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posted by janrinok on Sunday December 04 2016, @09:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-rollin'-coal dept.

In a recent article on Jalopnik.com, Shep McAllister talks about the Nikola Motor Company and the Nikola One. The Nikola One will be the first hybrid hydrogen-electric class-8 semi.

Six months ago the Nikola Motor Company came out of nowhere and announced it was going to put the first electric-powered big rig on American roads. We've been skeptical, but Nikola just revealed a full-sized model that apparently works, and more importantly a plan to build and sell it at scale.

[...] The Nikola One is a semi-truck sleeper cab, meaning it's got a little apartment behind the driver's seat. The Nikola Two will be a day cab version that's a little shorter and cheaper, but running the same hyrdogen[sic]-charged electric motor set.

[...] So the Nikola truck is supposed to be able to cover 1,200 miles without refilling its hydrogen supply, but we've been hearing that figure and the 1,000 horsepower, 2,000 lb-ft of torque claims since the first renders of this thing were unveiled back in the summer.

It's an interesting concept and if it works out we might be seeing the end of diesel trucking in the US.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2016, @11:49PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2016, @11:49PM (#437012)

    Do you have insider info? Like, is Musk looking at buying this new Nikola company?? He already bought Solar City, might as well take on some more debt while he's at it.

  • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Monday December 05 2016, @01:39AM

    by butthurt (6141) on Monday December 05 2016, @01:39AM (#437040) Journal

    I'm no insider; I don't even know much about the topic.

    An earlier report about Nikola said that methane, rather than a hydrogen, would be the fuel for Nikola's trucks:

    Nikola’s trucks will be powered by an electric-natural gas hybrid system, similar to what drives electric-diesel locomotives. The truck will contain a large natural gas tank system that will fuel a turbine, which in turn will power the electric motor.

    -- https://www.trucks.com/2016/07/21/tesla-electric-trucks-buses/ [trucks.com]

    That would have been a more workable choice, in my opinion.

    The company's CEO speculated that Tesla Motors would use a storage battery:

    If Tesla were to put a full megawatt battery in the truck, 11 times the size of what goes into its more than the P90D sports sedan, there still would be only get enough power to go four or five hours, far below what is needed for long-haul trucking, [Nikola CEO] Milton said.

    -- https://www.trucks.com/2016/07/21/nikola-tesla-trucks/ [trucks.com]

    I suppose there could be synergism in combining the companies. For instance if they're thinking of making hydrogen from solar electricity, SolarCity makes PV cells.