Nikola Motor Company & Bosch To Jointly Develop Powertrain System For Nikola’s Class 8 Hydrogen-Electric Truck

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The powertrain system to be used in Nikola Motor Company’s Class 8 hydrogen-electric truck offering is being developed jointly with Bosch, and will utilize Bosch’s eAxle, according to a new press release.

This new powertrain solution will reportedly allow Nikola Motor Company to release a Class 8 semi truck product featuring over 1,000 horsepower and 2,000 pound-feet of torque. The current plan is for this “zero emissions” truck to be released by 2021.

The press release provides details: “Bosch’s eAxle expertise has enabled Nikola to move quickly on an aggressive path to bring its electric truck to market. The eAxle developed by Bosch is a scalable, modular platform with the motor, power electronics, and transmission in one compact unit. This makes it suitable for vehicles of all kinds, from small passenger cars to light trucks. Nikola and Bosch will use this know-how to commercialize the world’s first true dual-motor commercial-vehicle eAxle for a long-haul truck.

“The eAxle will use proven commercial vehicle electric machine technology and SMG (separate motor generator) motors from Bosch. … The eAxles will be paired with a custom-designed fuel cell system — also being developed jointly between Nikola and Bosch — designed to deliver benchmark vehicle range. The overall vehicle controls will also be jointly developed based upon Bosch’s vehicle control software and hardware. The Nikola Bosch zero local emission powertrain is designed to achieve segment- leading performance at a competitive total cost of ownership to traditional powertrains.”

If Bosch truly is as intimately involved with the development process at Nikola Motor Company as this press release makes out to be the case, then that bodes rather well for the company. Possibly enough so as to erase some of the many doubts about the company’s seriousness (going on what we know so far, an argument could be made that the firm is a scam of some kind).

For more background information on that, see: Nikola Motor Company Unveiling — Details On “Zero Emissions” Semi Truck.