Nikola Corporation (formerly known as Nikola Motor Company) is an American manufacturer of heavy-duty commercial battery-electric vehicles, fuel-cell electric vehicles, and energy solutions. It presented several concept vehicles from 2016 to 2020, the first of which was a natural gas fueled turbine-electric

semi truck A semi-trailer truck (also known by a wide variety of other terms – see below) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer attaches to the tractor with a type of hitch called a ' ...

. The company went public on June 4, 2020. In February 2022, the company projected deliveries of between 300 and 500 of its first battery-electric semitrucks — known as the Nikola Tre — to customers. The company delivered its first two battery-electric trucks in December 2021. The company is named in honor of

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla (;"Tesla"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 10 July 1856 – 7 ...

, but not related to the inventor. Nikola Corporation is based in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. In September 2020, the

Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

and the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

launched investigations into securities fraud allegations. In July 2021, a United States federal grand jury indicted Nikola founder and former CEO Trevor Milton, but did not indict the company. The indictment charged Milton with three counts of

criminal fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover mone ...

—for "lying about 'nearly all aspects of the business'"—and two counts of

securities fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information. after falling from over $65 in mid-2020, when its market valuation had exceeded that of the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

. In October 2022, Milton was found guilty in federal court of three of four counts of fraud against him, over statements he made while CEO of the company. On February 19, 2025, the company filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wh ...

, stating that it would seek to sell off all or most of its assets.

Gordon Brothers Gordon Brothers Group is a retail focused investment firm that was founded in 1903 by Jacob Gordon. The firm has made headlines with its acquisition of Polaroid from bankruptcy in 2009 and its subsequent sale to Polish businessman Wiaczesław Smo ...

offered for sale over 100 Nikola trucks, hydrogen business machinery and inventory products.

History

Founding (2014–2019)

Nikola Corporation was founded by Trevor Milton in 2014 in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. , the first 5,000 Nikola One hydrogen-powered glider trucks (truck vehicle platforms without engines) were slated to be built by Fitzgerald Glider Kits in Tennessee. In March 2019, Nikola acquired a 389-acre parcel of land in

Coolidge, Arizona Coolidge is a city in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 census, the city's population is 13,218. Coolidge is home of the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. The monument was the first historic site to receive prote ...

, for $23 million, with future state and local tax breaks. Nikola said in 2019 that they expected truck factory construction to start in 2020, truck construction in 2021, and the fabrication of 35–50,000 trucks per year by 2023. In February 2019, Mark Russell was hired as company president. Russell had most recently been president and CEO of Nikola Corporation's investor,

Worthington Industries Worthington Enterprises, Inc. (formerly Worthington Industries) is an industrial manufacturing company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company is composed of two business segments, Consumer Products and Building Products. Within these segm ...

. In April 2019, Nikola held the Nikola World event in

Scottsdale, Arizona Scottsdale is a city in eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Named Scottsdale in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott (chaplain), Winfield Scott, a retired Chaplain Corps (United States ...

. The two-day midweek event included a public demo day to show off the Nikola Two truck, the Nikola Tre truck, the Nikola NZT UTV, and the Nikola WAV watercraft.

Going public (2020)

In March 2020, Nikola Corporation announced its plans to merge with VectoIQ Acquisition Corporation (ticker VTIQ), a publicly traded

special-purpose acquisition company A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a blank check company or a blind-pool stock offering, is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring (or merging with) a private company, thus taking ...

run by former

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

(GM) vice-chairman and Stephen Girsky. This resulted in the combined company being listed on the NASDAQ exchange with the NKLA ticker symbol. As part of the merger, founder and CEO Trevor Milton had his title changed from CEO to Executive Chairman and Nikola President Mark Russell became president and CEO. Nikola's stock began trading on June 4, 2020, a day after the merger was completed. By June 9, the shares had more than doubled since they began trading, as investors continued to bet on the growth potential of electric transportation. At the end of June, Nikola started taking reservations for pickup truck, the Badger, even though a prototype had not been shown to the public. The company was valued at around $13 billion in early August 2020, compared to its revenue in the first six months of 2020 of $80,000 ($36,000 of which was attributed to installation of solar facilities for CEO Milton). On September 8, 2020, Nikola and GM announced a partnership, by which GM would acquire an 11% stake in Nikola (valued at approximately $2 billion at the time of the announcement). GM would also earn the right to nominate one member to Nikola's board. In return, GM agreed to use its manufacturing facilities to begin production of the Badger, as well as supply fuel cells and batteries to Nikola globally. Nikola stock jumped by 50% after the announcement.

Fraud allegations and guilty verdict (2020–2022)

On September 10, 2020,

short seller In finance, being short in an asset means investing in such a way that the investor will profit if the market value of the asset falls. This is the opposite of the more common long position, where the investor will profit if the market value ...

firm

Hindenburg Research Hindenburg Research LLC was a U.S. investment research firm with a focus on activist short-selling founded by Nathan Anderson in 2017. Named after the 1937 ''Hindenburg'' disaster, which they characterize as a human-made avoidable disaster, the ...

released a report accusing Nikola of being "an intricate fraud" perpetrated largely by Milton. Further verification by ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' and ''Research Enquirer'' confirmed the report's claim regarding a showcased Nikola One rolling down a gradual slope with no onboard propulsion and instead by using the force of gravity. The stock fell by 10% that day while the stock of GM, which had made an agreement with Nikola days earlier, fell by 4%. By September 12, Nikola stock had fallen by 36%. Nikola called these claims "false and misleading" and threatened legal action against Hindenburg. The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York showed interest in the report. Previously, Milton had alleged that those who were short-selling Nikola stocks are fans of rival company Tesla and are "anti-Nikola or paid attack accounts". In response to the release of the Hindenburg report,

Mary Barra Mary Teresa Barra (née Makela; born December 24, 1961) is an American businesswoman who has been the chair and chief executive officer (CEO) of General Motors since January 15, 2014. She is the first female CEO of a 'Big Three' automaker. In De ...

, CEO of GM, said her company conducted appropriate diligence before its deal with Nikola. Reports that became public on September 14 stated that the Securities and Exchange Commission had started a probe into the fraud allegations and on September 15, the Department of Justice began an investigation into Nikola as well. On September 21, 2020, Executive Chairman, founder and former CEO Trevor Milton announced his resignation from Nikola, and Stephen Girsky became non-executive chairman of the board. News of the allegations caused the share price of Nikola Corp to drop by 20%. Following the resignation, Nikola then "issued copyright-takedown notices targeting critics on YouTube who iting fair useused clips of the promotional video in which a Nikola One semi-truck was seen rolling down a hill" without a working

drivetrain A drivetrain (also frequently spelled as drive train or sometimes drive-train) or transmission system, is the group of components that deliver mechanical power from the prime mover to the driven components. In automotive engineering, the driv ...

. ''The Drive'' called Nikola's action an "abuse of YouTube's copyright takedown system". On September 23, BP backed away from a potential partnership to develop hydrogen refueling stations for Nikola's EV Trucks; Nikola's stock price fell by more than 25% intraday after BP's statement. The partnership was cited as a critical component in Nikola's business plan for its electric vehicle trucks powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Nikola had planned to announce the BP partnership days after the GM partnership. In November 2020, GM announced that the proposed deal to take an equity stake in Nikola would no longer occur. A revised deal was proposed, having GM provide Nikola with the promised fuel-cell technology, but leaving out the 11% stake in the company as well as no longer producing the Badger electric pickup truck for the company. The Badger was subsequently cancelled. In December 2020,

Republic Services Republic Services, Inc. is a North American waste disposal company whose services include non-hazardous solid waste collection, waste transfer, waste disposal, recycling, and energy services. It is the second largest provider of waste disposal in ...

stated that their previously announced partnership with Nikola would be terminated. The two companies had agreed to jointly develop zero-emissions garbage trucks in August 2020, including the production of at least 2,500 to 5,000 trucks for the Republic Services fleet by the start of 2023. Nikola's shares fell 9.8% after the announcement was released. Analysts call the cancelled order a short-term setback, allowing the company to channel more focus towards the core of the business, being the production of semi-trucks designed for long-haul transport. In February 2021, the company publicly dropped their Powersports unit along with any plans they previously had to produce any of the powersports concept vehicles they had shown, including the Nikola WAV watersports vehicle. Also in February, as part of YE2020 filings with the SEC, the company stated that they now intended to produce just 50-100 Nikola Tre vehicles in 4Q2021. In June 2021, Nikola invested $50 million in a new hydrogen factory headed by Wabash Valley Resources to produce fuel for semi-truck fuel stations across the Midwest. In July 2021, the company announced plans to add five new

Class 8 truck Truck classifications are typically based upon the maximum loaded weight of the truck, typically using the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) and sometimes also the gross trailer weight rating (GTWR), and can vary among jurisdictions. United ...

dealers in Arizona, Texas, Colorado, California, New Mexico, Delaware, Florida, Maryland and Virginia. In late July 2021, a United States federal grand jury returned an indictment against Trevor Milton that included three counts of

, including "lying about 'nearly all aspects of the business'" and two counts of

securities fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information. Milton pleaded not guilty to the charges and was freed on $100 million bail, secured by two Utah properties. Nikola's share price dropped further and traded at $12 after falling from near $65 in June 2020, when Nikola had a company valuation in excess of the

. Following the indictment of Milton in July 2021, the company stated "We remain committed to our previously announced milestones and timelines and are focused on delivering Nikola Tre battery-electric trucks later this year (fewer than 100 Tre vehicles, per 1Q2021 SEC filings) from the company's manufacturing facilities." In October 2022, Milton was found guilty in federal court of three of four counts of fraud against him, over statements he made while CEO of the company. On December 18, 2023, he was sentenced to four years in prison. On March 27, 2025, Milton was fully pardoned by President Donald Trump.

2022–present

In August 2022, Nikola announced that it would be acquiring the battery company Romeo Power. On August 4, 2022, it was reported that Nikola had delivered 48 vehicles to dealers, and reported a revenue of $18.1 million. In September 2022, all 93 of its Tre Class 8 battery-electric vehicles were recalled due to an issue with seat belt anchor assemblies. Nikola published in October 2022 that they had completed the acquisition of Romeo and "look forward to executing on the opportunities ahead." In June 2023, a Nikola truck caught fire at its headquarters due to a coolant leak inside its battery pack. In August 2023, a second truck's battery pack malfunctioned, which led the company to announce a recall of all the battery-electric semitrucks it had made to that point (209 in total). It suspended sales of its battery-electric trucks until a repair would become available. On September 4, 2023 a third truck caught fire at Arizona Lithium in Tempe, Arizona, and on September 8, a fourth truck fire occurred near Nikola's headquarters in Phoenix. Nikola sold 112 hydrogen fuel cell trucks in the first half of 2024. Nikola’s expansion of its own hydrogen mobility, HYLA, establishing 14 refueling solutions by year-end.

Concept vehicles

Nikola has publicly announced a number of vehicle design concepts since 2016 and unveiled a few concept vehicles that the company aims to develop for public sale.

Nikola One

In 2016, the company unveiled a high-level design for a natural gas fuelled Class 8

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

called the Nikola One, aimed then to be in production in 2020. The concept was changed in August 2016 to a hydrogen fuel-cell powered generator instead of a natural gas fuelled gas-turbine generator. In 2016 Nikola claimed to have received $2.3 billion in pre-sales, to date no deliveries have been made. In May 2018, Nikola Motor Company filed a lawsuit against

Tesla, Inc. Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from h ...

seeking $2 billion in damages alleging that the

Tesla Semi The Tesla Semi is a battery electric semi-trailer truck built by Tesla, Inc. since 2022. The truck is powered by three motors, and according to Tesla has approximately three times the power of a typical diesel semi truck, a range of , and can o ...

infringed on six patents that Nikola has been granted on the design of the Nikola One. Tesla responded that the lawsuit is without merit. In September 2019, the

Patent Trial and Appeal Board The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is an administrative law body of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which decides issues of patentability. It was formed on September 16, 2012, as one part of the America Invents Act. P ...

denied Tesla's request to invalidate Nikola's side-door patent. Nikola’s suit prompted a countersuit by Tesla. As part of a settlement agreement, the two companies agreed to drop their suits against each other. In May 2018,

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

placed a provisional purchase order for up to 800 leases of the hydrogen-powered truck versions, and Nikola claimed then that the trucks would start being delivered in 2020. By 2019, total pre-orders for truck leases encompassing all Nikola Class 8

models were claimed to be worth $14 billion.

Nikola Two

The Nikola Two is a semi-tractor truck

concept A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, ...

designed to be technically identical to the Nikola One. Unlike the Nikola One, a prototype driving under its own power was demonstrated in 2019, including when hauling a cargo of beer for a future customer.

Nikola Tre

In November 2018, the company unveiled a Nikola Tre hydrogen-powered semi-truck

aimed at the European market. The hydrogen ICE Tre was also stated to be targeted for the Australian and Asian markets. Nikola said the Tre concept was to have and a range of . Former CEO Trevor Milton stated in 2018 that production was planned to begin at the same time as the US truck versions, which was then thought to be 2022–2023. In November 2019, the company unveiled a Nikola Tre electric truck concept (a rebadged version of the Iveco S-Way) that would also be aimed at the European market, just as the original hydrogen Tre had been. In July 2021, the company restated that they intend to deliver the first production Nikola Tre battery electric trucks later in 2021. The Tre was delivered to the

Port of Los Angeles The Port of Los Angeles is a seaport managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department, a unit of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles. It occupies of land and water with of waterfront and adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach. Promoted as "Amer ...

in December 2021. It has a 753 kWh battery pack, rechargeable from 10 to 80% in 120 minutes at 240 kW. California qualified the Tre for its HVIP program in January 2022 at up to $120,000, and New York at up to $185,000. The first customer delivery of the Nikola Tre was made in April 2022, with 11 vehicles being delivered. At the end of 2023, Nikola had delivered 209 units of the Nikola Tre, however all delivered units were subjected to a recall due to a potential leak in the coolant circuit of the battery pack. Following the recall, by October 2024, 78 of those 209 delivered Nikola Tre units were back on the road.

Nikola NZT (Nikola Zero)

In 2016, a prototype concept, the Nikola NZT (originally - and briefly - referred to as the Nikola Zero) was unveiled as a utility task vehicle with a 72 or 107

kWh A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a common b ...

battery. The concept was stated to have total, provided by a motor at each wheel, weigh , and use the same clearance suspension as the

Ford Raptor The Raptor is a nameplate used by Ford Motor Company, Ford for its performance car, high-performance pickup trucks and SUVs. In use since the 2010 model year, the Raptor is designated as the highest-performance version of the Ford F-150, F-150, ...

. By the end of 2016, it was listed as a powersports product, in the ''Nikola Powersports'' division. In 2017 Nikola took a journalist for a ride-along in a prototype of the car in a Utah desert to demonstrate the vehicle's capabilities. That was an open-cabin version, lacking doors or a windshield. On April 16, 2019, Nikola presented an NZT in Phoenix, Arizona, that appeared similar to the original one, except it had doors (but still lacked a roof and a windshield). Nikola says it offered rides in this vehicle to the attendees during the event, and published a video claiming to show it. The vehicle was supposed to have , and up to of range per electric charge. The vehicle was cancelled, alongside the rest of the powersports division, in February 2021.

Nikola Reckless

The Nikola Reckless was a

concept vehicle A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

that was projected to be a military grade fully-electric tactical

off-highway vehicle An off-road vehicle (ORV), also known as an off-highway vehicle (OHV), overland vehicle or adventure vehicle, is a type of transportation specifically engineered to navigate unpaved roads and surfaces. These include trails, forest roads, and o ...

. A prototype of the vehicle was displayed in the International Special Operations Forces Industry Exhibition Conference in May 2018. The vehicle's chassis would be 4×4 although it could switch to

two-wheel drive Two-wheel-drive (2WD) denotes vehicles with a drivetrain that allows two wheels to be driven, and receive power and torque from the engine, simultaneously. Four-wheeled vehicles For four-wheeled vehicles (and by extension, vehicles with six, ...

. It would weigh and would be able to carry up to . Also, the vehicle would have a machine gun. The vehicle was removed from the website with the cancellation of the powersports division.

Nikola WAV

The Nikola WAV was a concept vehicle unveiled in April 2019 as a Nikola Motors watersports offering and presented alongside the Nikola Zero. The Nikola WAV concept had a waterproof 4K resolution screen, and cruise control. The vehicle was cancelled, alongside the entire powersports division, in February 2021.

Nikola Badger

The Badger was a proposed

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a Truck_classification#Table_of_US_GVWR_classifications, light or medium duty truck that has an enclosed cabin (truck), cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (th ...

announced in February 2020. Nikola planned two variants, the first powered by a combination of

hydrogen fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requ ...

s and batteries and second all-

, without fuel cells. The truck was intended to go to market in 2022 with the assistance of GM. In November 2020, GM pulled out of the deal and Nikola cancelled the truck.

Gallery

File:NikolaTwo.jpg, Nikola Two File:NikolaTre.jpg, Nikola Tre File:NikolaTreSideView.jpg, Nikola Tre, side view File:NikolaReckless.jpg, Nikola Reckless File:NikolaRecklessSideView.jpg, Nikola Reckless, side view

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2014 establishments in Utah 2018 initial public offerings American companies established in 2014 Battery electric vehicle manufacturers Car manufacturers of the United States Companies listed on the Nasdaq Electric vehicle manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Phoenix, Arizona Special-purpose acquisition companies Truck manufacturers of the United States Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2025 Transportation in Phoenix, Arizona