Earlier this week, Elon Musk revealed Tesla’s highly anticipated electric semi truck, which surprised many with its greater than expected specs. Now, one of Tesla’s main competitors in the alternative-fuel truck space is questioning the accuracy of Musk’s claims.
Nikola Motor Company, the creators of the hydrogen-fueled Nikola One semi truck, made several accusatory Twitter posts shortly after Tesla’s reveal, claiming that Musk may be ‘misleading’ people (or worse — committing fraud) by claiming that Tesla’s electric truck will have a range of 500 miles before needing to be recharged.
The posts, which were picked up by a Reddit user and since deleted by the company, were captured in a screenshot that can be seen below.
Based on the battery of the truck, the tweet claims that Tesla’s 500-mile range would only be achieved in a perfect environment — a flat road, with normal temperatures, no hills, and regular driving.
However, once you factor in normal driving conditions, including hills and AC usage, Nikola Motor says a more probable range for the Tesla semi would be closer to 125-200 miles.
“I guess he ‘blew his mind out of his skull with a portal gun’,” the Tweet reads. It further questions if Musk misled shareholders and committed fraud by making his claims.
When asked about the accusatory Tweets, Nikola Motor said they did not come from the company’s CEO Trevor Milton, but instead a “passionate employee.”
Although the tweets were deleted, the company did reply to a user who called them out for attacking Tesla’s claims.
I believe we gave very clear data in the response. Data that we normally don't share due to millions of dollars in simulations and trials. We went off his data that he announced in his unveiling. Don't blame the messenger.
— Nikola Motor Company (@nikolamotor) November 17, 2017
“I believe we gave very clear data in the response. Data that we normally don’t share due to millions of dollars in simulations and trials. We went off his data that he announced in his unveiling. Don’t blame the messenger,” Nikola Motor added.
Nikola Motor’s hydrogen-fueled semi truck is set to launch in 2019 and will cost roughly $375,000 — more than double the price of Tesla’s most expensive truck model. Nikola Motor says their truck can run for 750 miles before needing to be recharged at a hydrogen fueling station.
