Nikola, the troubles and at times chaotic electric and hydrogen fuel cell truck start up is claiming its trucks are leading the North American zero emission market, according to a transcript of the company’s Q3 earnings call last month.
However before you get excited about the burgeoning zero emission market in North America, the Nikola brand is claiming the honour on the back of shipping a grand total of 203 trucks during the first three quarters of 2024, and that is up from 79 year on year. It hardly an earth shattering number given the size of the US truck market overall.
“We continue to dominate the heavy-duty fuel cell electric vehicle market in North America with over 90 per cent share based on the most recent bulk registration data,” president and CEO Steve Girsky told investors.
This makes the company’s numbers even more unbelievable, given that if Nikola has 90 per cent of the market, the total for all fuel cell electric trucks must have only been 225 units or so.
Nikola said that DHL Supply Chain and alcoholic beverage distributor Diageo North America are part of the its customer mix with a spokesperson said the two companies plan to add grand total of two Nikola fuel cell electric trucks to the DHL/Diageo fleet by the end of this year. Hardly earth shattering numbers.
“These are the first Class 8 Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles for DHL in North America,” Stephan Schablinski, vice president of GoGreen in North America for DHL Supply Chain, said
DHL and Diageo say they each plan to reduce their supply chains’ environmental impact further, with Diageo seeking to achieve zero emissions by 2030and DHL by 2050. The companies say they will evaluate how these new trucks’ perform to help understand how to scale the technology.
“Replacing two diesel trucks with fuel cell electric vehicles is expected to reduce 80% carbon emissions over the course of a year,” the companies said in an announcement.
Nikola claims the trucks can operate for up to 800 kilometres on a single charge, according to the announcement.
Nikola claims that DHL and Diageo make up just a small portion of the companies which have added or optioned Nikola trucks.
“We have 32 distinct end fleets and growing, that have deployed our trucks, and there’s a market for Class 8 zero emission trucks” Steve Girsky said.
“So, we are looking to build the coalition of the willing, coalition of like-minded companies that want to pursue and push zero-emission forward because that’s all we do,” he added.
The company’s current progress comes on the back of a recall last year that initially affected more than 200 of its electric trucks due to a battery pack fire concern. The incident halted production temporarily in the second half of 2023, but it also came with upgrades to the trucks, called BEV 2.0, such as a new driver assistance system to better manage the powertrain.
Production resumed in Q1 2024, and the company says it has repaired 78 of the affected trucks, Girsky said last month. Moving past the setback, Nikola says it plans to utilise its streamlined assembly line.
“We’ve always harped on with one truck platform, two powertrain options, all zero mission,” Girsky said.
“However up ’til now, we’ve really only had one or the other in the market, either the BEV or the fuel cell. As we move into next year, we will actually have the ability to offer both in the market,” he said
