Nikola’s Electric Big Rig Beats Delayed Tesla Semi To Market

Production of electric semis at the new Arizona plant of Nikola Inc., which aims to be a leader in battery- and hydrogen-powered heavy trucks, will begin at least a year ahead of Musk's delayedTesla Semi.

The company's Coolidge plant, about an hour southeast of its Phoenix headquarters, marked the start of commercial production of battery-powered Tre trucks on Wednesday at a ceremony joined by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who convinced the company to set up operations in the state. The initial phase of the plant is a 250,000- square-foot facility that only builds one truck per day. The expansion will increase the output of the BEV by five per day. The second phase of the factory will be powered by hydrogen.

Mark Russell said that they have been a pre-revenue startup for years, where everything they spent was raised from investors. We have trucks that we can use to deliver to customers. We are now going to be a revenue-earning company.

The current low pace of production means revenue will be modest for the next few quarters, but the fact that Nikola made it to this point is notable. The founder of the company was charged by the SEC with lying to investors about the company's technology and market readiness. The company agreed to pay a $125 million fine to resolve the matter last year, and is trying to recover some of the money.

Iveco, which supplies the Tre's Chassis, and Bosch, which is working with it on fuel cells for hydrogen trucks, have tighter relations with the company under Russell's management. The company began testing the battery-powered Tres at the Port of Los Angeles last year and is targeting sales in regions such as Southern California where the Tre qualifies for an incentive for clean heavy-duty vehicles worth $120,000 per truck. Each sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars, though the company isn't sharing detailed pricing.

The Tre has the longest range of any electric semi on the market, getting 350 miles per charge from its 753 kWh pack. That is a larger battery than any of its competitors, including electric models from Peterbilt, Freightliner, BYD, Volvo and Lion Electric.

In November of last year, Musk unveiled the Semi, which he said would travel up to 500 miles per charge. Since then, it has been pushed back at least twice. At the opening of the Giga Austin plant, Musk suggested that it might arrive by the year 2023 after production of the Cybertruck pickup begins. The model was delayed due to the decision to focus on higher production of profitable vehicles such as the Model 3 and Y and challenges the company has had scaling up production of its new, purpose-built 4680 battery cell.

Big rigs aren't the only vehicle segment that competitors got to faster than. Musk's decision to push back Cybertruck production allowed Rivian to come to market first with its R1T model. The F-150 Lightning is a battery-powered version of the best-selling U.S. vehicle for decades.

The truck will be made at the Iveco plant in Ulm, Germany, as well as at a production line in Arizona. We originally thought we would start exporting out of Germany first, but as things evolved I don't think we will.

The plant of EV startup Nikola is located about 20 minutes from the plant of another EV startup, Lucid. South Korea's Lg Energy Solutions announced last month that it will build a new factory in Queen Creek, Arizona, in order to make battery cells.

The proximity of the new plant of the company will give it an advantage. It should be the cheapest supply for us.

The shares fell in Wednesday's trading. The first-quarter results will be released on May 5.