Nikola pauses EV truck manufacturing in Arizona
Nikola is briefly halting electrical truck manufacturing at its Coolidge, Arizona, facility amid an oversupply of its Tre battery electrical automobiles.
The manufacturing shift will enable the corporate to change its meeting line “to accommodate each hydrogen gas cell and battery electrical builds on the identical line,” the corporate mentioned Tuesday in an earnings launch.
“We are going to change our mannequin to build-to-order for the battery electrical truck and give attention to autonomous applied sciences, which assist drivers and fleets,” Nikola CEO Michael Lohscheller mentioned on an earnings name. “We anticipate this focus will scale back our money burn and in flip assist Nikola obtain profitability sooner.”
With the pause in manufacturing, the OEM prompt demand wasn’t assembly provide. In Q1, it produced 63 Tre vans and delivered 31 to sellers.
Manufacturing will cease on the finish of Could and resume in July. The corporate is making the transfer to higher align with the corporate’s capital allocation plans and enhance working capital, in keeping with an announcement.
Nikola strikes to promote stake in Europe enterprise
As well as, the OEM can also be promoting a stake in a three way partnership in Europe with producer Iveco Group for $35 million to give attention to the North American market.
“It will scale back Nikola’s money spent and capital dedication and permit us to dedicate our sources to the duty at hand in North America,” Lohscheller mentioned, including that Iveco will stay an essential companion and a key provider for Nikola.
The transfer away from Europe comes amid Inflation Discount Act and state incentives for extra vitality environment friendly automobiles and California zero-emission automobile mandates, Lohscheller mentioned.
Nikola established the three way partnership with Iveco to “speed up penetration” into the European market, and the partnership was up to date as just lately as June 2022 to broaden engineering and growth operations, an annual report mentioned.
“The way forward for Nikola is hydrogen,” Lohscheller mentioned, including that the corporate’s hydrogen truck vary of 500 miles is finest in its class.
As of Tuesday, the corporate had orders for 140 hydrogen gas cell vans from 12 finish prospects, and Nikola mentioned it stays on observe to start hydrogen gas cell serial manufacturing in July, in keeping with a information launch. That’s when the corporate’s first hydrogen gas cell vans will turn into out there on the market.
“The battery electrical truck is a superb product,” Lohscheller mentioned, “and its growth has allowed us to create lots of the essential parts and software program techniques that we will apply to the hydrogen gas cell truck.”
