Nikola stock plunges 26% after fraud claims complicate hydrogen plans:
Shares of hydrogen truck startup Nikola plunged 26 percent on Wednesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company was struggling to find partners to build a planned network of hydrogen fueling stations. Nikola's stock closed at $21.15 on Wednesday, a decline of 57 percent from the $50 peak reached on September 8
[...] Nikola now concedes that the truck never worked and that a promotional video of the truck was made by rolling it down a hill.
Nikola argued that this was old news because Nikola is no longer marketing the Nikola One and has a working prototype of the Nikola Two. But the revelations threw the company into chaos and forced Milton to resign on Sunday.
Previously:
New Report Claims Widespread Deception by Nikola Motor and Founder Trevor Milton
Nikola Motors Opening Reservations for Badger Electric Pickup Truck on June 27
Nikola Semi Startup Shines on Wall Street With $34BN Valuation
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Nikola semi startup shines on Wall Street with $34BN valuation:
While Tesla's long been the poster child for stratospheric market value despite modest profits, electric truckmaker Nikola knocked on Wall Street's door this week with a huge number.
As Automotive News points out, Nikola's market value reached $34 billion this week after its debut on the New York Stock Exchange last week. The incredible value, which is higher than Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, comes with a big caveat. The startup hasn't yet posted a single dollar in revenue.
In fact, Nikola's grand plans are even lengthier than we're used to from Tesla. The massive plant Nikola plans to build in Arizona won't be fully utilized until near the end of this decade, the company has previously said. The company did announce a notable new hire on Wednesday in Mark Duchesne. The executive will become Nikola's global head of manufacturing after he spent five years at Tesla and 22 years at Toyota.
[...] With all these grand plans moving ahead, Nikola forecasts revenue in 2023 as its semis begin trickling into the world. Today, the company says it has 14,000 reservations for its fuel-cell semi trucks, which it needs to still transform into actual preorders.
Tesla has its own semi truck, the Semi, which is reportedly ready for "volume production" and scheduled for launch next year.
Nikola Unveils Three Reservation Packages for the Badger Electric Pickup Truck
Nikola, the manufacturer of an electric version of the heavy-truck, experienced a phenomenal bull run last week, prompted by the news of an imminent opening of reservations for the much-anticipated Badger electric pickup truck. Today, Nikola Motors tweeted further details regarding the seminal event, currently slated for the 27th of June.
[...] 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.
[...] As a refresher, Nikola unveiled the Badger electric pickup truck back in February 2020 to compete with Tesla's much-anticipated Cybertruck. According to the details revealed by the company, the Badger will retail in two power configurations: an FCEV (Fuel-Cell Electric) or BEV (Battery-Electric). Though it sports a much more conventional design as opposed to the Cybertruck's sharp corners and the futuristic vibe, the Badger offers impressive specs. As an illustration, the electric truck will offer a headline range of 600 miles through either of the two power configurations. Moreover, it will offer an acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds, a torque of up to 980 pounds-feet, and a peak horsepower of 906.
Previously: Nikola Semi Startup Shines on Wall Street With $34BN Valuation
Related: Nikola Corporation to Unveil Game-Changing Battery Cell Technology at Nikola World 2020
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New report claims widespread deception by Nikola Motor and founder Trevor Milton:
A new report claims that zero-emissions vehicle startup Nikola Motor has made a series of deceptive public statements and representations about its technology and business. Allegations include that Nikola staged a 2018 video of its signature hydrogen fuel-cell truck driving, and that it has made deceptive claims about its battery development efforts after the failure of an acquisition deal.
The allegations come from Hindenburg Research, which has a short position in Nikola stock. But they follow previous reports of misrepresentations by Nikola and broader expert skepticism about the company's aggressive claims.
The Hindenburg report's most striking claim is that a January 2018 video purportedly showing a Nikola One hydrogen fuel-cell semi truck moving under its own power was staged. According to Hindenburg, the video in fact showed the truck rolling down a long, gentle slope. Hindenburg's report includes a test confirming that the section of road shown in the video could accelerate a coasting vehicle to highway speeds, along with text messages from a former Nikola employee appearing to confirm the tactics.
Also at CNBC theDrive and zerohedge.
Nikola founder bought truck designs from third party:
The original design for Nikola's flagship truck was purchased by founder Trevor Milton from a designer in Croatia, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, despite company claims in a 2018 lawsuit that the vehicle was initially designed by Mr. Milton "in his basement.."
The truck, the Nikola One, is at the centre of a $2 billion lawsuit with Tesla, in which Nikola alleges its rival infringed on its patents. Nikola claims in that lawsuit that Mr. Milton began designing the model in 2013, with other company staff later working on it.
In a rebuttal to the lawsuit filed last week, Tesla alleged that Nikola could not protect the designs because they did not originate from the company itself, but from Adriano Mudri, a designer based in Croatia.
The arstechnica article didn't include any links.
Nikola Founder Bought Truck Design From Designer's College Portfolio: Report:
And Nikola's sub-contracture allegedly doesn't end with technology, as a Financial Times report alleges even Nikola's design for the hydrogen-powered One semi-truck was outsourced from Croatia.
Previously:
Nikola Stock Plunges 26% after Fraud Claims Complicate Hydrogen Plans
New Report Claims Widespread Deception by Nikola Motor and Founder Trevor Milton
Nikola Motors Opening Reservations for Badger Electric Pickup Truck on June 27
Nikola Semi Startup Shines on Wall Street With $34BN Valuation
At this point, Nikola's business plan seems to be resembling the movie The Producers business plan more than anything.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday September 25 2020, @09:08PM (2 children)
Requires to much processing and high maintenance infrastructure. Just stick with fermented algae
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @07:12AM (1 child)
Not to mention that Hindenberg fiasco a few years back....
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Saturday September 26 2020, @08:03PM
The Hindenburg disaster isn't a good reason to avoid hydrogen. Hindenburg was caused by multiple factors including poor design (I seem to remember something about the interior of the dirigible containing an explosive compound). Just look at what we fuel cars with today: a highly flammable substance.
There are many good reasons to avoid hydrogen: it has absolutely *horrible* energy density. To get a decent amount of range for a hydrogen-fueled vehicle, you have to compress hydrogen gas a ridiculous amount, meaning you have to have a big, heavy tank able to contain that pressure. If this tank ruptures in a crash, it'll be disaster, meaning you need to make the tank even stronger (and heavier). There's been research into materials to use in tanks to make them crash-proof (by absorbing the H2 gas and releasing it more slowly as it's used), but this of course reduces the usable volume. H2 molecules are also really tiny compared to other molecules (such as hydrocarbons like gasoline), and it's really hard to reliably contain them because they leak right through the material that their storage tanks are made of (which again means you need thicker, heavier tanks, which is bad for a vehicle where weight is a concern). Containing the gas in service stations isn't trivial either, nor is refueling a vehicle by an amateur without having leaks. The whole thing is just a bad, bad idea.
There's a reason that gasoline (or diesel or kerosene) has lasted so long as a vehicle fuel. There's a big inefficiency to it because most of the energy is lost to heat, due to the way heat-cycle engines work, but even so it's relatively easy to work and relatively safe. Battery-electric vehicles are finally threatening their dominance, thanks to major advances in energy density (the energy density of lithium-ion batteries is quite amazing compared to the batteries we had 30 years ago), but it's taken a long time to reach this point. Hydrogen offers few advantages, and a ton of major disadvantages. The main "advantage" it has is that it absolutely requires you to visit a fueling station to refuel your vehicle, so certain interests are protected, whereas with BEVs, you don't need Sunoco or Texaco or BP any more, you only need your local electric utility.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 25 2020, @09:18PM (1 child)
Find ten differences.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday September 25 2020, @10:56PM
Nikola's just a scam riding off Tesla's coat tails, and Tesla's cool tech (it is cool tech, there's no denying) and has whipped the market (stock, not car) up into a bit of a frenzy (even when Musk asserts the stock's overpriced).
There isn't much else that falls into the "solar panels for everything!!" eco camp. Well, except there is, but I'm betting most people haven't heard of it yet. For example, from only a couple of days ago (after the Nikola feikness scandal:
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/SPI/?_guc_consent_skip=1600884282 = SPI Energy Co., Ltd. (SPI) NasdaqGS - NasdaqGS Real Time Price.
Its daily stock price gainz peaked at +2,999.90% because of this headline:
"SPI Energy Launches New Electric Vehicle Company Subsidiary"
"...today announced the launch of EdisonFuture, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SPI Energy, to design and develop electric vehicles ("EV") and EV charging solutions."
or:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/next-nikola-ev-maker-lordstown-claims-40000-pre-orders-new-electric-truck
"Lordstown Motors Corp., claims it has secured tens of thousands of preorders for its electric vehicle ahead of a potential Nasdaq listing in October.
[...] So Lordstown's announcement is timely because the EV company recently entered into a business agreement with shell company, DiamondPeak Holdings Corp., which is set to close in October. If all goes well, Lordstown will be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker "RIDE" in the near term.
As of Wednesday, DiamondPeak ended the session around $24.4 per share. The stock is up nearly 200% since the start of August, from $11 to $31 in 35 sessions."
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by corey on Saturday September 26 2020, @03:11AM (2 children)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:42AM
I think they did it to ride the coat tails of name recognition. They don't want to be seen as stark competition, but rather complimentary contemporaries in a wave of new green car technology companies.
A less charitable look at it would be capitalizing on brand name confusion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @11:03AM
To drive up the stock price. It worked.