The Nikola Motor Company stirred confusion after they publicly disclosed their plan to back down from their original battery-electric powered Nikola One semi-truck.
The company’s initial announcement of a zero emission fully electric semi went viral, and the Nikola Motor Company even collected $10.5 million in pre-order deposits across 7,000 buyers. Regardless of what they promised to offer, the company is now replacing the idea with something entirely different, unbeknownst to already paying customers.
The original Nikola One was promised to have 6 electric motors, a 320 kWh battery pack, more than 2,000 horsepower and 3,700-plus ft. lbs. of torque before gear reduction, and nearly 86,000 ft. lbs. of torque after gear reduction.
But now, the company plans to unveil a different truck in December—and it runs on hydrogen. The new design will only allow for 1,000 horsepower and 2,000 pound-feet of torque.
In addition, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles get less mileage than an electric vehicle before needing to refuel, and must be filled up at a fuel-station instead of being charged from a power outlet.
Autoblog pointed out that “battery-powered cars are roughly three-times more efficient than ones that use hydrogen. There’s also a lack of infrastructure to support hydrogen vehicles, which would make refueling nearly impossible.”
In a press release, Nikola Motor CEO Trevor Milton addressed concerns. He explained that the company plans to build zero-emission solar farms that will create hydrogen from water in a process of electrolysis. The company says they will have 50 hydrogen stations used to refuel the vehicles available by 2020.
But chances are investors and customers alike will have a hard time believing anything that comes from this company until we actually see it.
