Electric vehicle startup Nikola Corp. has announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy:
Nikola now joins a line of EV startups that fell into bankruptcy over the past year. While the Biden-Harris administration went full-speed ahead with a vision of EVs replacing gas-powered vehicles, electric-vehicle production has become a bad bet for the companies that jumped into the vision head-first. Consumers just never got on board with the plan.
With Trump planning to end federal EV mandates and legislation seeking to stop tax credits for the purchase of new EVs, the list of failed EV startups might continue to grow.
[...] The company went public in 2020, according to Bloomberg, through a deal with a special-purpose acquisition company. Nikola's stock went up after the transaction was closed, but shortly after, Bloomberg revealed its founder, Trevor Milton, had overstated the capability of the company's debut truck. He was later convicted on fraud charges.
"Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic factors that have impacted our ability to operate," Nikola president and CEO Steve Girsky said in a recent statement on the company's bankruptcy filing.
Previously:
- Nikola Stock Craters After Cancellation of Major Garbage Truck Order
- Nikola Stock Falls 14 Percent after CEO Downplays Badger Truck Plans
- Nikola's Deal With GM Was Supposed to Close Today—It Didn't
- Nikola Founder Bought Truck Designs From Third Party
- Nikola Stock Plunges 26% after Fraud Claims Complicate Hydrogen Plans
- New Report Claims Widespread Deception by Nikola Motor and Founder Trevor Milton
Related Stories
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 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
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.
Nikola’s deal with GM was supposed to close today—it didn’t:
When Nikola and GM announced a partnership on September 8, GM said it expected the deal to close by September 30. Now September 30 has arrived, and the deal hasn't closed. Media reports indicate that the deal is unlikely to close today.
A GM spokesman confirmed the delay in an email to Ars. "Our transaction with Nikola has not closed. We are continuing our discussions with Nikola and will provide further updates when appropriate."
[...] September 30 isn't a hard deadline. According to Nikola's regulatory filing about the deal, the transaction can be terminated by either party if it hasn't closed by December 3. So talks between the companies could drag on for another two months.
Previously:
Nikola Founder Bought Truck Designs From Third Party
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/10/nikola-ceo-downplays-badger-truck-as-gm-negotiations-drag-on/
Nikola CEO Mark Russell downplayed the company's Badger pickup truck in comments to the Financial Times on Thursday.
"The Badger was an interesting and exciting project to some shareholders, but our institutional shareholders are mostly focused on the business plan," Russell said. "Our core business plan since before we became publicly listed always focused on heavy trucks and hydrogen infrastructure."
Russell's comments were published after markets closed on Thursday. Nikola's stock price plunged on Friday morning and is currently down about 14 percent for the day.
Previously:
Nikola's Deal With GM Was Supposed to Close Today—It Didn't
Nikola Founder Bought Truck Designs From Third Party
As recently as September 8, 2020 the stock was trading at $50.50
Porsche AG on Friday dialled[sic] back plans for its electric vehicle rollout due to weaker demand, pressure in key market China and higher U.S. tariffs, causing the luxury sportscar maker and its parent Volkswagen to slash their 2025 profit outlooks:
The move highlights the challenges for one of the most well-known car brands, which has been squeezed by its two most important markets - China and the United States - over price declines and trade barriers.
Volkswagen, Europe's top carmaker, said it would take a 5.1 billion euro ($6 billion) hit from the far-reaching product overhaul, which delays some EV models in favour of hybrids and combustion engine cars, at its 75.4%-owned subsidiary.
The changes are a major shift for the Stuttgart-based maker of the iconic 911 model, and are expected to hit Porsche's operating profit by up to 1.8 billion euros this year, it said.
[...] Porsche said it would delay the launch of certain all-electric vehicles, adding that the new SUV above the Cayenne model would initially not be offered as an all-electric vehicle, but with combustion-engine and hybrid models.
Also at ZeroHedge.
Previously: Porsche's New Cayenne Will Charge Itself Like No Other EV
Related:
- Canadian EV Sales Collapse by 35% as Gas Car Purchases Surge
- Tesla Continues Slide As Musk Warns Of "Rough Quarters" Ahead
- Electric Truck-Maker Nikola Falls Into Bankruptcy Joining a Procession of Failed EV Startups
General Motors said on Oct. 14 that it will bear a $1.6 billion loss to scale back its electric vehicle (EV) operations, citing weaker expected demand following recent U.S. policy changes that ended federal EV tax credits and loosened emissions rules:
The Detroit-based automaker said its Audit Committee approved the loss on Oct. 7, covering the three months ended Sept. 30. The company noted that the loss is part of its plan to realign EV production and factory operations to better match customer demand.
The decision was made after the expiration of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit on Sept. 30, part of a broader policy rollback under President Donald Trump.
[...] "Following recent U.S. government policy changes, including the termination of certain consumer tax incentives for EV purchases and the reduction in the stringency of emissions regulations, we expect the adoption rate of EVs to slow," GM said in a filing.
[...] According to the filing, $1.2 billion of the loss is related to non-cash impairments, mostly write-downs of EV assets. The remaining $400 million will be paid in cash for contract cancellations and commercial settlements tied to EV investments.
The company said its review of EV manufacturing and battery component investments is ongoing.
Related:
- Canadian EV Sales Collapse by 35% as Gas Car Purchases Surge
- Tesla Continues Slide As Musk Warns Of "Rough Quarters" Ahead
- Electric Truck-Maker Nikola Falls Into Bankruptcy Joining a Procession of Failed EV Startups
See Also:
- EV Sales In Europe Keep Surging, With One Exception
- EVs Poised To Exceed Half Of Europe's New Car Sales Sooner Than Expected
- EV sales are surging in Europe, except for Tesla
Nikola sinks further and further.
Nikola stock craters after cancellation of major garbage truck order:
Another established company has backed away from struggling electric truck maker Nikola, sending the latter's stock price down by 18 percent over two days of trading. Nikola's stock value is down more than 80 percent from its all-time peak in June.
Back in August, trash company Republic Services placed an order with Nikola for 2,500 electric garbage trucks with an option to take 5,000 more. At the time, Nikola was flying high, having just entered public markets in June. According to the Arizona Republic, the trucks were slated to have a range of 150 miles and capacity for 1,200 cans of garbage.
The garbage trucks were supposed to be variants of the Nikola Tre, a battery electric truck that Nikola is building with help from Italian truckmaker Iveco. Testing of the garbage trucks was supposed to begin in 2022, with the first trucks delivered a year later.
But on Wednesday, Nikola said that the two companies were ending their partnership. Nikola blamed "longer than expected development time and unexpected costs."
"This was the right decision for both companies given the resources and investments required," said Nikola CEO Mark Russell.
Ford will ramp up production of the F-150 and F-Series Super Duty in 2026, but the Lightning will pay the price :
A fire at a Novelis aluminum plant has disrupted operations for several automakers, including Ford and its top-selling F-150. The setback has been costly, but the Blue Oval plans to bounce back next year by ramping up truck production.
Under the plan, the Dearborn Truck Plant will add a third shift with roughly 1,200 employees. This will be supported by more than 90 new workers at Dearborn Stamping as well as more than 80 additional employees at Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing.
Thanks to these workers and the extra shift, Ford aims to produce an additional 45,000+ F-150s in 2026. They’ll have traditional powertrains as the F-150 Lightning hasn’t lived up to expectations.
[...] In total, the automaker will increase production by more than 50,000 units and create up to 1,000 new jobs. Ford’s Chief Operating Officer, Kumar Galhotra, said “The people who keep our country running depend on America’s most popular vehicle – F-Series trucks – and we are mobilizing our team to meet that demand.”
Related:
- GM to Take $1.6 Billion Hit as It Scales Back Electric Vehicle Operations
- Electric Truck-Maker Nikola Falls Into Bankruptcy Joining a Procession of Failed EV Startups
- Ford Motor Company is Planning a Big EV Future
(Score: 2) by Undefined on Sunday February 23 2025, @04:11PM (9 children)
Then there's insurance, which for EV's seems to be steep, at least where I am. And registration. And for those with a home and more than minimal driving distances, higher level chargers than the typical garage outlet. And installation for same.
And one more thing... a large number of the people who can afford all this and wanted an EV have already bought one, if they were so inclined. So the remaining market... just those wealthy ones who are just now starting to look at a new vehicle.
I use a dedicated preprocessor to elaborate abbreviations.
Hover to reveal elaborations.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Sunday February 23 2025, @05:38PM (3 children)
No one will sell a commuter vehicle. They're only willing to sell "shitty luxury vehicle but green" or "shitty construction dude vehicle but green" or "shitty techno-fetish vehicle but green" all with $50K batteries offering 600 miles of range of which I don't need about 550 of the miles.
I'd love to be able to buy a Yaris / Corolla but EV and 50 mile range would be about enough. Really, 25 miles would be enough for most days. Nobody will sell it because nobody will pay $75K for that. A fully enclosed golf cart with working HVAC that I can drive on the road is all I need for 95% of my travels, the other 5% we'll take the wife's giant vehicle or rent a moving truck or something.
Today, church, 3 miles round trip, and food store 1.5 miles round trip and probably the public library drop off 2 miles round trip.
Yesterday I was dad-taxi for 3 miles and 5 miles round trip.
Friday I hit the gym as always 2 miles round trip, dad-taxi for 4 miles round trip
Thursday was food store 2 miles round trip and Dad Taxi 40 miles round trip (long story). There was a charger in the parking lot at the destination so technically 20 miles each way would have been workable-ish. I could have taken my wife's car, trivially. She was doing mom-taxi work 3 miles round trip at the same time, just swap cars.
Wednesday was gym 2 miles, dad-taxi 4 miles.
It seems I'm out of the house and in my car about twice a day, but rarely more than single digits miles. There's a charger station about every half mile in my suburb. Fast chargers a block from my kid's martial arts dojo and my grocery store parking lot.
I want the utility of an EV, I'm not interested in the greenwashing, but nobody will sell a utility EV. I'd like something like a side-by-side utility vehicle but enclosed with HVAC and instead of $20K for gas tank I'd be willing to pay up to $25K for an EV utility vehicle, maybe. One problem is my commuter gas car base model costs $25K in 2025, so its hard to justify replacing it with a side-by-side instead of buying a more capable gas burner for about the same money, also my commuter car is street-legal unlike most side-by-sides.
Maybe the Chinese will, and they'll wipe the legacy automakers off the map, thats really our only hope.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 23 2025, @05:47PM
Take a look at used Nissan Leaf prices. If you are willing to pay to have one trucked in from CA you might be pleasantly surprised--there is a glut of them used, some with very low miles. Check prices on LA and SF area Craigslist, https://losangeles.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=nissan%20leaf#search=2~gallery~6 [craigslist.org]
(Score: 2) by ledow on Monday February 24 2025, @11:02AM
Quite.
I bought a brand new ICE car from Ford 10 years ago. EV were just far too expensive.
I'm now looking at what happens when that same car is too expensive to run, maintain or I just fancy a change. I've decided, 100%, categorically: EV.
But if I go on Ford's website for EVs... £40,000. That's TWICE what I paid for a car 10 years ago. And they are - as you say - "trucks" (I'm including SUV in that, I have no interest in them) and sportscars and there is no "basic" EV.
They even reinvented the long-dead "Capri" line of branding, which has a terrible reputation. And the Capri EV is... basically £40,000. For £46k you could have a Mustang EV.
Sorry, but inflation has NOT doubled prices in ten years, and EVs have actually weirdly got MORE expensive in that time.
I want an EV equivalent to my Mondeo (called Fusion in the US), or old Escort, or even a Sierra. A runaround car that isn't prohibitive and doesn't need to seat 8, but in which I can put my shopping and carry a couple of passengers. Something I can park without needing 40 cameras to see everything.
The hatchback type of car appears dead in EV terms from Ford, which is incredibly annoying, and they have nothing that even comes close to a year's average annual salary in the UK.
Many of the "big brands" are the same... it's basically forcing me down to the niche, foreign and cheaper brands, and even smaller cars, which is ridiculous. It should be the other way around, but Ford et al are still pushing all their mass production capabilities into ICE cars rather than EV, which is ridiculous with deadlines looming.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Monday February 24 2025, @10:50PM
My lease is going to be up in a couple of months, and I've been hoping for the mythical small EV pickup Ford Maverick sized but none exist. I like my RAV4s but I just need a less expensive vehicle, as this one I've been driving is nice but the insurance and tabs for it are ridiculous. Probably going to go for a Corolla hybrid with AWD, as the AWD is the main thing I want.
Well good luck with that, now that the Florida Orange Man is getting all tariff-happy and doing everything possible to crash the economy.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 5, Informative) by ElizabethGreene on Sunday February 23 2025, @08:44PM (2 children)
Pricing isn't what killed Nikola; It was plain old fraud. They lied to investors about the maturity of their vehicles (0/5 finished and unable to move under their own power) and customer orders (related party transactions, not firm buy commitments), made deceptive advertising to attract more investment (the blister reel video of the truck "driving" was made by towing a non-functional vehicle to the top of a hill and letting it roll down by gravity), got caught by Hindenburg Research* **, and ran out of money when investors stopped coming back.
* https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/ [hindenburgresearch.com]
** https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021-267 [sec.gov] SEC: Nikola Corporation to Pay $125 Million to Resolve Fraud Charges
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2025, @12:35AM (1 child)
> and ran out of money when investors stopped coming back.
and ran out of money when the marks stopped coming back.
ftfy
I was pretty convinced that it was a scam from the start.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Monday February 24 2025, @03:59AM
The irony is that there is a market for electric heavy trucks. Edison Motors in Canada [edisonmotors.ca] is demonstrating that pretty clearly. They're building actual move-under-their-own-power-and-do-useful-work trucks on an infinitesimal fraction of Nikola's budget. They leapfrogged years of development and hundreds of millions of tooling cost by focusing on the powertrains first and putting that in existing "glider" (no engine or transmission) chassis. There's a big market for gliders already and they benefitted from that existing economy of scale instead of scratch building.
(Score: 2) by corey on Sunday February 23 2025, @08:57PM (1 child)
Meanwhile, the Chinese govt are subsidising the automakers there to the hilter. Here in Australia, each week it seems there’s a new Chinese automaker hitting our shores and the market is becoming flooded with Chinese EVs. Latest is Xpeng. All the Chinese EVs are competing hard on price and EV prices have been dropping.
Sad to hear about Nikola.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2025, @01:21AM
Seriously though, I thought lots of people (esp those from the US) believe that having the Government involved in stuff or throwing money at stuff makes things worse not better?
Meanwhile the DOGE is busy dismantling US gov and related stuff...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Sunday February 23 2025, @04:55PM (1 child)
I occasionally wondered if the name was a subtle troll, trying to get Tesla to buy them so the merged company would be named "Nikola Tesla"
We've reached the point in the system where its attracted the fraud-people, which I guess is unironically good? They don't show up in markets that are overly dead or have no money. EVs must be doing well if they're attracting the fraud demographic.
(Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Sunday February 23 2025, @05:40PM
The name is not a troll, it is a copycat.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Sunday February 23 2025, @07:00PM
Overstated, yeah. This business proclivity for exaggerating beyond the point where the claims can no longer be considered even slightly truthful has damaged the whole idea of EVs. I am also very skeptical of rooftop solar. When American businesses promote going green, they invariably push the ideas that profit them the most no matter how doubtful the benefits to the buyer.
So many of our current customs seem to have arisen from successful propagandistic advertising campaigns promoting really expensive solutions to trivial problems that have been blown way out of proportion, if they can be considered problems at all. For example, the idea that women should shave their legs that seems to have expanded to all body hair. Nice, for manufacturers of shaving products. Another example is the infamous extended warranty. One of the most irresponsible business strategies is to fan the flames of bigotry and fearmonger in order to increase sales of whatever products, such as guns, that can be made to seem useful for dealing with that "problem" that isn't a problem. That's the whole Military Industrial Complex for you.
Perhaps the smartest move for many people is real urban living instead of suburban sprawl, if you can find a space that doesn't cost a fortune to rent or own, and isn't a crime and decay riddled hellhole. Don't even have a car, use a bicycle or walk everywhere. And put technology to use, with telecommuting. Peddlers of cars, whether EV or not, don't want citizens to think of such ideas. But that "if" is a big if. One of the drivers (pun sort of intended) of the sprawl is the high cost of urban living space. Buying that home in the sticks has long been a strategy to fight back against high real estate prices. The car is a critical enabler of that strategy.
(Score: 2) by donkeyhotay on Sunday February 23 2025, @09:32PM (1 child)
This story is reminiscent of vaporware. Can we call it EVaporware? Another "fake it til you make it" failure.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Monday February 24 2025, @09:49AM
The trouble is that there are many people who will throw money blindly to buy shares in anything that has "green", "environmentally friendly". or "Recyclable" in its claims. It is a scammer's heaven, and can be self-fulfilling because the share price is pumped up by the more people wanting to buy after you did - until the bubble bursts.
This is happening with Tesla, which started off with excellent intentions (before Musk was involved) and a good product, but under Musk it has become a scheme to pump up its own share price, with periodic showbiz style presentations of vapourware and BS promises. Tesla has never paid a dividend to its shareholders and would not survive without government subsidies, yet its market cap is for the moment higher than that of several other much larger car makers added together.