Nikola Motors news

[bulldogboy]

That's a leap of faith by Republic Services to order 2,500 trucks from a brand that has yet to get a truck on the market. Good luck to them. Wasn't Republic getting one of the Mack "LR" electric trash trucks to test next year along with the DSNY?

[RoadwayR]

The GM deal with Nikola is interesting.  Basically GM agrees to build Nikola's pickup truck and supply batteries and fuel cells for their semi in exchange for an 11% stake in Nikola (worth $2B at the moment) and a board seat.  If Nikola fails GM isn't out anything, if they make it the deal could be worth billions going forward.  Given the nature of Nikola up to this point, it was a deal they had to make.  Gravity powered semi's can only roll so far......

[Red Horse]

10 hours ago, RoadwayR said:

The GM deal with Nikola is interesting.  Basically GM agrees to build Nikola's pickup truck and supply batteries and fuel cells for their semi in exchange for an 11% stake in Nikola (worth $2B at the moment) and a board seat.  If Nikola fails GM isn't out anything, if they make it the deal could be worth billions going forward.  Given the nature of Nikola up to this point, it was a deal they had to make.  Gravity powered semi's can only roll so far......

I can't believe GM would not have done their share of "due diligence" before getting in bed with this guy.  They might not be out any cash but I can't imagine it would be smart to embarrass Mary B with some half baked scheme-or should I say.."alleged" half baked scheme.

[kscarbel2]

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.

[kscarbel2]

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.

[kscarbel2]

Nikola Founder Trevor Milton Resigns as Executive Chairman Amid Fraud Allegations

The Wall Street Journal  /  September 21, 2020

Nikola Corp. founder and Executive Chairman Trevor Milton is stepping down from the electric-truck startup with immediate effect in the wake of allegations from a short seller that he and the company had made false statements to investors.

The company said Mr. Milton would be replaced by Stephen Girsky, a former General Motors Co. executive who already sits on the truck company’s board.

Nikola has come under scrutiny since short seller Hindenburg Research released a report earlier this month accusing the company and Mr. Milton of making exaggerated claims about the readiness of Nikola’s technology and how much of it is proprietary.

Doubts about the company’s readiness to produce vehicles and questions about its claim to own proprietary technology have prompted U.S. securities regulators and the Justice Department to investigate whether Nikola misled investors.