Nikola Motor Co. to release 2,000HP hybrid semitrailer truck
The company also announced plans to release a 520HP 4x4 utility vehicle (UTV) that will boast more than 480 foot pounds of torque with a 125-mile range.
The UTV, dubbed "Nikola Zero," is a 100% electric powered, zero emission, four-passenger, side-by-side that has 20-in. of suspension clearance on all four wheels and 14.5-in. of overall ground clearance.
The Nikola Zero will retail for $42,000. The first 5,000 vehicle reservations will get a $5,000 discount on the suggested retail price, the company said.
The Nikola One semitrailer will be capable of pulling a gross weight of 80,000 pounds and have more than a 1,200-mile range between stops, the company said.
The semitrailer will sport a 320 kilowatt hour (kWh) lithium-ion battery pack, along with a 150 gallon fuel-agnostic turbine; the standard model will have a natural gas tank.
Nikola claims the semitrailer will cost half as much to operate as traditional diesel trucks. The company also said the truck’s lithium-ion battery will never require recharging because the turbine will charge it as the vehicle drives, just like other consumer hybrid vehicles.
The Nikola One will also sport regenerative braking technology, an energy recovery mechanism that will slow the vehicle by converting kinetic energy into a form that can be stored until needed. Regenerative breaking is more efficient that traditional braking, which uses friction to slow a vehicle and wears braking systems faster.
As the Tesla Motor Company did with the Model 3 sedan it recently announced, Nikola Motors is now accepting refundable reservations: $1,500 for the truck and $750 for the UTV. Along with the truck, the company plans to offer 100,000 gallons of free natural gas to the first 5,000 trucks reserved. The natural gas can be retrieved through a network of compressed natural gas (CNG) stations throughout the U.S.
Combined with the electric motor, 100,000 gallons of natural gas is enough for a million work miles, Nikola said.
The semi-trailer will retail for $375,000.