“We beat Daimler, Volvo, Tesla, everybody…”
A sudden appearance on the NASDAQ in early June—thanks to a complex reverse merger that increased Nikola’s stock from US$3bn to US$10bn before it went public—saw the company’s valuation exceed US$30bn to briefly top Ford Motor Company. The subsequent slide in share value brought the company’s market cap back down, but it settled at a nonetheless staggering US$23bn. And the company has yet to deliver a single truck.
With bold and seemingly incredible ambitions—“We’re going to completely control trucking in America” and “We will become the leader in electrified pick-up trucks”—it’s easy to understand why Nikola and its founder and Chairman Trevor Milton command equal measures of passion and cynicism.
In an exclusive and fascinating interview with Automotive World, Milton discusses a range of subjects, from battery and fuel cell electric trucking to the importance of connectivity, autonomous driving, and the company’s plans to dominate North America’s electric heavy-duty and pick-up truck markets.
Nikola claims to be “a global leader in zero-emissions and infrastructure solutions”, but it’s in the truck market and out on the road where Nikola will need to show that it can convert those solutions into credible products.
In this issue:
- Could cleaner mobility be a crisis success story?
- ‘We’re going to completely control trucking in America’ – Nikola’s Trevor Milton
- Nissan’s ‘radical action’ plan signals end of Ghosn era
- Ford’s post-COVID mobility vision riding on commercial vehicles
- Volkswagen CEO faces uphill battle with COVID recovery
- BMW confident in a hydrogen fuel cell future as others jump ship
- Automakers urged to introduce battery passports for electric vehicles
- Intel’s Moovit move underlines importance of multimodal mobility
- From taxis to trucks: Uber’s disruption efforts in trucking continue
- Corporate debt piles up as CASE and COVID-19 challenges collide
- The clock is ticking for the ‘global automaker’
- COMMENT: The auto industry must prove that black lives matter
- Russian tech giant in pursuit of universal robotaxi tech
- Einride outlines its vision for sustainable trucking
