• Ilovethebomb@lemm.eeEnglish
    71·
    1 month ago

    I was initially getting them confused with Edison, who actually have a viable product.

    it is estimated that each truck costs Nikola over $1 million to manufacture, while the revenue stands at $380,000. This is not a sustainable business model for obvious reasons.

    Fucking hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are a scam. They’re expensive to build, expensive to run, explode if the tank is punctured, and refuelling them is a massively complex endeavor, if you can even find a station.

    There is no application for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that either a hybrid running on biofuel or an EV can’t do better and cheaper.

  • BertramDitore@lemm.eeEnglish
    5·
    1 month ago

    I guess I’ve been under a rock, but I hadn’t heard of this company until now. Did they really name themselves Nikola Motor? Were they expecting to be bought out by Tesla or something? This would be like me opening a store called George next to an existing store called Washington. Weird.

    • palordrolap@fedia.io
      7·
      1 month ago

      I think they thought they could be the “true Tesla” to rival the “Edison” thief or mangler of ideas that the company named Tesla is or, at least appears to be*.

      Ironically, that seems to have been the only truly good idea they’ve had.

      * For legal reasons this is a hypothetical opinion I believe, in some form, might have belonged to the founder(s) of Nikola Motor, and says nothing of my own disappointment opinion.

      • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
        5·
        1 month ago

        I love that Edison Motors jokes that they chose their name because “we stole Tesla’s idea and made it better”

        .

        For those that hadn’t heard of them, Edison Motors is building electric (and hybrid) semi trucks after putting down a deposit of Tesla’s semi truck and not seeing any follow-up in more than 3 years.