Tesla Motors Club
Jay Leno visited the HQ of Canoo, a company building a city EV that will be subscription based. Essentially, you will not buy or lease the vehicle. You will pay a month to month fee which will include everything including registration, charging, repairs and insurance. The vehicle itself is basically a futuristic minivan. It does seat about 7 people. It is all electric with a range around 235 mi. Obviously, the vehicle is not designed to be exciting or sporty. It is purely utilitarian, to get you from A to B.
The subscription model is intriguing. I like that it is pay-as-you-go with no long term commitments. It could potentially be a lot cheaper than buying, depending on how long you keep the vehicle. The fact that the fee includes everything including registration, charging, repairs and insurance could mean huge savings. That's the biggest advantage going for Canoo, I think.
But I feel like Canoo will basically fill the "car rental" niche. It will work for people who need to rent a car for a short period of time. But I am not sure it will work for people who need a permanent vehicle. And of course, the car is not sexy at all. So it definitely won't appeal to people who like to own cars for their looks or performance.
I think the biggest weakness of the Canoo EV might be that it won't be fully autonomous. I think that is a real missed opportunity. A robotaxi would be more useful as you could send it off to pick up the kids from school while you do something else. A subscription based robotaxi could really work. But a subscription based car that you still need to drive yourself is more limited IMO.
The subscription model is intriguing. I like that it is pay-as-you-go with no long term commitments. It could potentially be a lot cheaper than buying, depending on how long you keep the vehicle. The fact that the fee includes everything including registration, charging, repairs and insurance could mean huge savings. That's the biggest advantage going for Canoo, I think.
But I feel like Canoo will basically fill the "car rental" niche. It will work for people who need to rent a car for a short period of time. But I am not sure it will work for people who need a permanent vehicle. And of course, the car is not sexy at all. So it definitely won't appeal to people who like to own cars for their looks or performance.
I think the biggest weakness of the Canoo EV might be that it won't be fully autonomous. I think that is a real missed opportunity. A robotaxi would be more useful as you could send it off to pick up the kids from school while you do something else. A subscription based robotaxi could really work. But a subscription based car that you still need to drive yourself is more limited IMO.