Hydrogen Truck Startup Nikola's Valuation Jumps To $3 Billion With Investment From CNH Industrial
Summary
Nikola Motor, an Arizona startup that wants to shake up the trucking world with zero-emission hydrogen and battery-powered semis, is making progress toward a $1 billion fundraising goal to get its technology on the road as CNH Industrial committed to a quarter of that amount. CNH, a European maker of heavy-duty work vehicles, is investing $250 million into a Series D round by Phoenix-based Nikola, which aims to start shipping its fuel-cell trucks and opening hydrogen-fuel stations to keep them powered up from 2022. While Elon Musk has said the Tesla Semi, supposedly coming to market in another year or two, will travel up to 500 miles between charges, powertrain analysts estimate such a truck will be many thousands of pounds heavier than either diesel or hydrogen versions. Nikola will also supply technology for a new European joint venture with CNH, including for fuel cells and hydrogen tanks, electronic axles and inverters and over-the-air wireless software updates. The key difference is that batteries store electricity and fuel cells produce it onboard as needed in an electrochemical process that extracts electrons from hydrogen forced through fuel-cell membranes.