Aug. 18—Canoo, a leading high-tech electric vehicle and battery module designer and manufacturer, announced early last week they had finally settled an incentive and jobs agreement with the state of Oklahoma and the Cherokee Nation totaling more than $113 million.

This puts back in motion plans to construct a vehicle assembly plant in Oklahoma City and a battery module manufacturing plant in the MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor, respectively. More than 1,360 jobs are expected to be created. Pryor is a 20-minute commute from Claremore on the four-lane State Highway 20.

Canoo also signed on-the-job training agreements with the Cherokee Nation. Under these agreements, the Cherokee Nation is committed to working with Canoo to identify skilled workers within their reservation to staff the battery module manufacturing facility in Pryor.

Canoo is already hiring for both sites and is advertising for its open positions. The company is working closely with the Cherokee Nation and with the State of Oklahoma and local career technology schools and staffing agencies to recruit and train a skilled advanced manufacturing workforce.

Some job postings already online include HR, manufacturing associate-team lead, senior CAE model building engineer, battery management systems engineer, charging infrastructure engineer, and team leads for manufacturing. Additional Oklahoma City jobs are posted.

According to the latest announcement, the incentive agreements will be spread out over a 10-year period and require the company to meet job creation and investment targets.

Canoo first announced plans to build in Oklahoma in June 2021.

Tony Aquila, chairman and CEO of Canoo, said, "It's been a multi-year effort to get to this point, and we are delighted to have finalized these agreements, which enable Canoo to hire more than 1,300 Oklahomans and fulfill the vision of its state and tribal leaders to bring new industry to the state."

Aquila said the agreement with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce will enable Canoo to receive performance-based payments from the Quality Jobs program and the Quick Action Closing Fund and to receive workforce training support. The Department of Commerce has issued a letter confirming Canoo's eligibility for certain state tax credit and tax exemption programs.

Aquila says that Canoo is pushing ahead with investments in equipment and jobs. Canoo will invest more than $320 million in its Oklahoma City assembly facility and Pryor battery module manufacturing plant. Together, these facilities will create jobs at wages that exceed average state and local salaries, according to Department of Commerce data.