Nikola electric truck company declares bankruptcy

A scandalous EV brand famous for a fraudster boss and fake announcements has declared bankruptcy.

An American EV manufacturer famous for fake announcements that put its boss in jail has declared bankruptcy.

Nikola, a truck manufacturer spruiking battery and hydrogen-powered alternatives to the Tesla Semi, is the latest manufacturer to declare an end to its production run.

It follows failures for fellow US brands Fisker, Canoo and Faraday Future that have failed to match Tesla’s stratospheric rise.

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US electric truck manufacturer Nikola has declared bankruptcy. Picture: Supplied

While Nikola – a company named after electrical pioneer Nikola Tesla – promised to revolutionise the world of road transportation with green trucks, the brand is more famous for the dodgy dealings of company founder Trevor Milton.

Milton was sentenced to four years in prison in December 2023 for misleading shareholders about the capability of his trucks – including a video that purported to show a truck propelled by electricity when it was really just rolling down a hill.

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Nikola founder Trevor Milton, right, was sentenced to four years’ jail. PHOTO: YUKI IWAMURA/BLOOMBERG NEWS

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in 2023 that “Trevor Milton lied to investors again and again — on social media, on television, on podcasts, and in print … today’s sentence should be a warning to start-up founders and corporate executives everywhere — ‘fake it till you make it’ is not an excuse for fraud, and if you mislead your investors, you will pay a stiff price.”

A statement published by the US Attorney’s Office said Milton “engaged in a scheme to defraud investors by inducing them to purchase shares of Nikola Corporation”, with false presentations that misrepresented the trucks’ capabilities.

“To film these clips, the Nikola One was towed to the top of a hill, at which point the ‘driver’ released the brakes, and the truck rolled down the hill until being brought to a stop in front of the stop sign,” the statement said.

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The original Nikola One truck featured in the controversial video.

The company defended itself in 2020 by saying that “Nikola never stated its truck was driving under its own propulsion in the video”.

“It was never described as ‘under its own propulsion’ or ‘powertrain driven.’ Nikola investors who invested during this period, in which the Company was privately held, knew the technical capability of the Nikola One at the time of their investment.”

At its height, Nikola was worth more than automotive giants such as Ford.

It formed a partnership with General Motors to build a “Badger” electric ute that never came to fruition.

The Nikola Badger electric pick-up truck would have been a rival to Tesla’s Cybertruck.

Shares in the company have plunged from a high of $US1977 ($3100) to less than 50 US cents.

Nikola offered two models, a battery electric truck combining 330 miles (530km) of range with a 90 minute charging time, and an impressive hydrogen-powered model with 500 miles (805km) of range that can be refuelled in less than 20 minutes.

The latter sold for $US351,000 ($552,000) but reportedly cost $US679,000 ($1.07m) to produce, harming the company’s bottom line.

US electric truck manufacturer Nikola has declared bankruptcy. Picture: Supplied

Nikola declared bankruptcy this week, telling shareholders that although “Nikola has taken significant steps to move zero-emissions transportation forward, including bringing the first commercially available Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks to market in North America and developing the HYLA hydrogen refuelling highway, connecting Northern California to Southern California … Unfortunately, our very best efforts have not been enough to overcome these significant challenges”.

Nikola’s failure is a further blow to the cause of hydrogen-powered transport in the US and beyond.

Owners of Hydrogen-powered cars including the Honda Clarity, Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo, were hung out to dry in California when Shell announced that it would close its hydrogen refuelling stations in the US last year, leaving precious little infrastructure for existing owners.