According to TechCrunch, NASA and the United States Postal Service have stopped using electric vans from the bankrupt startup Canoo. NASA bought three vans in 2023 to shuttle Artemis astronauts but says Canoo can no longer meet its requirements, so it’s now leasing a different vehicle from Boeing. The USPS bought six vans in 2024 for evaluation but says that evaluation is complete and the vehicles are no longer in use. Canoo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2025, and former CEO Tony Aquila bought its assets for $4 million in April. Aquila told the bankruptcy court a main reason for his bid was to honor commitments to government programs like NASA and USPS. Neither agency confirms he ever contacted them about support, and they’ve moved on from the vehicles.
Bankruptcy bid drama
Here’s the thing: Aquila’s purchase wasn’t a smooth or undisputed process. The bankruptcy trustee said up to eight parties, including a rival company called Harbinger and a mysterious UK financier, were interested. Harbinger accused the trustee of unfairly favoring Aquila and claimed Canoo hid assets. That UK investor, Charles Garson, even claimed he was willing to pay up to $20 million—five times Aquila’s bid—but the judge said he didn’t formalize it in time. So why did Aquila win with a lower offer? Canoo’s lawyers argued his bid was the most firm. They also floated a vague national security concern, suggesting another bidder’s “foreign ownership” could have raised issues with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, especially given the contracts with NASA, USPS, and the Department of Defense. Pretty convenient argument, right?
The hardware reality check
This story is a brutal reality check for hardware startups, especially in the capital-intensive EV space. Building a reliable, mission-critical vehicle is astronomically hard. NASA’s needs aren’t your average delivery route; we’re talking about transporting astronauts in specialized suits to a rocket launchpad. That requires insane reliability, specific environmental controls, and rigorous certification. When your supplier goes bankrupt, that entire support ecosystem—parts, software updates, specialized mechanics—evaporates overnight. It’s no surprise NASA quickly pivoted back to a known, aerospace-grade entity like Boeing, which commissioned a custom Airstream-built “Astrovan”. For industrial and government users, the supplier’s long-term viability is just as critical as the product specs. This is why established, top-tier suppliers in industrial computing, like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs, become the default choice. Their reliability and continued support are non-negotiable for operations that can’t afford downtime.
Empty promises?
So what about Aquila’s pledge to support these government vehicles? It looks pretty hollow now. Neither NASA nor the USPS says he reached out, and they’ve officially terminated use. It raises a big question: was his stated “principal motivation” to honor commitments just a useful narrative to help win court approval for a cheap asset purchase? Possibly. Once the physical and intellectual property are acquired, the actual obligation to service a handful of existing vehicles is a massive cost center with almost zero revenue. From a cold business perspective, it makes little sense. The whole episode feels like the final, messy footnote for Canoo—a company that always seemed better at making sleek prototypes and landing press-worthy government demos than at building a real, sustainable business.
