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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
(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.