NASA and USPS stopped using Canoo EVS despite CEO’s pledge of support

NASA and the United States Postal service have stopped using the Electric Vans made by the now-bankrupt CANOO, even though the former CEO was a supporter of the vehicle.

NASA purchased three EVS CANOOs in 2023 with the goal of using the vans to shuttle astronauts to the launchpad for the moon. The space agency told Techcrunch that Canoo “couldn’t meet our mission requirements.” In October, Nasa said it leased the airtream-built “Astrovan” from Boeing that Aerospace company assigned to their own crewed space missionsSee rank-.

Meanwhile, the USPS said in an emailed statement that the six vehicles purchased “for evaluation purposes” in 2024 “are no longer in use.” “An evaluation has been completed,” the postal service wrote, and “no investment is anticipated.” The USPS declined to share details or the final results of the evaluation.

Canoo also provided at least one demonstration vehicle at least for the Department of Defense (DOD) before it went bankrupt. The dod did not respond to an emailed request about whether it had continued to use the van.

Canoo filed for bankruptcy in January 2025 after years of financial struggles and failure to create a market for electric vans. Soon, former CEO Tony Aquila made a $4 million offer For initial assets in MarchSee rank-. Aquila told the bankruptcy court that the “main motivation” for buying the asset was “the desire to honor (cayoo) for providing services and support for certain government programs.”

NASA and the USPS declined to say whether I would approach the agency about supporting the vehicle. Aquila did not respond to a request for comment. An attorney representing Aquila in the bankruptcy proceedings also did not respond.

Bankruptcy judge approved the sale to Aquila in AprilSee rank-. They’re not the only entity to buy the company’s assets, though.

Many of the eight parties signed NdR to evaluate property, prototypes, prototypes, and equipment, trause bankruptcy, said the time. Lawyers for CANOO say some of the parties are close to making an offer. One of the harbingers, a California-based trucking company created by former Canoo employees in 2021. Another is a mysterious financier from the UK named Charles Garson.

Harbinger, at the time, had accused Canoo of hiding assets from the sale process. It also claimed trevuRuptcy: it was not liked by Mr. Aquila “by accepting the offer without marketing the assets of the bankrupt company. Garson claimed to be willing to pay more than $ 20 million for the assets of Canoo, but the judge finally Deciding investors do not form midwife in timeSee rank-.

Lawyers and attorneys for Canoo argued that Aquila presented the best and most assertive offer. He also claimed to be one of the other potential bidders – although he never explained to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States because of “foreign ownership.” Lawyers for Aquila and CANOO GLegged this particular problem to award contracts with NASA, USPS, and Dod. Harbinger and Garson declined to comment.