Illinois and Michigan won’t get to hoard all the electric pickup glory to themselves. From out of Los Angeles comes the West Coast’s first real shot at a battery-powered truck from Canoo, which will use its versatile, skateboard-style EV platform to offer a highly modular, cab-forward, blisteringly quick utility vehicle.
Canoo’s truck is close in stature to the new Ford F-150, coming in about as high and two inches narrower, though on a wheelbase 10 inches shorter. Because it has no combustion drivetrain to accommodate, though, its extended cab is pushed far forward, giving its bed more space than the Ford. Albeit one inch narrower, the Canoo’s bed comes in at 72 inches, and with its built-in extension can expand to 102 inches—half a foot longer than the F-150’s eight-foot bed. It’s not a total specs rout, as its 1,800-pound max payload falls short of even the lightest-duty F-150, though it’s still markedly better than its unibody fellow the Honda Ridgeline with its 1,600-pound limit.
Pure numbers aren’t the only place where the Canoo’s bed is comparable to or better than the new F-150’s. Modular anchors and dividers can secure all sorts of payloads, and both sides of the bed fold down to form workspaces, on which power tools can be used, drawing from four 110-volt outlets. They can be stowed again in an absurd amount of miscellaneous storage, from in the back of the extended cab to a frunk-style compartment out front of it. There’s even a secure compartment in the side of the bed which also serves as a side step for easy cargo access.