A new electric vehicle called the Canoo, which will launch next year and opened a waitlist for customers on January 21, looks very little like a traditional car…

The basic shape of a car hasn’t really changed over a century, with space for an engine, space for passengers, and space for luggage, all arranged in basically the same configuration. But because powerful electric motors and batteries are smaller than a standard powertrain, the whole shape of the vehicle could transform, if car designers were feeling creative. Canoo designed what it calls a “skateboard,” a thin platform that holds the battery cells, powertrain, and suspension, leaving room for a spacious jelly bean-shaped pod on top. “Inside the vehicle, it is as big as a big Suburban, but the footprint of the vehicle is smaller than a Toyota Prius,” Kranz says.
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