Yesterday, we reported on a new deal between Walmart and burgeoning electric vehicle manufacturer Canoo. Now we’re getting more details and it turns out that Walmart doesn’t just want 4,500 delivery vehicles; it also wants to keep the same vehicles out of the hands of Amazon and it might buy into Canoo down the road.
Canoo for its part has continued to soldier on towards the beginning of vehicle production despite a number of roadblocks over the past year. Now that it’s relocated its headquarters to Bentonville, Akansas, which is also the home of Walmart, this partnership is a natural fit. First spotted by Automotive News, the contract between the brands has some interesting language within.
Specifically, it says that Canoo “will not enter into any agreement for any services involving the design, manufacture, consult, advice, lease, or sale of EVs to, or issue any equity, equity-linked or debt securities of any type, or enter into any agreement for the purpose of transferring control of the Company to, Amazon.com, Inc., its subsidiaries, or affiliates.”
Read More: This Is The Crew Transportation Vehicle That Canoo Has Built For NASA
That’s interesting considering that Amazon already has a deal with Rivian for an all-electric delivery van. Could it be that Walmart thinks that Canoo will offer a substantially better product than Rivian? That would be quite groundbreaking if true. Either way, Walmart can increase its order from 4,500 to 10,000 should they choose to.
The hypermarket chain giant has also included an option to take a position in Canoo in the future. The warrant involved allows Walmart to purchase up to 61.2 million shares over the course of 10 years at an exercise price of $2.15 per share. As of this writing, Canoo is trading for $3.46.
Walmart has also ordered 5,000 electric delivery vans from General Motors’ BrightDrop. As far as we can find, no such language in its contract with Walmart prevents GM from also selling BrightDrop vans to Amazon.
