee had \u201cunfairly favored Mr. Aquila\u201d by accepting his offer without widely marketing the bankrupt company\u2019s assets. Garson claimed to be willing to pay as much as $20 million for Canoo\u2019s assets, but the judge ultimately decided the investor did not formalize his bid in time<\/a>.<\/p>\n The trustee and lawyers for Canoo argued that Aquila presented the best and most firm bid. They also claimed one of the other potential bidders \u2014 though they never specified who \u2014 could have raised concerns with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States because of its \u201cforeign ownership.\u201d Lawyers for Aquila and Canoo flagged this as a particular problem in light of the contracts with NASA, the USPS, and the DOD. Harbinger and Garson declined to comment. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n