In 2014, and just over a decade after the appearance of Tesla, Nikola arrived. It was another automotive company, another that honored the electrical engineer and inventor And that he also wanted to mark the way in the world of electric vehicles. However, his incursion was not in the cars segment, but of trucks, which earned him the nickname ‘THE TESLA OF TRUCKS‘.
He immediately caught attention, with promises such as electric and hydrogen trucks with autonomies of 2,000 kilometers. Today, its trucks are a mere memory and the company is on the verge of bankruptcy.
On the edge of the abyss. That is what sources point in both Bloomberg as of The Washington Postwho claim that anonymous representatives of the company have told them that the company is evaluating their financial and liquidity needs to carry out a financial restructuring.
And within the options, the sale of the company, the aforementioned restructuring and bankruptcy are included. The question is how a company that became valued -during a very brief period of time, yes- above a giant like Fordit has ended in this situation. And the full photo is quite eloquent.
Chulo was, really, but it was just an idea
Nikola Tesla. It was in 2016 when we met the company’s first truck, a six -wheeled beast, a power of 2,000 hp and the ability to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 30 seconds to maximum load. It could also maintain a speed of 100 km/h rising a 6% slope and, thanks to a pile of hydrogen, it had an autonomy of almost 2,000 kilometers. Your name? Nikola One.
375,000 dollars was what they were going to ask once to production, something that would begin in 2020. However, that 2020 and without having sold a single truck, Nikola became a public company. It was a strange movement because the only thing that existed were promises. Already We said In its presentation: very nice on paper, but although the truck could be reserved paying a tank of $ 1,500, there was no product.
Two. Tre. Even so, Nikola continued to present trucks. The TWO was the following in 2017, a truck of which they did show a prototype that moved with electric motors and autonomies more restrained than those of the first: between 800 and 1,200 kilometers. It also has hydrogen battery, cameras instead of mirrors. And then the Tre In 2018, repeating hydrogen formula, up to 1,200 kilometers and a design more adapted to European roadswhere long morro trucks do not have so much place due to their maneuverability.
They had three trucks on their way, but none produced and the promise was still to start deliver LO TESLA AND THE COMPANY affirmed that I already had customers with reservations of even 800 trucks in the US.
Controversial. They did not wait and, in 2018, Nikola sued Tesla. It’s funny, really, but beyond the word game, it is because Nikola asked the Musk company due to alleged patent infractions for the Tesla Semithe proposal of electric truck of Tesla. According to them, Tesla had copied three key points of the Nikola One, such as the fiselogue design, the enveloping windshield and the entrance door.
They looked, yes (and, for tastes, colors, but the semi looks like a van split in half and the One a more futuristic vehicle).
But the main course arrived in 2020: due to accusations of fraud, The CEO and founder of Nikola, Trevor Milton, resigned. It was after a devastating report that Nikola described as a “ocean of lies” and pointed to Milton as responsible for mulminating shareholders to bet on the company. “There was no stack of fuel in the truck. We never affirmed that it existed,” Milton defended himself, who also boasted of having a lot of development technologies that turned out to be from third parties.
Cancellations. Since 2020, the waters have been calmer, but that there would be no controversy does not mean that things were good for doors inside. The Badger, His rival against the Cybertruck de Teslait was canceled along with other prototypes and the number of hydrogen trucks does not give to sustain the company.
In Bloomberg they point out that, during the first nine months of 2024, only 200 were sold and in October the company said they had effective to finance their operations until the first quarter of 2025, But not beyond. In December They offered Up to 100 million dollars in shares, but it seems that things have failed to take off. We will see what happens with ‘The Tesla of the trucks’, but its situation does not look good.