Nikola Motor Company blew up the world of zero-emission vehicles last week with the announcement of five new vehicles, ranging from its battery and hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks to a new electric personal watercraft. The announcements were made at Nikola World on April 16th and CleanTechnica was there to capture all of the news firsthand.
Nikola Motors is hiring and is giving priority to former Tesla workers, especially those who were recently laid off. It claims to have $8 billion in pre-orders for its hydrogen fuel cell powered tractor.
We’re excited to see one of three electric truck startups announcing a public event at Arizona Westworld, which we’ll cover in April 2019. The company is an interesting young one that is already accustomed to controversy.
In a sign that the company is perhaps not all that happy about Tesla releasing an all-electric semi truck, the Nikola Motor Company has filed a lawsuit against Tesla alleging design patent infringements relating to that product.
Building on its earlier announcements relating to the release of a hydrogen fuel cell powered Class 8 semi truck, and also reservations, Nikola Motor Company has now unveiled plans relating to the development of a $1 billion manufacturing facility near Phoenix, Arizona.
The commercial vehicles technology and services provider WABCO Holdings has invested $10 million into Nikola Motor Company, thereby acquiring a 1% stake in the company.
Here’s an in-depth look at electric semi trucks and electric heavy-duty trucks on the market today and planned for the coming years.
The USA alone uses roughly 220 billion gallons of hydrocarbon fuel a year for transportation. Diverting 3.4% of that to hydrogen as a fuel still displaces 7.5 billion gallons, and the gallons which will be diverted are the most polluting and have the highest greenhouse gas emissions.
The somewhat controversial firm Nikola Motor Company — controversial because of the apparent flipflop from planning to offer an all-electric truck to offering a hydrogen fuel cell one, after numerous deposits were taken, amongst other reasons — has selected Nel ASA as the builder of its planned 16-station hydrogen refueling network.
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.
