A Closer Look At Nikola World 2019: 5 Debuts, Advantages, Challenges

We've got all the details from Nikola World 2019, plus some compelling dialogue.

As promised, our friend Sean Mitchell over at AllThingsEV.info has completed his exhaustive video about Nikola World 2019. He provides all the details about each of the five new vehicles Nikola shared at the event. In addition, Sean reflects on the company's potential advantages, as well as the challenges it may face moving forward.

More Nikola Motor Content:

Nikola Motors Announces Truck Manufacturing Plant In Arizona

As usual, Mitchell spent a considerable amount of time doing his homework to assure that this latest video is packed with information. Thankfully, he also wrote everything up for us below, in case you don't have time watch the entire video right now. It's also nice to have it in writing since you may not have caught everything in Nikola's livestream or in Mitchell's video presentation.

Check it all out and then let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Video Description via Sean Mitchell (AllThingsEV.info) on YouTube:

Nikola World Recap: 5 new vehicles in 2 days

I’ve spent that last few days in Arizona at a two day event held by vehicle start up Nikola Motor. At this event held at event facility WestWord of Scottsdale, the company showed on five zero emissions vehicles: the Nikola WAV an all-electric water adventure vehicle, an autonomous capable Nikola Reckless ATV for military use, Nikola NTZ off-highway vehicle, Nikola Two class 8 truck, and Nikola Tre.

I’m going to give a high-level overview of each of the vehicles, then talk about where I think Nikola Motor’s advantages and challenges will lie moving forward.

Nikola WAV

Waterproof touch display Bow to stern tunnel All electric

Nikola Reckless ATV

775 lb feet of torque 150 mile range 4 sec 0-60 Direct drive quad motor producing 590 horsepower 2 hour CCS DC fast charge 125 kWh battery

Nikola NTZ OHV

775 lb feet of torque 150 mile range 4 sec 0-60 Direct drive quad motor producing 590 horsepower 2 hour CCS DC fast charge 125 kWh battery 12” ground clearance 7” instrument cluster 13” infotainment display OTA software updates Production begins 2021 Starting price of $80,000

Nikola Two class 8 truck

2,000 lb feet of torque 1,000 horsepower 500-750 miles of range 13” instrument cluster 17” infotainment display Torque vectoring rear wheels Standard with advanced hardware capable of active safety features Hydrogen version: 80 kg tank

Battery version: It will come with a 500, 750, or 1000 kWh

Production in 2022

In my next video I will cover how the Nikola Two and Tesla Semi stack up so make sure you’re subscribed for that.

Nikola Tre

300-750 miles of range

Hydrogen version: 60 kg tank

Battery version: It will come with a 500, 750, or 1000 kWh

Production in 2023

Leasing

Leasing program with a 1,000,000 mile or 84 month trade in which includes the vehicle, hydrogen fuel, and warranty and maintenance. They are guaranteeing a $0.90 per mile lease rate.

They’ve partnered together with Ryder and ThompsonCAT for servicing the trucks at hundreds of locations across North America.

Hydrogen Stations

Partnering together with the Norwegian company Nel ASA

15 minute charge time

17.6 megawatts power gen per station - 40% renewable

7-10 acres size of station

700 stations by 2026

Advantages

I like Nikola CEO Trevor Milton’s enthusiasm.

I also like Nikola has a zero emissions mission.

As it stands right now hydrogen appears to be better for long haul than battery electric vehicles due to large weight difference.

They’ve been touting that refueling hydrogen is faster than batteries but that does not factor in any current or future development in DC fast charging like Tesla’s Semi Megachargers.

I think their two best chances of revenue among their product line are their semis and Reckless military vehicle.

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Challenges

For commercial fleet vehicles, Nikola appears to be pioneering the production and distribution of hydrogen. They are building this infrastructure from the ground up as according to US Department of Energy, there are only 47 public hydrogen stations in North America.

The other challenge I see is having enough capital to drive new 5 vehicle programs and build a network of hydrogen stations at the same time. This sounds as ambitious as some of Elon Musk’s claims. Ultimately, execution will be the true proof of whether all of Nikola’s plans will happen.

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