Sources close to the embattled fuel cell truck manufacturer are reporting that founder Trevor Milton has resigned as executive chairman of Nikola Motor (NASDAQ: NKLA) and has departed the company effective immediately.
He will remain as one of the company’s largest shareholders, but will not have a say in how the company is managed going forward. Sources tell FreightWaves that the decision was Milton’s, in an effort to protect the company and his investment. Milton owns approximately 82 million shares or 20% of the company, worth about $2.8 billion.
Milton created a vision for a hydrogen-powered trucking industry. His comments about the capabilities of Nikola and the hydrogen-powered trucking network he planned to build have occasionally stretched beyond what is physically possible, leaving many detractors to highlight these statements as proof that the company is a scam.
Others, including many in the industry and suppliers that partnered with the company, saw a firm with a grand vision and opportunity to make a major impact on the future of transportation. If successful, Nikola could greatly reduce the carbon footprint from one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA estimates that 6.4% of all such emissions in the U.S. come from medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
Before the company went public, few had heard of Nikola outside of the heavy-duty trucking industry. The company completed a reverse merger IPO or SPAC offering in June, which gave the company a valuation higher than Ford’s. Nikola has yet to mass produce a product, and all of its revenue to date came from selling solar panel installation services to Milton.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned to FreightWaves for updates.
Cousin Eddy
took long enough
oof
Oof just lost 800mil
Craig licht
BUMMER
Justin Craig Venable
Hydrogen, a dynamic, a proportional, two perpendicular proportionals on that proportional then half of the hydrogen on the entire setup and an inverted proportional to intake the oxidizer, DART Meadow LLC. (Neptune Ideas LLC)
Daniel I Homant
And there it is folks, his final endgame. If there was any veracity in the Hindenburg report about his past endeavors, then this result has been his entire purpose in doing everything he has done with Nikola.
To build a Straw man product that doesn’t actually exist, and rope in multiple major OEM manufacturers and other entities by riding the EV wave into heavy industries, and presenting a product so good that companies COULDN’T afford to invest.
Build a fake product with enough real parts and it will get do close to reality that companies will invest because they can’t afford not to.
I had high hopes when they first revealed their product, a natural gas turbine vehicle, but their own numbers didn’t match up, and my questions based on their own data were always deleted. 65mph uphill at 80k and 30mpge? (If I remember correctly). Fuel rate, fuel capacity, range, economy… Nothing matched up. Since then, the claims became greater and greater, but not one piece of actual PROOF ever came out. A video of it rolling down a hill is not proof. A stage prop is not proof. Manufacturing claims of already emplaced solar panels, that are proven blatantly false by satellite imagery.
Grand claims are not new, but stacking them up higher and higher, without even a single piece of hard proof or verification to back it up. That is what Nikola has done.
Shame.
All this, just to build a nest egg for himself to run off with, in the guise of some kind of “severance package”.
You initially had my total support, and the potential is real for this vehicle, IF someone were to actually invest in it like Elon Musk has with his various endeavors. Instead, it could prove to be massive setback for all of the hydrogen technology industry.
Hopefully GM went in to their deal with fully knowing it all was truly just a charade, but has the intention of carrying the product to actual fruition.
KZBFF ELF
“GM CEO Mary Barra earlier this week said the automaker likewise did appropriate due diligence on Nikola before entering into the deal.”
The quality of that “due diligence” will bring GM down as well…
Chris
Stock going to ZERO. Look for the SEC to halt NKLA then delist
Garret James Webster
Well if any of you recall Diesel fuel is not the way at all I have a way to safe clean air without changing or adding to much to it .The way to do it is bio Diesel and hydrogen mix the hydrogen gas is made on board by using electrolysis on water to separate the molecules on bio Diesel we all know does not have the volatility to start up on .so by adding hydrogen gas into the intake and the bio Diesel mix upon start up and for the first 15 minutes and then hydrogen system shuts off and the vehicle is running straight off bio Diesel veggitable oil with very low hydrocarbon HC and nothing else but clean air ..it is a proven fact and safe..
Daniel I Homant
You don’t seem to know anything much about their proposed product.
Hydrogen fuel cells are what were claimed to power the truck, and they don’t burn the hydrogen. Instead, it directly converts hydrogen gas and oxygen into electricity. Technology that was developed and used by NASA for their spacecraft. Diesel of any kind has nothing to do with it in any way.
Andrew
To add, bio diesel is bunch of crock. Bio anything into auto fuel emits more green house gas than fossil fuel. Ex. corn ethanol in ethanol because of regulation and gov’t subsidies, not because ethanol is more efficient or cleaner. Farmers just want a piece of the petrol market
Andrew
*Ex. corn ethanol in E85 gas
Andrew
Ex. corn ethanol in E85 gasoline
Andrew
Ex. corn ethanol in E85 gasoline
Portlander
This news is not much of a surprise to most who have been following the company.
After Hindenburg Research revealed the company to be a complete fraud, SEC and DOJ investigations started. And so did more than a dozen class action lawsuits against the company and its management.
Nikola is toast.