Nikola is a startup that is carrying out the development of trucks with hydrogen-powered electric motors . There are four projects under development and, in particular, Nikola One is based on the capacity of hydrogen , suitably compressed, to power a gas turbine generator at the base of the electric motor operation instead of the hydrogen fuel cells. The simultaneous use of regenerative braking technologies to integrate traditional disc brakes, in the original plans of the startup founder, Trevor Milton , they should have further reduced stopping distance and fuel consumption.

Incidentally, a few weeks ago the company was put to the sedan when someone made it known that the Nikola One promotional video was a scam and that this prototype One never actually worked. It seems, in fact, that the Nikola One example of the launch promotional video was completely fake and was simply a 1: 1 scale model, without propulsion, taken to the top of a hill and then left to slide downstream to record the video. .

Nikola One

Nikola between financial difficulties and a still alive dream

However, despite these negative vicissitudes Nikola seems to have the liquidity necessary to continue the project . The company’s latest quarterly financial results, made public on Monday, in fact revealed the presence of liquidity of 900 millions of dollars , due to the listing on the stock exchange which took place last June.

Nikola, however, records losses of 117 million dollars in this fiscal quarter, without generating revenue. Losses were less than some analysts expected and investors reacted positively to the results, driving Nikola’s share price up 2%. The liquidity available to the company should allow it to survive for another two years, thus giving it an opportunity to achieve the objectives set initially. During this time it will have to start generating revenue, or attracting further investment.

Nikola Two

Surely a U-turn will have to be imprinted, and we will have to recover from the “scandal” of the rigged sample of the promotional video. Which in September led to the resignation of Milton and the establishment of a new leadership . The main objective will be to manage cash on hand: it may seem like a substantial figure, but in Milton’s initial plans there was the idea of ​​marketing three electric trucks together, and an electric pickup, which certainly requires a very large investment. .

Nikola Tre

Nikola’s new strategy now includes increased collaboration with experienced truck and truck manufacturers , to achieve advantages in design and mass production. Nikola has been working with the Italian Iveco for some time on the battery electric semi-trailer Nikola Tre , but collaboration of this type will soon be extended to other projects as well. Nikola says he has recently completed assembly of the first Nikola Tre prototype and plans to complete four more by the end of the year.

He is also completing construction of one plant owned in Arizona for the purpose of commencing delivery of the Nikola Tre in the concluding part of 2021. There is also no news regarding the feared collaboration with General Motors and on Nikola Badger , an electric pick-up that in the initial plans should have represented a “response” to Tesla Cybertruck . Nikola’s new CEO, Mark Russell , said in this regard that “Badger was an” interesting and exciting project “ but the company is now “focused on heavy trucks and hydrogen production infrastructure” .

Nikola Badger

Hydrogen fueling still distant in time

Nikola’s project of putting hydrogen-powered trucks on the market is therefore encountering many difficulties. from the financial problems just described, but also from the difficulties in treating hydrogen and producing it in volumes . we learn, Nikola struggled to find a partner for the realization of a network of hydrogen refueling stations . When Trevor Milton was CEO, the company said it had found a way to produce the necessary low-cost hydrogen fuel, without disclosing the details about this project.

Nikola does not focus only on hydrogen, as its trucks use electric motors based on futuristic technological solutions. Of course, if he actually has to rely on the massive support of already established truck manufacturers, such as Iveco, his business may not be as profitable as originally planned.