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posted by Fnord666 on Monday September 14 2020, @01:32AM   Printer-friendly

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.


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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by takyon on Monday September 14 2020, @01:37AM (6 children)

    by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Monday September 14 2020, @01:37AM (#1050577) Journal
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @01:44AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @01:44AM (#1050581)

      This one's bigger -- scam semi-trucks are way bigger than scam diagnostic-chips!

      Lucky for GM that (afaik) no money has changed hands yet, they just inked the deal.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @02:01AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @02:01AM (#1050587)

        Valid or not, the report could backfire [teslarati.com] in a way that hybrid vehicles don't.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by captain normal on Monday September 14 2020, @04:35AM (2 children)

      by captain normal (2205) on Monday September 14 2020, @04:35AM (#1050628)

      This story is so last week. Let me see if I've got this right: hedge fund that shorted Nikola stock issues report that claims Nikola lies abut its product, right? Now I'm not saying Elon had anything to do with it, but who stands to benefit most if this is true?
      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-12/nikola-s-history-of-discrepancies-has-been-hiding-in-plain-sight [bloomberg.com]
      https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-07-31/europeans-are-building-the-next-tesla-at-a-company-called-nikola [bloomberg.com]

      --
      Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @05:24AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @05:24AM (#1050640)

        Musk hates shorts, and shorts hate Musk.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @10:33AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @10:33AM (#1050682)

          Who wears short shorts? [youtube.com]

    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday September 14 2020, @05:01PM

      by Freeman (732) on Monday September 14 2020, @05:01PM (#1050844) Journal

      While there seems to have been some shady dealings. It looks like they do actually have a product that works. Unlike Theranos, who hyped it up and never delivered. Well, failed to meet expectations. Like, if Nikola only had that prototype truck that didn't actually run or they had a "functional" truck, but it kept turning itself off every time you pushed on the accelerator due to a lack of current from the batteries.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @02:33AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @02:33AM (#1050599)

    Shorts provide a valuable service. LOL, Hindenburg. They have a sense of humor, too. By being able to make money on the stock going down, there's a built-in incentive for them to ferret out scams and such, subject to the constraint that they can't just libel or slander things down. I'm sure there are cases of shorts doing bad things to destroy a stock, but this report, if true, is not one of them. Carry on.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @09:40AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @09:40AM (#1050677)

      Indeed, a honest company name.

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by legont on Monday September 14 2020, @03:00AM

    by legont (4179) on Monday September 14 2020, @03:00AM (#1050609)
    --
    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @06:13AM (14 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @06:13AM (#1050646)

    Gotta say, this an another nutherguy submission, the IRC handle of Runaway1956. These Subs are tainted, they are biased, and they are not appropriate for so noble a site as SN. Thus, I will not read, I will not comment, though I may downmod. SoylentNews used to have standards, but now, oh dear, we have become a mouthpiece for the stupidest of Americans.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @07:48AM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @07:48AM (#1050663)

      I concur! Something has to be done to end this barrage of poorly vetted marginal news stories!

      • (Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @07:52AM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @07:52AM (#1050665)

        Currently, the front page has seven nutherguy submissions. We are not sure about the rest.

        • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @08:33AM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @08:33AM (#1050670)

          Someone does not like soylentils expressing their opinions! Here, mod this troll, too!

          • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @08:47AM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @08:47AM (#1050672)

            I am Spartacus! Mod me, too!!!

            • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @09:14AM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @09:14AM (#1050675)

              Hey! You can't downmod ACs like that! We are legion! Where We go 1, We go all!!

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 15 2020, @10:02AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 15 2020, @10:02AM (#1051193)

                Wait! Are you seriously telling me that this is yet another nutherguy submission, full of rightwing disinformation and perception management, and Soylentils cannot object to being fed such fake news? Time for community submissions mods. The Eds have lost their fucking minds.

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @12:23PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @12:23PM (#1050702)

      Gotta say, this an another nutherguy submission, the IRC handle of Runaway1956. These Subs are tainted, they are biased, and they are not appropriate for so noble a site as SN. Thus, I will not read, I will not comment, though I may downmod. SoylentNews used to have standards, but now, oh dear, we have become a mouthpiece for the stupidest of Americans.

      You are more than welcome fuck the hell off to submit any better stories that you find. Until then please feel free to fuck the hell off simply skip this story and wait for the next one.

      • (Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Monday September 14 2020, @05:54PM (1 child)

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Monday September 14 2020, @05:54PM (#1050877) Journal

        Fairly certain the guy always complaining about "nutherguy" already posts plenty of stories!

        Wish he would stop with the AC-puppetry, though....

        • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday September 15 2020, @10:08AM

          by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday September 15 2020, @10:08AM (#1051197) Journal

          Much more "fair and balanced" ones, of course. Not that it matters.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @12:34PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @12:34PM (#1050708)

      Gotta say, this an another nutherguy submission, the IRC handle of Runaway1956. These Subs are tainted, they are biased, and they are not appropriate for so noble a site as SN. Thus, I will not read, I will not comment, though I may downmod. SoylentNews used to have standards, but now, oh dear, we have become a mouthpiece for the stupidest of Americans.

      Sounds like sour grapes to me.

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday September 14 2020, @01:24PM (1 child)

        by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Monday September 14 2020, @01:24PM (#1050727) Journal

        Sour grapes, fermenting over a period of years. Yup, it's whine.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @06:22PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 14 2020, @06:22PM (#1050905)

          Preferable to takyon submissions, but that is not saying much!

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Tuesday September 15 2020, @09:33AM (1 child)

      by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Tuesday September 15 2020, @09:33AM (#1051188) Homepage
      Ain't a Runaway sub, 'tis a Runaway dupe - If you look at the IRC logs, you'll see that I submitted this story 2 days before he did.
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 15 2020, @10:13AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 15 2020, @10:13AM (#1051198)

        Hmm, preferential treatment, for the "differently abled" or "Fox News deluded deplorables"? Nice to know SoylentNews believes in affirmative action, even at the cost of the quality of submissions! Social Justice on, SN!!

  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday September 14 2020, @02:55PM (1 child)

    by Freeman (732) on Monday September 14 2020, @02:55PM (#1050778) Journal

    We should also note that there's little doubt that Nikola has a working prototype of its newer Nikola Two truck. The company has published multiple videos [youtube.com] of outsiders being given test rides in the Nikola Two.

    https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/09/nikola-stock-falls-25-as-the-company-faces-new-fraud-allegations/ [arstechnica.com]

    That YouTube video looks kind of sketchy to me, but I'd guess, probably legit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heHZYqlLRdE&feature=youtu.be&t=1928 [youtube.com] (Same link as in quote.)
     

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
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