Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2020 - 21

ORIGINAL

EQUIPMENT
Nikola looks to accelerate production, hydrogen infrastructure

NIKOLA

Anticipated to cover North America, Nikola's build-out of hydrogen
fueling stations will serve its customers' fleets, such as Anheuser-Busch.
Nikola Corp.'s recent merger with
VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., a publicly
traded special-purpose acquisition company, is expected to help accelerate the
company's technology and business
plans. In early June, the company's combined shares began trading on the
Nasdaq under the new symbol "NKLA."
Shortly following the announcement,
Nikola's Elizabeth Fretheim, head of
business development, national accounts, spoke during an edition of
CALSTART's weekly Clean Commercial
Transportation Update webinar about
the news and other developments.
"Nikola has ambitious plans," Fretheim
told webinar attendees. "We're focused
not only on the vehicles - the Badger
[pickup truck], of course we have the
semi-trucks, we also have a power sports
division - but then we're also trying to
resolve that 'chicken-and-egg' question
about putting up infrastructure before
vehicles are ready, or vehicles before
infrastructure. So, we're working on that
parallel path." (For more, read www.sae.
org/news/2019/04/nikola-displaysrange-of-fuel-cell-electric-products.)
Transaction proceeds through the
merger will help Nikola accelerate plans
for vehicle design and production, breaking ground on a manufacturing plant as
well as kick-start the rollout of hydrogen
stations. The new manufacturing plant is
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING

"When you talk
about zero emissions
in the future, the
conversation isn't
'is it battery or is it
hydrogen?' We think
it's both."
- Elizabeth Fretheim, Nikola
slated to break ground in Coolidge, Ariz.,
on July 23, 2020, according to a June 19
tweet from Nikola founder and executive
chairman Trevor Milton. "The ceremony
will be held there to kick off construction
of the plant that will build up to 35,000
zero-emission semi-trucks and create
thousands of jobs," he wrote.
Anheuser-Busch is Nikola's launch
customer for its fuel-cell-electric truck.
"We're definitely more well known for
the fuel-cell side. Our plan is to build
battery-electric as well as fuel-cell-electric trucks. In fact, our launch vehicle will
be a battery-electric," Fretheim shared.

Battery-electric leads the way

Set to debut in December at Nikola
World 2020, the Badger battery-electric pickup truck will offer an estimated
300-mile (480-km) range, about half of

the anticipated 600 miles (965 km) of
range for the hydrogen fuel-cell-electric
model. Preorders for both models began on June 29. The pickup will be built
in partnership with another OEM using
their certified parts and manufacturing
facilities. Nikola says the OEM partnership will be announced prior to the
December event.
Claimed to accelerate from 0-60 mph
in about 2.9 seconds, the Badger will
generate more than 906 hp (676 kW)
and 980 lb-ft (1,329 Nm) and offer independent torque control of each
wheel, according to Milton. Other features will include over-the-air updates,
keyless entry, 15 kW power export with
220V and 110V, a hidden refrigerator
and waterproof displays, he added.
Based on the Iveco S-Way heavy-duty
truck, the battery-electric Nikola Tre for
European markets was slated to debut in
September at the IAA 2020 commercial
vehicle exhibition in Germany, which has
since been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The first units are expected to reach customers in 2021. The
Tre is the first step toward Nikola's fuelcell-electric model, which will be available to customers by 2023.
"When you talk about zero emissions
in the future, the conversation isn't 'is it
battery or is it hydrogen?' We think it's
both. The different technologies have
August 2020 21

http://www.sae.org/news/2019/04/nikola-displays-range-of-fuel-cell-electric-products

Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2020

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