Elon Musk grabbed up Nikola Tesla's last name, and now Trevor Milton of Nikola Motors has taken his first name, and raised vast amounts of money on a promise of delivering a truck in 2022 with a 600-mile range combining batteries and fuel cells.
Nikola Badger electric pickup: Arriving in 2022, production partner TBA
The company plans to deliver its first commercial trucks to customers in the second half of 2021, Milton told Reuters. Trucks will initially be built at a factory in Ulm, Germany, but Nikola also plans to break ground on an Arizona factory later this year. Each factory will be able to build 35,000 vehicles a year at full capacity, according to Milton.
Nikola is also planning its own network of 700 hydrogen filling stations, to be used by its fuel-cell semi trucks. The pickup trucks could help justify the mammoth financial outlay required by that.
Nikola founder has $7.4 billion fortune on free truck orders
How Nikola Makes Money: hydrogen-electric trucks and sports vehicles
Nikola Corp. (NKLA), which designs and plans to manufacture hydrogen-electric trucks, just finished its first week as a publicly-traded company. Its stock is soaring. Nikola's shares more than doubled within days of completing a reverse merger with VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., which was listed as VTIQ on the Nasdaq prior to the deal. Currently, the startup's stock price is nearly 90% higher than it was on June 4, the day the combined entity's shares first began trading.1 As of the end of trading on June 12, Nikola had a market valuation of $23.1 billion, only $2.6 billion below the market cap of Ford Motor Co. (F).
That takes me right back to the fictional finance of the bad old days of the Dot.Com Bubble. Even market hypemaster Jim Cramer of CNBC is suspicious. But this time we are talking about a company with some real products and engineering to back up the hype.
Nikola (No Relation to Tesla) Passes Ford's Market Cap as It Readies EV Truck
EV startup Nikola promises its own electric pickup and semitruck, as the EV truck field begins to get crowded.
At the close of trading on Tuesday this week Nikola was valued at $28.799 billion, surpassing Ford's own valuation of $28.794 billion.
The issue with this scenario (permitted that one accepts this as an issue at all) is that Nikola has not started production of its intended electric trucks and currently has no revenue.
But the stock rally earlier this week appeared to be sparked by the announcement of the impending opening of reservations for its planned pickup truck, which, along with similar pickups planned by Rivian, Bollinger, Tesla, Lordstown, Hummer, Ford and probably a few others we're forgetting, are promised to debut at various points in the future. Nikola's pickup will be called Badger, and it will be revealed in the metal later this year after reservations open on June 29.
Nikola to Give Away a $60,000 Electric Truck in Drawing
A proven way to generate buzz.
14 hours ago - Nikola has yet to sell a vehicle, but already has a market cap of $23 billion. Some experts, including Jim Cramer, have expressed skepticism.
Nikola Is Moving Quickly to Generate Buzz for Its All-Electric Pickup Truck
Nikola (NKLA) Unveils Three Reservation Packages for the Badger Electric Pickup Truck
The first Nikola Badger reservation package will cost $250 and will entail a $500 discount applicable to the Badger’s MSRP – expected to vary between $60,000 and $90,000. The package also contains a ticket to the Nikola World 2020 in order to view the Badger in-person. Finally, the package will entail 2 entries into a ballot for the Badger giveaway.
Nikola, Tesla Map Different Paths to Commercial Truck Market
Tesla plans to use its own technology to build the company’s all-electric Semi truck, including batteries produced at its factory outside Reno, Nev., that supplies its passenger vehicles.
Nikola drew big attention to the electric-truck market this week as shares in the company soared after it began public trading through a merger, and it aims to be just as disruptive as Tesla with a plan to power big rigs through using batteries and hydrogen fuel-cell technology. But the company is building its future on partnerships with established industry manufacturers.
Phoenix-based Nikola has set up partnerships with equipment-maker CNH Industrial NV and automotive supplier Robert Bosch GmbH, which also have invested in the startup. Nikola plans to build a U.S. factory in Coolidge, Ariz., but initial production of its first semi trucks will be at a plant in Ulm, Germany, operated by IVECO, CNH’s commercial vehicle brand.
Electric truck start-up Nikola takes on car giants
7 days ago - Nikola Motor Company is a pioneer in electric heavy duty applications. ... The fully-electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric cabover semi-truck. Available in Europe and North America. The fully-electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric pickup truck. Available in North America.
Nikola Motor Company makes fully-electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric day cab semi-trucks. The Nikola Two is available in North America.
Nikola Corp
Nikola Motor Company designs and manufactures electric components, drivetrains and vehicles including the Nikola One and Nikola Two electric semi-trucks.
Nikola Corporation is an American hybrid truck design and manufacturing company based in Phoenix, Arizona, where it also has its research and development ...
Meanwhile
Tesla: Semis are getting ready for massive production upswing, Musk says
Tesla is going big. Earlier this week, CEO Elon Musk alerted his staff that the company would be making its Tesla Semi commercial truck a larger part of its business, bringing the trucks to “volume production.”
In an email first reported by Reuters, Musk didn’t mention a start date for the ramping up. But the news was enough to send Tesla’s stock past $1,000, a bump amidst some experts moving the stock from a “buy” to a “hold.”