Nikola Motor, the company that makes hydrogen and electric trucks, is facing some major problems with its battery-powered trucks. One of the company’s semi trucks, which was still in the pre-production phase, caught fire near Nikola’s headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona last week. This was the second time their trucks had experienced an issue in just a few days.
So, there have been a total of four fires with the company’s Class 8 Tre Battery Electric Vehicle (BEVs) trucks so far. The first fire happened in June when a truck caught fire at the company’s headquarters because of a coolant leak. Then, in August, another truck went up in flames due to a malfunction, which led to a recall of all the company’s trucks at that moment.
So basically, two more fires after the recall doesn’t exactly boost confidence. And investors aren’t happy either, as the shares of the carmaker that was already facing troubles have plummeted over 50% in just the last month.
Interestingly, Nikola’s hydrogen-powered truck variant was not affected by the August recall. Last month, the company announced it had 202 orders for the fuel cell variant, indicating there is at least some appetite for a much faster-recharging truck that has an advertised range of up to 500 miles.
Reference- Reuters, Inside EVs, Nikola Online Newsroom, Globe PRNewswire