With Tesla delaying the Semi for another year, it appears to be that the Nikola Motor Company (also named after electrical inventor Nikola Tesla) is the frontrunner to get a fully electric semi-truck to market. Their chances just increased immensely when they finished performing a reverse merger with VectoIQ Acquisition that will also raise at least $525 million for the new company.
The Details
In the reverse merger, VectoIQ Acquisition is purchasing Nikola Motor Company, but the new company is adopting the business name and structure of the company it purchased. An example would be if the Walt Disney Company started calling itself Pixar after buying the animation studio in 2006. The new company will be called Nikola Corporation and will be headed by Mark Russell, the now-former president of Nikola Motor Company.
Impact on Trucking
With access to VectoIQ’s cash, Nikola Corporation plans to accelerate the production timeline of its electric heavy-duty trucks, which includes building a factory in Arizona. Nikola Corporation has strong motivation to get the new big rigs out to market soon. Their 14,000 reserved trucks are estimated to be worth approximately $10 billion in demand/revenue.
The popularity of the company and its first electric heavy-duty truck, the Tre, may cause an rise in popularity for cabover trucks in the United States. While not explicitly illegal, cabover trucks are generally avoided amongst US big rigs because the design is harder to fit within federal weight distribution regulations than their larger counterparts. Unless Nikola plans to redesign the truck for the American market, it may need to do some clever engineering to balance its weight more uniformly. Otherwise, they will stick with the Nikola One and Two for North America.
Conclusion
By the time you read this, Nikola Corporation’s stock will be for public sale on the NASDAQ under the stock ticker NKLA. You are welcome to buy and sell it as you please. We are not soliciting investment advice nor are we responsible for any gains or losses you incur from trading stocks, we are just telling you that the stock is there.
