Nikola revealing electric truck prototype in December

A working prototype of the electric Nikola One commercial class 8 semi-truck is to be made public on December 2 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Nikola Motor Company (NMC) says it has already taken more than USD $2.3 billion in reservations, totaling more than 7,000 truck deposits.

The Nikola One truck leasing program costs USD $4000 to USD $5000 per month, depending on which vehicle configuration and options the customer chooses. 

NMC includes the first million miles of fuel with each truck sale, potentially offsetting 100% of the monthly cost. It says an average Class 8 diesel semi-truck burns around USD $400,000 in fuel and can cost more than USD $100,000 in maintenance expenses over 1,000,000 miles.

According to NMC, these costs are eliminated with the Nikola One lease.

It says companies can have a zero emission truck with a return on their investment in the first month.

“While other manufacturers have announced battery-powered semi-trucks, these vehicles are restricted to a range of only a couple hundred miles and four to eight hours of charging between stops,” said NMC founder and chief executive officer Trevor Milton.

“Nikola has engineered the holy grail of the trucking industry. We are not aware of any zero emission truck in the world that can haul 80,000 pounds more than 1,000 miles and do it without stopping. The Nikola One requires only 15 minutes of downtime before heading out for the next 1,000 miles,” he says.

“To have the ability to achieve true zero emissions is revolutionary for the worldwide trucking industry,” says Milton.

In addition to the zero emission semi-truck, NMC has initiated the first steps to manufacture emission-free power plants that range from 50 kilowatts to 50 megawatts, cutting electricity generation costs in half.

NMC believes this technology not only can transform America’s roadways but how the world will migrate towards zero-emission energy going forward.