Nikola introduces electric truck at electrifying Salt Lake event

With production value worthy of a Hollywood premiere, Nikola Motor Co. of Salt Lake City introduced the world to the highly touted Nikola One electric over-the-road truck in a presentation ceremony at its headquarters on 3800 West on Nov. 29. Nikola founder and CEO Trevor Milton provided details to an audience of trucking industry leaders, media representatives and government officials, with Gov. Gary Herbert seated front and center.

With production value worthy of a Hollywood premiere, Nikola Motor Co. of Salt Lake City introduced the world to the highly touted Nikola One electric over-the-road truck in a presentation ceremony at its headquarters on 3800 West on Nov. 29. Nikola founder and CEO Trevor Milton provided details to an audience of trucking industry leaders, media representatives and government officials, with Gov. Gary Herbert seated front and center.

While the star of the show was clearly the giant machine hidden under a brilliant white shroud, Milton spent nearly 20 minutes prior to the unveiling explaining how the truck’s electric drive system would be powered by a combination of hydrogen fuel cells, lithium-ion batteries and regenerative braking. Milton said the truck will be in production by 2020, with an expected annual build rate of 50,000 units.

Milton made his entrance on an electric off-road vehicle called the Nikola Zero and opened the presentation with a quote from Oren Harari, business professor at the University of San Francisco and biographer of Colin Powell, that Milton said captures everything he has been trying to explain to people since the beginning of his electric truck project: “The electric light did not come from the continuous improvement of candles.”

In Milton’s view, that says it all. The Nikola One is not an upgrade, refit or hybrid built from existing equipment. It is a totally new, fully electrically powered Class 8 highway sleeper-truck that is capable of running up to 1,300 miles on a single fill of the hydrogen fuel-cell system. It has no conventional drivetrain. Instead, each of the six wheel positions has its own independently controlled electric traction motor, Milton said.

Milton had an explanation of why this revolutionary technology is coming from a relatively small Utah startup. He said in many cases, really big companies are not well-positioned to undertake utterly ground-breaking, game-changing projects like this one because the risk involved.

“If there was a failure, it would affect a company of that size much more than a smaller company like ours,” Milton said. “One of the great advantages we have as entrepreneurs and one of the tasks in life we have as entrepreneurs is to be able to take risks that no one else thought were possible.”

Milton has started several companies in past years — some successful and others not. His sale of successful alternate fuel company dHybrid Systems to Worthington Industries provided funding for the start of Nikola Motor Co. in October 2014.

Speculation has been rampant in the trucking industry since word of Milton’s project emerged two years ago on whether the truck and the project itself were real. While it remains to be seen if the Nikola One will be out on the highway hauling freight, the highly visible presence at the event of industry giants such as Ryder System, Meritor and U.S. Express seemed to lend credibility to the Nikola One. With both trade press and mainstream media from around the world gathered for the unveiling, Milton seemed to have an interested and believing audience and is certainly spending the money to get the word out.

Also lending to the credibility of the project, Milton brought representatives of three major companies onstage that have signed on as partners for the Nikola One project: Ryder System, Meritor and automotive and defense engineering company Pratt & Miller.

“Meritor helped design our fully independent front and rear suspension,” said Milton. “It’s the first ever on a heavy truck. Drivers will be absolutely amazed at how well it rides, and it also allowed us to get rid of the differentials.”

Milton said Ryder will be servicing, selling, warrantying and fueling the Nikola One at its more than 800 service centers throughout United States, Canada and Mexico.

Commenting on the partnership with Nikola, Dennis Cook, Ryder’s president of global fleet management solutions, said in a release, “We commend Nikola for its leadership in zero-emission vehicles and for its decision to partner with Ryder as their exclusive nationwide distribution and maintenance provider. This relationship is key to expanding our advanced vehicle technology portfolio of innovative solutions. Ryder continually monitors emerging fleet technologies and seeks to establish relationships with companies that are leading innovation within the commercial transportation industry.”

In addition to Ryder System’s national coverage, Thompson Machinery, a Caterpillar dealer and an early investor in Nikola Motor Co., will also offer sales and service in Tennessee and Mississippi.

Milton did not explain the role Pratt & Miller will have, but the company is known for its expertise in suspension and chassis products for electric propulsion systems as well as powertrain integration.

The Nikola One business model is almost entirely vertically integrated, right down to the production and distribution of the fuel, Milton explained. Nikola customers will get their hydrogen fuel at no additional cost — it’s built into the lease program. Fuel will be supplied at Nikola-owned fueling stations planned nationwide with fuel produced by Nikola production facilities.

Initial plans call for 364 stations in the U.S. with concentrations that will allow trucks to pass at least seven and up to as many as 25 stations anywhere in the country without having to refill with hydrogen, according to Milton. Construction of the filling stations is set to begin in 2019 and will be concentrated in areas where fleets are operating Nikola trucks.

“That’s the beauty of being vertically integrated,” Milton said. “We own our own hydrogen production facility, our own distribution and we also own the manufacturing of the truck.”

Nikola claims to have over $4 billion in pre-orders for the truck, with as many as 7,000 units currently at least partially reserved.

Milton announced that the initial truck production will be done by Fitzgerald, a Tennessee-based company currently known for building glider kits. "Glider kit" is the name given in the trucking industry to putting new truck bodies and chassis components around existing power trains. The company is currently building between 6,000 to 9,000 glider-kit trucks per year.

“Fitzgerald will build the first 5,000 trucks and will continue to build trucks for us into the future,” said Milton. “This will allow us to avoid a lot of the initial capital expenditure. It’s not as advanced as a massive manufacturing facility, but once again, we’re doing things a different way.”

Milton said Nikola will eventually invest up to $1 billion in a manufacturing facility with capacity for up to 50,000 trucks per year. Those plans will proceed once more research and development and testing has been completed. The location of the proposed manufacturing plant will be announced in mid-2017, he said.

Milton also talked about a new Nikola-developed proprietary “load matching” service called “Shipments” that is still in development.

“Every freight broker in the country will be able to upload their freight to our system and have our drivers pick those loads up,” Milton said. “[The system] will take a few years to roll out. It’s not an overnight thing. It will take work and testing and great partners, but soon we’ll be passing billions of dollars of freight through our system. And it will be a tremendous boon to owner-operators.”

Milton also said Nikola is developing a daycab version of its electric truck for local deliveries, dubbed the Nikola Two. It will have the same performance attributes and fuel utilization rates as the Nikola One sleeper model, but will be smaller, lighter and less expensive. As a teaser, Milton said that the daycab version will also be much more maneuverable, thanks to a unique steerable rear axle.