Let the marketing begin.
Nikola Corporation (NASDAQ: NKLA) probably won’t have its electric battery-powered Badger pickup with a fuel cell range extender on sale until 2022. But it started taking orders Monday, offering to match $ 5,000 deposits and guaranteeing a party invitation. of revelation in December.
With a truck raffle, Nikola is sweetening the field used by and rival Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA). The industry’s leading electric car maker deposited hundreds of thousands of its Model 3 sedans in the past decade. Badger deposits are refundable. They will take place, but will not be used for development, CEO Trevor Milton wrote on Twitter.
The badger price is pending.
Nikola hopes to name a Badger manufacturing partner ahead of the reveal at the second annual Nikola World in Phoenix, to be held Dec. 3-5.
The advertised field of electric vans is crowded. Established automakers Ford engine company (NYSE: F), General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) and Tesla plan models. So do startups Lordstown Motors Corp., Rivian and Nikola. The truck market in the United States is approximately 2.8 million annually. All of these are currently built to run on gasoline or diesel.
Electric vehicles can benefit from California Air Resources Board approval of an Advanced Clean Truck Regulation that is phased in for zero-emission trucks beginning in 2024. Requires 75% of trucks Class 8 run on electricity by 2035.
Badger Details
The Battery Electric Badger (BEV) is expected to offer 300 miles of range, while the Hydrogen Power Fuel Cell Extender (FCEV) adds 300 miles for a total of approximately 600 miles.
With single-speed straight-line acceleration, the BEV reaches 60 mph from scratch in approximately 2.9 seconds. It is anticipated that it will generate over 906 horsepower and 980 foot pounds of torque with a 15 kilowatt-hour power export for tools and other needs.
Features include interior tie-down lanes for cargo, a hidden cooler and waterproof displays, air updates, keyless entry, and independent torque control for each wheel.
“You couldn’t dream of building a better truck than the Badger,” said Milton.
Larger plans
Production of Nikola’s first heavy-duty electric truck, the battery-powered Tre, is expected to begin in mid-2021 in Ulm, Germany, as part of a joint venture with IVECO, a subsidiary of CNH Industrial NV, (NYSE: CNHI), which invested $ 100 million in cash and $ 150 million in kind in Nikola in September 2019.
Nikola will start on July 23 at his own plant in Coolidge, Arizona, about 50 miles south of Phoenix. Initially, the plant will build North American Tre models from imported kits before starting production of the Two model powered by hydrogen fuel cells in 2023.
Nikola, which went public under its own name on June 4, has more than doubled in price since its reverse merger with special-purpose acquisition company VectoIQ. Nikola shares hit $ 100 cents on the third day of trading on June 8. They have fallen since then, closing June 26 at $ 63.55.
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