A Utah startup made a big splash in the world of automotive news last week. The Nikola Motor Co. has unveiled a compressed natural gas/electric hybrid semi-truck aimed at shaking up the long-haul trucking industry the way the Tesla Model S did the car business a few years ago. The vehicle will boast 2,000 horsepower on a Class 8 truck chassis, the largest classification for over-the-road trucks.
A Utah startup made a big splash in the world of automotive news last week.
The Nikola Motor Co. has unveiled a compressed natural gas/electric hybrid semi-truck aimed at shaking up the long-haul trucking industry the way the Tesla Model S did the car business a few years ago. The vehicle will boast 2,000 horsepower on a Class 8 truck chassis, the largest classification for over-the-road trucks.
With a working prototype of the Nikola One promised by the end of the year and production models ready for sale within 24-36 months, Nikola is said to be named after the same man who gave his name to the hybrid car, Nikola Tesla, a late-19th-century/early-20th-century inventor, electrical engineer and physicist, and developer of the AC induction motor.
Nikola Motor Co. was quietly founded by CEO Trevor Milton years ago to design and manufacture electric vehicles, energy storage systems and electric vehicle drivetrain components, according to a release from the company.
While the majority of the semi-truck’s components are being developed by Nikola, the company also co-designed the industry’s first-ever independent suspension with Meritor, a Troy, Michigan, automotive components manufacturer.
“By working together with some of the top engineering firms in America, we were able to design vehicles that have previously been thought impossible to design,” said Milton. “We want to even the playing field and income inequalities seen between owner operators and fleets for the first time in recent trucking history. This is just the beginning of what’s ahead for America, our company and the electric vehicle market.”
Prior to establishing Nikola, Milton was CEO of dHybrid Systems, a natural gas storage technology company that was acquired in October 2014 by Worthington Industries.
The Nikola One has been developed in secret for the past three years and features a 150-gallon dHybrid storage system stacked behind its cab that fuels a turbine generator, which, in turn, charges a 320-kilowatt-hour battery pack that drives six motors, one for each wheel. With individually driven wheels, it works much like diesel-electric locomotives familiar on America’s railroads.
The vehicle is not a conversion of another truck. The chassis was engineered specifically for the project and features a unique independent rear suspension system designed in conjunction with Meritor.
The series-hybrid drivetrain puts out 2,000 horsepower and 3,700 foot-pounds of torque, Milton said in an interview with Fox News. It gets 10-15 miles per gallon — about twice the fuel economy of a typical 500 horsepower, 1,650 foot-pound diesel tractor. As with most hybrid and electric vehicles, it has regenerative brakes that charge the batteries on downhill stretches, helping contribute to its claimed 800-1,200-mile range between fill-ups and 80,000-pound pulling capacity. Nikola claims that the truck will cost about half of what a conventional diesel truck costs to operate.
Nikola also announced plans to build a nationwide network of refueling stations to support its customers, much like Tesla’s electric supercharger network. Nikola owns its own compressed natural gas wells and will sell the fuel for the equivalent of $1.50 per gallon. The first 5,000 buyers of the $375,000 truck will get 1 million miles’ worth of fuel for free, the company said.
Milton said in the Fox interview that several fleet operators have been involved in its development and Nikola has many orders in hand. He says the company is well-funded by a group of very wealthy private investors and companies working across multiple industries. He promised to provide more information on the investors and the future of the company soon.
Meanwhile, Nikola will have its first vehicle on the road well ahead of the new trucks. The Nikola Zero is a 520-horsepower, all-electric 4x4 side-by-side UTV designed to run off-road — even under water. The four-seater is being designed with 14.5 inches of ground clearance and 20 inches of suspension travel. Its on-board computer can operate each of its four motors independently to maximize grip and handling, the company says on its website. Solar panels on the roof keep its 12-volt battery charged so its systems don’t need to draw from the main drive battery, which has a 100-to-150 mile range.
Milton, an avid off-roader, likes the idea of an emissions-free UTV that can rock-crawl or blast through the desert with equal ease and doesn’t have any transmission belts to break. Made to be priced at $42,000, the Zero costs about twice as much as a conventional high performance UTV. But Milton said Nikola has already received more deposits than expected and aims to start deliveries within 18 months. The company has said that the first 5,000 buyers will get a $5,000 discount.
