The state's electric car dreams may be up a stream without a paddle.
About a year ago, Stitt and Co. excitedly announced they reached a corporate welfare deal with fledgling electric automaker Canoo, promising the company up to $300,000,000 in taxpayer subsidies to build – oxymoron alert – a "mega microfactory" on a 400-acre site at the MidAmerica Industrial Park near Tulsa.
Stitt and Co. said the deal could bring up to 2,000 jobs to the Sooner State, and in a celebratory press conference, claimed it showed Oklahoma "is an innovation leader in electric vehicle technology." Here's the hype video they made about the news:
ICYMI: @canoo is coming to Oklahoma!
— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) June 21, 2021
Here's a behind the scenes look at a great day for the future of our state. pic.twitter.com/XD6fbb6xvE
Although Stitt and Co. were super excited about giving a company that had still yet to manufacture a product up to $300,000,000 in tax breaks and government welfare to move here, I was a bit more skeptical.
Here's what I had to say at the time:
I hope this works out and everything, but I won’t believe it is actually happing until Sarah Stitt wrecks her first state-owned Canoo van on the Turner Turnpike!
As Tesla has taught us, electric automobile manufacturers are unreliable and generally struggle to deliver on their lofty promises. Either way, let’s hope the Canoo factory in Tulsa works out better than the MG plant in Ardmore.
Sadly it doesn't look like the first lady is going to blow a battery on the turnpike anytime soon.
As stocks and equities continue to tumble in the fallout of rising interest rates, inflation, and supply chain issues, Canoo is dealing with a cash crisis and its future – even with all those cushy Oklahoma subsidies – appears to be in serious jeopardy:
EV startup Canoo is running out of cash and doubtful about its future https://t.co/VAWPssm2Rd pic.twitter.com/UAiMDyuflS
— Verge Transportation (@vergecars) May 10, 2022
.@Canoo production in doubt as the EV startup burns through cash: https://t.co/PVxEFqbozQ pic.twitter.com/B2RAUsNror
— Car and Driver (@CARandDRIVER) May 11, 2022
Yep, it looks like this Canoo deal may tip before it even gets in the water. Maybe that's a good thing? Although the State has promised lots of subsidies to the company, Canoo still has to do stuff like build cars and employ people to claim them, something that looks like will never happen. In fact, Stitt's Communications She Troll – Carly Atchison – claimed back in March the state hasn't given them a dollar:
"To date, not one dollar or one credit has been given to Canoo. Incentives and tax credits have strict performance metrics that must be met in order to qualify for the incentive or credit."
Well, I guess that's a positive. Even though Oklahoma has wasted countless hours of time and resources trying to seduce a suspicious pipe-dream of a company like Canoo to set up here, at least we haven't given them a bunch of money... yet. I guess with Stitt's professional background in high-risk mortgage lending, there's always a chance the state may give them a high-interest subprime loan in the future.
Anyway, until that happens, I guess we'll wait around to see if Canoo's future prospects improve. If they go under, it will be interesting to see how Stitt and Co. spin and justify this over-sold waste of time. Maybe they'll borrow a line from Sam Presti who borrowed a line from Tribe and go with the "scared money don't make none" excuse.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We'll keep you advised.
