The Nikola Corporation is laying out plans to charge battery-electric trucks with hydrogen fuel cell stations.
This type of ambition shouldn’t surprise anybody. 2020 has seen the electric truck maker’s stock (NASDAQ:NKLA) shoot skyward 250% in all of 2020. The stock peaked at 36% in August alone.
There’s no revenue for the start-up, though demand has risen for their electric-driven trucks.
And with high demand comes low stress. What’s the worst that can happen? They’re legit enough! Clients will flock until they drop all the hydrogen they can carry.
Let’s take trash company, Republic Services, for example. They may be witnessing investors flying off the love handle by selling their stocks away. But they’re committed to litter-free litter collecting with the 2,500 battery-electric garbage trucks slated to arrive in 2023.
So, Nikola and their hydrogen fuel-cell school of trucks want to take over the industry. How will they do that?
Match The Mega-Guzzlers
Since the March 2020 investor deck, Nikola claims one station can fuel 210 trucks at the price of $16.6 million. They’re devising precise hydrogen fuel station coordination along existent routes, tried-and-true.
One-Frastructure, Two-Frastructure, Blue-Frastructure, What’s “Infrastructure?”
With competitor Hyliion skipping infrastructure costs, one wonders if Nikola will do the same. After all, Hyliion is not so vastly different from Nikola’s hydrogen-powered fuel cells. Except Hyliion uses diesel-electric hybrid systems. Trucky-see, trucky-do?
Piggyback Off Of General Motors’ Hydrogen Lends
Some of the biggest news this month is the union between General Motors and Nikola to create the Nikola Badger. It’s a consumer-grade electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric pickup truck. Since the binding of said contract, Nikola’s shares shot through 33% Tuesday morning. GM will provide exclusive fuel cells for Nikola’s hydrogen-hyped vehicles, as per agreement.
All in all, Nikola’s got their hydrogen hurdles all figured out. Time will tell if they can deliver in the race to sustainability.
