kscarbel2

https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/33173-vintage-mack-radiator-capand-by-vintage-i-mean-friggin-old/

Ford Trucks Spain / September 18, 2020 Ford Trucks is very proud of our new Canary Islands dealership, Grupo Roque Nublo, who has delivered its first F-Max to the company Aguas Friland. It's exciting to have the first Ford heavy truck rolling down Canary Islands' roads! Thank you for your trust in Ford Trucks! .

David Kindy, Smithsonian Magazine / September 18, 2020 Patented in 1944, the Higgins boat gave the Allies the advantage in amphibious assaults. Thousands of flat-bottomed boats plowed through rough seas under cold gray skies. The smell of diesel fumes and vomit was overwhelming as the small vessels lurched toward the beaches. Waves slapped hard against the plywood hulls while bullets pinged off the flat steel bows. Frightened men in uniform hunkered down beneath the gunwales to avoid the continuous enemy fire. Suddenly, they heard the sound of the keels grinding against sand and stone. Heavy iron ramps dropped into the surf and the men surged forward into the cold water toward an uncertain fate. It was 6:28 a.m. on June 6, 1944, and the first LCVPs – Landing Craft, Vehicle and Personnel – had just come ashore on Utah Beach at Normandy. D-Day and the Allied invasion of Europe had commenced. Less than four months earlier, the patent was issued for those very boats. Andrew Jackson Higgins had filed his idea with the U.S. Patent Office on December 8, 1941 – the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Now these 36-foot LCVPs – also known as Higgins boats – were being manufactured in the thousands to help American soldiers, marines and seamen attack the enemy through amphibious assaults. Higgins’ creation had a dramatic impact on the outcome of the Normandy landings 75 years ago, as well as many other naval operations in World War II. The vessel’s unique design coupled with the inventor’s dogged determination to succeed may very well have swung the balance of victory to within grasp of the Allies. At least, that’s what President Dwight D. Eisenhower believed. “Andrew Higgins is the man who won the war for us,” he told author Stephen Ambrose in a 1964 interview. “His genius was problem-solving,” says Joshua Schick, a curator at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, which opened a D-Day exhibit in 2019 featuring a full-scale recreation of a Higgins boat. “Higgins applied it to everything in his life: politics, dealing with unions, acquiring workers, producing fantastical things or huge amounts of things. That was his essence.” Higgins, a Nebraska native who established himself as a successful lumber businessman in New Orleans, began building boats in the 1930s. He concentrated on flat-bottomed vessels to meet the needs of his customers, who plied the shallow waters in and around the Mississippi River delta. He constantly tinkered with the concept as he sought to improve his boats to better match the ideal in his own mind of what these boats should be. During the Prohibition era, Higgins had a contract with the U.S. Coast Guard to build fast boats for chasing after rum runners. There are rumors that he then went to the rum runners and offered to sell them even faster boats. Schick doesn’t come right out and confirm the stories, but he doesn’t deny them either. “That stuff is always fun to smile and chuckle about, but no one ever keeps a record saying that’s what they did,” he diplomatically states. Higgins’ innovative spirit enabled a series of breakthroughs that led to the eventual design that became his namesake boat. First was the spoonbill bow that curled up near the ramp, forcing water underneath and enabling the craft to push up on to the shore and then back away after offloading. A ridge was later added to the keel, which improved stability. Then, a V-shaped keel was created and that allowed the boat to ride higher in the water. “There was no task Higgins couldn’t do,” Schick says. “He would find a way to do something, then find a way to do it better.” Higgins started making landing craft for the Navy when World War II began. He built a 30-footer, the Landing Craft Personnel (LCP), based on government specifications but he insisted a larger boat would perform better. The Navy relented and he came up with a 36-foot version, the Landing Craft Personnel Large (LCPL), that would become the standard for the rest of the war. The Marines weren’t completely satisfied with this boat, though. The design required personnel and equipment to be offloaded by going over the side. In 1942, the Marines requested a ramp be added to the front of the vessel for faster egress. “Higgins takes the LCPL, cuts the bow off, puts a ramp on it and then it becomes the LCVP, which becomes the famous Higgins Boat,” Schick says. That landing craft, often referred to as “the boat that won World War II,” could quickly carry up to 36 men from transport ships to the beaches. It also could haul a Willys Jeep, small truck or other equipment with fewer troops. Higgins’ earlier modifications along with an ingenious protected propeller system built into the hull enabled the boats to maneuver in only 10 inches of water. This version became the basis for a variety of designs and different configurations during World War II. LCA (Landing Craft Assault), LCM (Landing Craft Mechanized), LCU (Landing Craft Utility), LCT (Landing Craft Tank) and other models followed the same fundamental style, all built by Higgins or under license with his company, Higgins Industries. Higgins was named on 18 patents, most of which were for his boats or different design adaptations to the vessels. At the height of World War II, Higgins Industries was the largest employer in the New Orleans area. More than 20,000 whites, blacks, women, elderly and handicapped people worked at seven plants in one of the first modern integrated workplaces in America. They produced a variety of landing craft in different shapes and sizes, PT boats, supply vessels and other specialized boats for the war effort. Higgins developed a reputation for being able to do the impossible. Once, the Navy asked him if he could come up with plans for a new boat design in three days. “Hell,” he replied. “I can build the boat in three days.” And that is exactly what he did. “The man was all about efficiency and getting things done,” Schick says. “The Navy began to realize that if there was an impossible task, just give it to Higgins and he’ll do it.” The secret to Higgins success may have been his personality. He was driven to succeed and never let barriers slow him down. He often bulled his way through or over bureaucratic quagmires, labor difficulties, material shortages and negative-thinking people with a brusk attitude and a few salty words. “As long as Higgins was the one in charge and didn’t have to rely on other people, he could bust through any obstacle that came in his way,” Schick says. “That attitude of determination and hard work helped him solve just about any issue.” The Higgins Boat saw action in many amphibious landings throughout World War II. In addition to Normandy, they were used in Sicily, Anzio, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Saipan, Okinawa, Peleliu and countless other beaches in the European and Pacific theaters of operation. More than 20,000 of the Higgins-designed landing craft were made from 1942 to 1945, but fewer than 20 remain today. To commemorate D-Day, one of the surviving Higgins boats is on display, through July 27, in the gardens outside of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office headquarters and National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum in Alexandria, Virginia. Their legacy cannot be understated. They changed the course of the war and provided the Allies with an ability to strike anywhere with speed and effectiveness – all because of the incredible pluck of the inventor, who was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame this year. “Higgins was a man ahead of his time,” Schick says. “He had attitude and determination. He knew how to lead and organize. He surrounded himself with smart people and knew how to get the most out of them. He was a strong-minded man.” .

So Bob, users are going to spill AdBlue (DEF) all over the right fender. Poor design.

Ford says electric F-150 cost of operations will be nearly half of gasoline truck Michael Martinez, Automotive News / September 18, 2020 DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. executives say the upcoming battery-electric F-150 will be cheaper to operate and more powerful than the current gasoline-powered pickup, addressing two common concerns around electric vehicle ownership two years ahead of its debut. While the company wouldn't provide specific figures, Kumar Galhotra, Ford's president of the Americas and International Markets Group, said the lifetime cost of operations, which excludes the purchase price, of the electric F-150 will be roughly half that of the current-generation vehicle. The lower estimate is based off zero gas and oil usage, low electric charging rates, lower maintenance costs and increased vehicle uptime, Ford said. In addition, Galhotra said the F-150 EV, due to start production in mid-2022, will boast the fastest 0-to-60-mph time and produce the most torque and horsepower in the nameplate's history. In the absence of an engine, Galhotra also promised a "giant" front trunk, which would mark the first time the F-150 offers significant enclosed storage space. The new details are part of Ford's effort to position the F-150 EV as a purpose-built work vehicle that can provide numerous benefits to fleet operators as well as traditional retail customers. The automaker has long been the leader in the lucrative full-size pickup market but will face increased competition from EV makers Tesla, Rivian, Nikola and others in the coming years. "While other electric pickups are competing for lifestyle customers, the all-electric F-150 was designed and engineered for hardworking customers that need a truck to do a job," Galhotra told reporters ahead of an event announcing a standalone assembly facility for the vehicle. EV building Ford said Thursday that it plans to invest $700 million on a 500,000-square-foot building under construction at the historic Rouge complex in suburban Detroit that includes the Dearborn Truck Plant. The automaker agreed to the investment in its 2019 contract with the UAW. As part of the project, Ford will hire 300 workers to support battery assembly and production of the F-150 hybrid and EV. Ford says the facility is scheduled to be completed next summer. Gary Johnson, Ford's chief manufacturing and labor affairs officer, said it would be the company's "most technologically advanced plant in the world." Johnson declined to say what the site's annual production capacity would be. He said F-150 EVs would go through the same paint and body shops as the gas-powered models before moving to the new building. Galhotra promised the F-150 EV would look "distinct" from the gas-powered model but did not provide specifics. Ford has said for years that it planned to build electrified versions of the F-150 in Dearborn. Bloomberg last month reported Ford's plans to use a standalone facility within the Rouge. New ad campaign As part of the Thursday announcement, Ford officially kicked off production of the redesigned 2021 F-150 and launched a new "Built for America" ad campaign touting the company's contributions to the country. The TV spots highlight the fact that Ford employs more workers and builds more vehicles in the U.S. than any other automaker — facts it has been quick to point out amid calls by the Trump administration for more manufacturing investment within the country. The spots were produced by agency Wieden and Kennedy, which Ford first brought on for creative work in 2018 and used for its "Built Ford Proud" campaign. The automaker also released new details from a Boston Consulting Group study it commissioned about the economic impact of its F-Series pickup line. According to the study, the F-Series generated $42 billion in revenue in 2019, more than McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Nike and John Deere. That's 27 percent of Ford's total revenue last year. The F-Series is the most popular vehicle line in 39 states and accounts for 6.6 percent — 16.6 million — of all vehicles currently on the road in the U.S.

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The LR's Volvo powertrain is borrowed from the FE/FL electrics. .

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) / September 17, 2020 Volvo Group announced plans to commercialize the Mack LR Electric, its refuse model equipped with a fully electric integrated Volvo electric drivetrain. Orders for the Mack LR Electric will open in fourt-quarter of 2020, with deliveries beginning in 2021. “Mack’s leadership in the refuse segment goes back more than a century, and we’re pleased to build on that heritage today by announcing the commercialization of the LR Electric model,” said Martin Weissburg, president, Mack Trucks. “This clean, quiet and powerful truck demonstrates the very best of Mack innovation and our people, and I couldn’t be more proud to announce our plans to build it.” The production Mack LR Electric model will fulfill the needs of refuse customers, whether commercial or municipal, seeking a zero-emissions truck that aligns with their environmental goals and local emissions regulations. With its quiet operation, the LR Electric will meet the needs of customers working in an urban setting who are seeking to cut noise pollution and operate quietly at night, according to Mack. Introduced as a prototype in 2018, the LR Electric features Volvo Group’s fully integrated electric powertrain with twin electric motors and four NMC lithium-ion batteries providing vehicle propulsion, as well as power for all onboard accessories. A three-mode regenerative braking system takes into account the truck’s increasing load and helps recapture energy from the hundreds of stops refuse trucks make per day. The LR Electric models will feature a copper Bulldog mounted on the front of each truck. Minimal changes to the gauges and select switchgear were made, allowing Mack to carry over the standard LR cab. The LR Electric will be monitored by Mack GuardDog Connect, a proactive telematics solution that monitors vehicle performance to help customers avoid unplanned downtime. LR Electric-focused service training and electrical safety curriculum will also be shared with the Mack dealer network to ensure customers receive the level of support they’ve come to expect from Volvo Group. .

Hino missed on the engine emissions calibrations. True story. So.........production has been delayed all this time. They've kept a lid on their embarrassing situation.

Ford to expand its largest factory to make electric pickup trucks The Wall Street Journal / September 17, 2020 Ford Motor Co. is expanding its largest and oldest factory to make electric pickup trucks, a high-profile manufacturing investment in a key battleground state where jobs remain a focus on the campaign trail. Ford will spend about $700 million to expand its River Rouge plant, adding 300 jobs at the sprawling, century-old complex a few miles from the company’s Dearborn, Michigan, headquarters, the company said Thursday. By mid-2022, Ford will begin making battery-powered versions of the F-150 pickup, its flagship vehicle and major source of its bottom line.

International Trucks Press Release / September 17, 2020 This third-generation owner operator has an eye for detail and a passion for excellence! Weeks Construction is a family owned business, swipe to see their family lineup! .

Scania Group Press Release / September 15, 2020 Scania has now revealed its first range of electric trucks. This is a milestone in its aim to be leading in the transition to a sustainable transport system. The high-performance plug-in hybrid and fully electric trucks initially focus on urban applications, including distribution to retailers. “It is with a great deal of pride that we announce the start of Scania’s long-term electrification commitment,” says Scania’s President and CEO Henrik Henriksson. “We will over the coming years annually launch electric vehicles for the entire product range and we are presently reorganising our production towards that end. Of particular significance is that we will in a few years’ time, also introduce long-distance electric trucks adapted for fast charging during drivers’ compulsory 45-minute rest periods.” Read more at scania.com/electrification .

Autocar Trucks Press Release / September 15, 2020 Another #Autocar DC64 ready to get to work! #AlwaysUp

Financial Times / September 16, 2020 Jeff Ubben, the founder of activist hedge fund ValueAct and an early investor in Nikola, has strenuously defended the electric truck start-up and its leadership against fraud allegations from a short-seller. Mr Ubben, who sits on Nikola’s board of directors, says the company and its founder Trevor Milton were misunderstood. He said Nikola could revolutionise transport and compared it to Apple. In a scathing report released last week, short-seller Hindenburg Research called Nikola “an intricate fraud” and claimed the company was exaggerating progress on its potentially revolutionary technology. “Nikola is a prototype shop,” Mr Ubben said. “You have the biggest company in the world which is a prototype shop and it’s called Apple. That is what we are doing. We are not trying to sell trucks, we are trying to sell hydrogen.” Mr Ubben recently left ValueAct, taking with him an environment-focused investment fund that he now runs at a new firm called Inclusive Capital Partners. That fund has an investment in Nikola. Mr Ubben sold more than half the Nikola stake in late August and he now has 5 per cent of the company, versus 12 per cent before. The sale was forced on him by investor redemptions during the transition from ValueAct, he said. Nikola is currently developing a hydrogen cell battery, he said, but the real profit will come from hydrogen stations, which he said were about seven or eight years away. The bulk of Nikola’s value lies in that hydrogen network, he said, not the trucks itself. “We are different from Tesla. They are going to make their money on cars and trucks. That’s a tough model. We will be selling fuel to all the other hydrogen vehicles. It is the end game solution,” Mr Ubben said.

DOJ Investigates Electric Truck Startup Nikola The Wall Street Journal / September 15, 2020 The Department of Justice has joined U.S. securities regulators in examining allegations that electric-truck startup Nikola Corp. misled investors by making exaggerated claims about its technology. The Justice Department’s inquiry is being handled by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, working in concert with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has initiated its own examination of the claims about Nikola.

With the exception of the experimental PT boats, all U.S. PT boats were powered by three marine modified derivations of the Packard 3A-2500 V-12 liquid-cooled, gasoline-fueled aircraft engine. Improvements upon Packard's World War I Liberty L-12 2A engine, the successive "M" for "marine" designated 3M-2500, 4M-2500, and 5M-2500 generations all featured slight changes and more power. Their superchargers, intercoolers, dual magnetos, and two spark plugs per cylinder reflected their aircraft origins. Packard's licensed manufacture of the famed Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine alongside the marine 4M-2500 has long been a source of confusion. Only the British built PT-9 prototype boat brought from England for Elco to examine and copy featured a Merlin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PT_boat

2021 Ford Bronco Won't Ever Come with a V-8 Connor Hoffman, Car & Driver / September 14, 2020 Bronco chief engineer Eric Loeffler says Ford will never offer a V-8 in the new Bronco. Loeffler claims that even if Ford wanted to put, for example, the 5.0-liter V-8 in the Bronco, emissions regulations wouldn't allow it. He says that Ford is also confident the Bronco's existing engine options will satisfy customers' needs. Currently, the Bronco can be had with either a turbocharged 2.3-liter inline-four that's projected to produce 270 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque or an optional twin-turbocharged 2.7-liter V-6 that'll make 310 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque. Separately, there are rumors of a more capable Bronco Raptor which, like the F-150 Raptor, could use a more powerful EcoBoost V-6, and Ford has confirmed that, as with the Wrangler, there will be a hybrid powertrain as well.

Nikola's truck was not powering through the Utah countryside, propelled by its next-generation electric vehicle technology. In fact, the unpowered truck was pushed down a hill. . .

Nikola/Hindenberg: gravitational spin Jamie Powell, Financial Times / September 16, 2020 In a year of remarkable market stories, one of the most remarkable emerged last Thursday when short selling research firm Hindenberg took aim at $13bn electric vehicle bubble stock, and recent GM partner, Nikola. Nikola’s shares plummeted, prompting the company’s paper-billionaire founder and private jet enthusiast Trevor Milton to promise a full rebuttal of Hindenberg’s allegations before market open Friday. It never came. Instead we got a short statement from Nikola that it refutes the allegations, and had retained Kirkland & Ellis as its legal rottweiler against the evil shorty. That changed Monday morning as Nikola, a day late and several billion bucks short, published its full response. Now arguably the most amusing allegation in the Hindenberg report was that the born-of-Spac Tesla-knock-off faked a promotional video back in 2018. The clip showed one of Nikola’s trucks powering through the Utah countryside, seemingly propelled by its next-generation electric vehicle technology. In fact, as the FT confirmed, the truck was simply rolling down a very gentle hill. Newton would have been a better name for the company than Nikola, it seems. So we were keen to see how Nikola would spin this revelation in its response, and we weren’t disappointed (emphasis ours): Short Seller Distorts Nikola One 2017 Third Party “Future of Transportation” Promotion Video and Creates a Popular Lie: Hindenburg seeks to portray Nikola as misrepresenting the capabilities of the Nikola One prototype in a 2017 video produced by a third party, as “simply filmed rolling down a big hill.” Nikola never stated its truck was driving under its own propulsion in the video, although the truck was designed to do just that (as described in previous point). The truck was showcased and filmed by a third party for a commercial. Nikola described this third-party video on the Company’s social media as “In Motion.” It was never described as “under its own propulsion” or “powertrain driven.” Nikola investors who invested during this period, in which the Company was privately held, knew the technical capability of the Nikola One at the time of their investment. This three-year-old video of a Nikola prototype is irrelevant except for the fact that the short seller is trying to use it for its main thesis. The fact is, Nikola has real working hydrogen fuel-cell powered semi-trucks. Any reports intended to suggest that Nikola’s trucks do not drive are erroneous, and recent videos of Nikola vehicles driving can be found here. Gravitational forces, it seems, are also beginning to exert themselves on the stock. At pixel, Nikola’s shares are off 7.2 per cent in pre-market trading to $29.81, after jumping to reach the low $50s on the back of the General Motors announcement last Tuesday. What a difference a week makes eh?

100% yes. Some people live off these dividends. ET is a high quality company.

Nikola’s History of Discrepancies Has Been Hiding in Plain Sight Edward Ludlow, Bloomberg / September 12, 2020 Nikola Corp. has left a trail of inconsistent statements and contradictory announcements that are now coming under scrutiny from short sellers eager to poke holes in the electric-vehicle company’s success story. Hindenburg Research, which holds a short position in Nikola stock and stands to gain if the shares fall, released a report Thursday detailing what it called “dozens of lies” about the company’s capabilities, partnerships or products. The firm used internal emails, analyzed photos and even cited an investigator dispatched to rural Utah to test how far a car would roll down a hill. Nikola said Hindenburg’s report was full of falsehoods but hasn’t offered anything specific to rebut the allegations. It doesn’t take a hedge fund or a private eye to determine that Nikola, which struck a partnership this week with General Motors Co., has a pattern of discrepancies. A look at some of its announcements and filings, along with statements and tweets by Executive Chairman Trevor Milton and other management over the past few years, yields other examples that weren’t part of Hindenburg’s report. “It’s a bit confusing trying to follow Trevor on his various social media outlets about the timing and cadence of communication of the different variables that you’re talking about,” Jeff Osborne, a Cowen & Co. analyst, told executives on an Aug. 4 conference call. Nikola’s shares have tumbled 24% since the Hindenburg report, which, among other sources, cited a Bloomberg story from June about the company exaggerating the capabilities of a truck. Its slump over the last three sessions was 36%. “We are committed to doing our best to keep the investing public and all of our stakeholders informed and up to date at all times,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Russell said Friday in an emailed response to questions from Bloomberg about the following items. Under Construction At a press event on July 22, ahead of the groundbreaking of Nikola’s Coolidge, Arizona, factory, Head of Global Manufacturing Mark Duchesne fielded a question on when construction would get underway. “That one is an easy answer,” he said. “Start of construction is tomorrow.” The timeline was repeated by Milton the following day in a tweet. But “construction” turns out to be a broad term. To facilitate the groundbreaking ceremony, the city of Coolidge issued Nikola a temporary use permit on July 13. The document, obtained by Bloomberg, allowed the company to do some limited ground clearing and preparation for holding the event, along with listing a plan for coronavirus safeguards. It didn’t allow further construction to start beyond that. The company also obtained a Pinal County dust permit around the same time, a legal requirement in Arizona. On Aug. 7, the company received its at-risk grading and drainage permit, City Manager Rick Miller said by phone. The permit allows Nikola to clear dirt and do drainage work on the site, but as yet the company doesn’t have the permits required for foundation work, plumbing, electrical or vertical construction, Miller said. The permits are available through public-records requests. On Wednesday, Nikola said in a tweet that Coolidge’s city council had approved the company’s “factory masterplan” and that “construction can now go forward.” This is only partly true, Miller said. It was the planning and zoning commission that approved a “major site plan.” The approval will allow Nikola and its architects and engineers to apply for the next batch of permits. In a statement, Nikola said that by “construction” it meant everything from groundbreaking to seeking permits. Now that its building plan is approved, “the various permits will be obtained in cadence with the steps of the construction. We remain on schedule for Phase 1,” the company said in an email. “The factory will be up in 12 months,” Milton said in a live broadcast on Instagram on Friday night. “The permit was just issued by the city. We are all good to go.” Puzzling Partnership Nikola has a stated ambition of manufacturing hydrogen-powered fuel cell semi trucks by 2023. Since 2017, it has had an agreement for German auto-parts supplier Robert Bosch Gmbh to “develop, build, test and support” various components for Nikola’s prototypes including a fuel-cell system, battery packs, steering pumps and motors, according to a regulatory filing in March. The details of which partner is contributing what to the project has shifted over time, and the future of the deal has gotten hazier. Nikola agreed to pay Bosch around $40 million for the development, according to the filing. In a presentation to investors in April, Nikola described the agreement with Bosch as a “co-development” and strategic supply chain partnership and said the company would jointly own any intellectual property developed with Bosch. However, Nikola executives have regularly stated that Nikola designed, developed and will provide much of the technology for its vehicles -- not Bosch. On Friday, Chief Financial Officer Kim Brady said that Nikola will provide only 15% of the parts in battery electric pickups due to be built in Ulm, Germany, while partner Iveco provides the rest. However, he added that Nikola’s input represents 90% of the truck’s value. “We are responsible for Nikola Tre -- the batteries, e-axle, e-motors, inverters, BMS system, infotainment system,” Brady said. “All the key electric propulsion systems come from Nikola.” As recently as Aug. 25, Bosch has said that it’s “working with the company to make the fuel-cell drive for trucks suitable for mass production.” On Monday, Nikola announced that GM -- not Bosch -- will mass-supply a fuel cell system for Nikola’s Class 7 and 8 semi trucks, as well as the battery packs for its debut electric pickup, the Badger. On Friday, Nikola clarified that Bosch will supply semi truck fuel cells in Europe, while GM will have exclusivity everywhere else. “Bosch is an investor, board member and supplier to Nikola. They help us in many facets of our business as our partner,” Nikola said. Milton bristled at a claim by a Twitter user that Nikola was jilting Bosch in favor of GM. “Bosch as a company with a dedicated hydrogen strategy welcomes the decision of GM to enter this market as an important player,” Bosch spokesman Tim Wieland said in an email. “Beyond that, Nikola and Bosch have been working together for several years, not only on the fuel cell power train but also on other innovations like the steering system and the Mirror Cam System for the first prototypes of the Nikola trucks. The two companies will continue to cooperate in the future, also on fuel cells.” Game Changer Nikola’s narrative about its battery strategy has also shifted over time. In November 2019, Nikola issued a press release claiming to have “game-changing” battery cell technology that it would unveil at an event in 2020. Nikola also said it had entered into a letter of intent to acquire a “world-class battery engineering team” to help bring the new battery to pre-production. “We are talking about doubling the range of BEVs and hydrogen-electric vehicles around the world,” Milton said in the statement. In July, Milton tweeted that Nikola would “make the entire pack like the top guys do” for its upcoming pickup truck, called the Badger. He said that all internal components, such as batteries, inverters, software and controls, are Nikola’s own intellectual property. “We own it all in house,” he said. Milton clarified in a tweet on Thursday that Nikola’s change of direction -- to use GM’s Ultium battery technology for the Badger -- was a result of cost analysis and cost savings. Beer Trucks Back in March, Nikola said in a presentation to investors that it has a “signed binding agreement” to provide Anheuser-Busch with as many as 800 hydrogen fuel cell electric semi trucks. What the presentation didn’t say was that Anheuser-Busch committed to buy fewer trucks than that, and doesn’t have to buy any at all. The deal was first announced in May 2018 and stated the trucks were originally expected to be integrated into Anheuser-Busch’s dedicated fleet by the end of 2020, according to a press release. That timeline isn’t going to be met. During the Aug. 4 earnings call, Russell, the CEO, updated investors on the deal, saying, “We do believe that we’ll be able to give them test prototypes before the end of 2021; serial production or mass production of the fuel cell truck will not begin until 2023.” That does corroborate with the timeline for production set out in a July filing -- and to be fair, lots of people’s plans have changed this year. But in the same filing, Nikola revealed that Anheuser-Busch retains the right to cancel the truck order, though there’s no indication that will happen. The contract also has lease terms and rental rates that may be hard for Nikola to meet, according to the filing, “depending on our ability to develop our trucks and hydrogen network according to current design parameters and cost estimates.” The agreement between the two companies states that Anheuser-Busch gets priority of delivery for as much as 20% of Nikola’s initial “production line of Class 8 vehicles.” To get production going by 2023, Nikola must work to have dedicated equipment in Anheuser Busch’s breweries and distribution centers by the end of 2021, according to the deal terms. Anheuser-Busch only agreed to use at least 600 trucks -- the 800 figure, according to the document, is an estimate of what the brewer will need. “They have been, and continue to be, a great long-term partner in our shared vision of a zero-emission future (a Nikola Two prototype hauled our first load over public roads for them in St. Louis not too long ago),” Russell said in the statement Friday, referring to Anheuser-Busch. “Our original agreement with them has been modified over time. The current agreement terms are as we set forth in our earnings call.” Anheuser-Busch didn’t respond to a request for comment. The partnership with Nikola will help the brewer transition its entire long-haul fleet to zero-emission vehicles, Anheuser-Busch said last November. Prototype Production On July 13, Milton said European partner Iveco was already producing vehicle prototypes. “We have a truck coming in to production right now with 720KwH, the largest battery we know of anywhere in the world coming in to production,” Milton said on the TC’s Chartcast Podcast. “We have five of them coming off the assembly line right now in Ulm, Germany.” On Aug. 4, during the company’s debut earnings call, Russell echoed the sentiment, saying that the first five prototypes were “coming off the end of the facility at this point.” Those statements were a mischaracterization of Nikola and Iveco’s progress in Ulm, according to two people familiar with the matter. The assembly line is still under construction and not yet operational or building prototypes, the people said. There are prototypes being built by hand in a workshop, one of the people said. “As stated previously, the first five production prototypes of the Nikola Tre are being completed, by an assembly team at the Ulm facility. Also as stated previously, the Nikola/IVECO JV mass production line facility in Ulm is still under construction, and is on track for the start of regular serial production in 2021,” Russell said Friday. “We anticipate that a number of current IVECO personnel will join the Nikola/IVECO JV production team in Ulm.” Nikola’s Guidance Here’s when Nikola has said it will hit its big milestones, based on filings, statements and interviews: Goal Timeline Battery-electric Tre semi truck manufacturing in Ulm with Iveco 2021 Production of battery-electric semi trucks for North America in Coolidge mid-2022 (could move up to 2021) Production of Nikola Badger with GM end of 2022 Production of semi trucks in Coolidge, using GM fuel cells