Nikola

Nikola Corporation is an American hydrogen fuel cell and pure electric heavy truck manufacturer, founded by Trevor Milton in 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The company moved its headquarters to Phoenix, Arizona, in 2018. The brand name is derived from the American inventor Nikola Tesla, creating a “Name + Surname” symmetric echo with Tesla, highlighting its strategic ambition to benchmark against Tesla and change the transportation landscape. The company focuses on zero-emission solutions for Class 8 heavy commercial trucks (gross weight over 15 tons), offering both hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) and battery electric vehicles (BEV) technology routes. It also layouts the entire hydrogen production, storage, transportation, and refueling industry chain through its HYLA brand.

In June 2020, Nikola went public via a SPAC merger on Nasdaq. Without delivering a single vehicle, its market cap once exceeded $30 billion, surpassing Ford Motor, earning it the titles of the “Tesla of the Truck Industry” and the “First Share of Hydrogen Heavy Trucks.” However, just three months after listing, short-selling firms released reports exposing technical fraud and false advertising. Founder Milton was convicted of three counts of fraud in 2022 and sentenced to four years in prison. The company underwent management restructuring, faced battery fire recalls, suffered continuous losses, and encountered financing difficulties. It formally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the Delaware Bankruptcy Court on February 19, 2025. As of December 2025, in the liquidation phase, the company’s net assets were approximately -$172 million, with employees reduced to one person. Thus, a generation’s “Hydrogen Car Making Star” exits the stage.

History

Nikola’s story began with the grand ambition of a high school dropout entrepreneur. Founder Trevor Milton was born in 1982. After high school, he worked as a missionary in Brazil, then returned to the US to study marketing at Utah Valley State College but dropped out after one semester. He founded an alarm sales company and a used car online classified ad website early on. In 2009, he co-founded dHybrid, a natural gas storage technology company, which was sold to industrial giant Worthington Industries in 2014 for $15.9 million, earning his first capital.

In 2014, Milton used this capital to found Nikola. The initial direction was to develop natural gas turbine technology, but it quickly shifted to the hydrogen energy track with a grander technical narrative. In August 2016, the company held a grand launch event in Salt Lake City, unveiling its first model, the Nikola One. It was claimed to be equipped with a 1,000-horsepower hydrogen fuel cell system, have a 30-ton load capacity, and a range of over 1,600 kilometers, with mass production planned for 2019. The company also invested $1 billion to build a factory to achieve an annual output of 50,000 units. To support promotion, the company announced the construction of 364 hydrogen refueling stations and supporting solar power plants in North America.

Over the following years, Nikola completed more than 10 rounds of financing. Investors included industrial giants such as Bosch Group, CNH Industrial, and Hanwha Group. Before a single car left the assembly line, the company received orders exceeding $10 billion. In February 2020, the company released the hydro-electric hybrid pickup Badger, benchmarking the Tesla Cybertruck. In June of the same year, it completed listing through a SPAC merger with VectoIQ with a valuation of $12 billion, raising $700 million, becoming the global “First Hydrogen Heavy Truck Stock.” Three days after listing, the stock price doubled, with market capitalization reaching as high as $34 billion, surpassing Ford. In September of the same year, General Motors announced it would acquire an 11% equity stake in Nikola for $2 billion in non-cash assets and would produce the Badger pickup for it.

However, just two days after the General Motors announcement, short-selling firm Hindenburg Research released a 67-page report, accusing Nikola of severe exaggeration and false statements in multiple key technical areas. The report pointed out that the Nikola One’s “driving on the road” video was actually filmed by sliding down from a mountaintop, the claimed hydrogen fuel cell technology had never achieved a real breakthrough, and actual order quantities were far from what was advertised. Founder Milton resigned as Executive Chairman in September 2020 and was sentenced by a federal court to four years in prison in 2022.

Afterwards, the company entered a turbulent period. In December 2021, Nikola delivered the first Tre electric pilot trucks to California ports. In March 2022, the Coolidge plant in Arizona started Tre BEV mass production. In September of the same year, the CEO disclosed that the Nikola One did not carry the core technology components claimed at its 2016 launch. Approximately 209 delivered vehicles were recalled due to battery component defects in 2023, and the CEO resigned in August of the same year. For the first three quarters of 2024, the company’s revenue was $64 million, with a net loss of $481 million and an operating loss of $455 million. Cash reserves dropped from $464.7 million at the end of 2023 to $188.3 million. On February 19, 2025, Nikola officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Documents showed assets of $500 million to $1 billion and liabilities of $10 billion to $100 billion, rendering it insolvent. In October of the same year, the company laid off employees until only about one person remained. On March 15, 2026, Nikola Protocol was launched as an intelligent incubation protocol for the Web 4.0 era, with no direct connection to the bankrupt automotive manufacturing entity.

Product Portfolio

Nikola’s product line is centered on the Tre series, covering two technology routes: Battery Electric (BEV) and Hydrogen Fuel Cell (FCEV).

Nikola One (2016 Concept)
This was the brand’s first hydrogen fuel cell semi-trailer truck concept car, designed with a sleeper cab and suitable for long-haul transport. It was claimed to be equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell system developed with assistance from Bosch, along with a 250 kWh battery pack. The claimed range was 500–750 miles, with an output of 1,000 horsepower. However, most technical indicators of this car were never realized in actual mass production.

Nikola Tre (Mass Production Series)
This is the brand’s only core vehicle series that entered mass production. The name is derived from the Norwegian word for “3,” representing the third-generation vehicle platform. The Tre series adopts the same modular chassis, providing BEV and FCEV powertrain options.

Tre BEV
This is the pure electric version, equipped with a 738 kWh battery pack. It has a range of 330 miles and an electric motor output power of approximately 644 horsepower. It is suitable for towing and regional transport.

Tre FCEV
This is the hydrogen fuel cell version, equipped with a 164 kWh auxiliary battery and a 70 kg hydrogen storage capacity. Its range can reach 500 miles (approximately 800 km), with a refueling time of approximately 20 minutes. The electric motor output power is approximately 500–1,000 horsepower.

Nikola Badger (2020 Concept, Not Mass Produced)
This was a hydrogen fuel cell and battery dual-mode power pickup concept, with a claimed range of 960 kilometers, benchmarking the Tesla Cybertruck. It was released in February 2020 and opened for pre-order but was later called off due to funding issues and the fraud scandal.

HYLA (Energy Infrastructure Brand)
This is a hydrogen ecosystem sub-brand launched around 2024, covering the full chain of hydrogen production, transportation, storage, and refueling. It planned to build over 700 hydrogen refueling stations in North America but actually built only a very few stations.

Market Performance

Nikola’s market performance at the vehicle delivery level was extremely dismal. After the Tre BEV started mass production in March 2022, sales volume in 2023 was under 200 units, with some vehicles recalled due to battery fires. In 2024, hundreds of units were delivered throughout the year, with approximately 203 units delivered in the first three quarters, an increase from 79 units year-on-year. Financially, revenue for the first three quarters of 2024 was $64 million, with a net loss of approximately $481 million. At the time of bankruptcy, the cumulative delivery volume was under 600 units, far below the tens of thousands of units in order commitments made in the early days of establishment. Its market cap fell from a peak of over $30 billion in 2020 to under $40 million before the bankruptcy filing, evaporating over 99%.

Technology and Innovation 

Nikola's main technology relies on the Tre modular platform. This platform is compatible with BEV and FCEV dual power, hydrogen fuel cell system developed with assistance from Bosch, claimed thermal efficiency superior to traditional internal combustion engine. Tre FCEV's hydrogen fuel storage system capacity approx. 70 kg, refueling approx. 20 minutes, range 800 km. The company once adopted "skateboard chassis" concept in body design, integrating hydrogen tanks, battery, and motor under the chassis, releasing cabin space. However, most core technologies never reached original promotional standards — Bosch team later verified by foreign media to be more about "helping" in sales rather than deep development of core stacks; hydrogen fuel cell cold start, durability, and hydrogen storage pressure safety indicators were also not widely validated by independent third parties.

Global Presence

Nikola’s overseas layout focus was on the European market, planned early on and mainly relying on collaboration with IVECO in Ulm, Germany, starting in 2019 to manufacture Tre trucks. In 2022, the Ulm plant briefly assembled a batch of Tre BEVs, but operations basically stopped later due to supply chain disruptions and funding limits. In the US domestic market, Nikola’s production was mainly concentrated at the Coolidge plant in Arizona. HYLA hydrogen refueling stations were only put into operation in West Sacramento, California, and a very few other locations. The company’s hydrogen network expansion plans in markets like Canada and Europe were halted due to funding depletion, with actual export business remaining almost zero.

Future Outlook

As of the second quarter of 2026, Nikola’s automotive business has been substantially terminated. After applying for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2025, the company failed to complete restructuring or a sale, entering the liquidation process. In December 2025, the company’s net assets were approximately -$172 million, with employees reduced to one person, raising approximately $15.3 million by selling environmental credits and other assets. The “Nikola Protocol,” launched in March 2026, nominally inherits the brand name but is actually a Web 4.0 intelligent incubation protocol with no direct connection to the original automotive manufacturing business. Nikola’s bankruptcy case has been included in business school textbooks, becoming a classic negative case of “PPT car making” in the new car creation wave.