DISRUPTIVE TRUCK TECH OF THE CENTURY

The disruptive truck technology of the century

There’s a new player in the electric pickup truck market and it may be the gamechanger that decimates almost every other battery-electric vehicle (BEV) pick-up truck and all existing gas and diesel models.

Two companies have named themselves after famed electrical genius Nikola Tesla. Tesla, Elon Musk’s company is the most well-known as it has produced the most popular EV’s to date. The second is the Nikola Corporation out of Phoenix, AZ created by founder and CEO Trevor Milton and who recently announced the Nikola Badger, the world's most advanced zero-emission FCEV/ BEV pickup truck with an estimated 965 km (600 mi) range. The Nikola Badger is the latest entry in the increasingly crowded EV truck market following Bollinger B2, Rivian R1T, Tesla’s Cybertruck, Ford’s F150 electric, GM’s recently announced Hummer Electric, and the Lordstown Endurance. We also had the Workhorse but the company has recently taken a 10% interest in Lordstown and transferred all 6,000 pre-existing orders for the W-15 to Lordstown’s Endurance.

Each truck has its own unique features, look, and claims to horsepower and torque.

The Achilles heel of all these trucks is their range and time to re-charge. Enter the Nikola Badger.

This pick-up truck boasts a peak 906 hp, 980 ft-lb of torque, 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds, and a towing capacity of 8,000 pounds. All impressive numbers and in many ways comparable to one or more of the other EV truck contenders.

The startling attribute is the range of up to 965 km (600 mi), which is based on old technology and a bet. A 480 km (300 mi) range will come from a more traditional BEV version, similar to every other BEV. The 965 km range will be available using hydrogen fuel-cell technology making the truck a fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV). Hydrogen fueling is as fast as gas or diesel – five minutes – not the two hour ‘fast’ recharge time of current battery only driven models. With this range you can go beyond urban commutes and explore the entire country including going off-road as you always have with your gas or diesel engine truck.

So, we have to ask… "What’s the catch?” This technology has been around for decades but has been held back by three things, the cost of generating hydrogen, electricity costs and the lack of hydrogen fueling stations. If we throw one more ingredient into the mix, you could also blame a conspiracy theory that big oil and traditional OEM’s don’t want this fuel option to succeed and have been holding it back.

Here’s a quick and simplistic recap of how fuel-cells work. Hydrogen is stored on a vehicle in high pressure tanks. The hydrogen is drawn into a fuel-cell containing a catalyst like platinum which creates electricity and is exported to power the electric motors and recharge the batteries on-board the vehicle.

The by-product is zero-emission water and no tailpipe emissions.

But where do we get the hydrogen to fill the tanks? The clean method of hydrogen production is electrolysis. You apply an electric current to H2O (water) and you can split the molecule apart into oxygen and hydrogen. Which means, you can build a hydrogen fueling station, like the one in Quebec City, that can produce its own hydrogen onsite, as it can pull electric power from the grid. It is a very clean process if you use wind, geothermal or hydro power as they do in Quebec.

Unfortunately, most hydrogen is currently created using fossil fuels, by the steam reforming of natural gas or steam-methane reforming. These processes release carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into the air which are not 100% clean but are still roughly 60% better than fossil fuels. Nikola has announced they will not use methane for their hydrogen production. Their process of electrolysis will use clean energy to produce the hydrogen as much as possible.

In addition to the not-so-green issue is the fact that it costs a lot more to drive a kilometre on hydrogen than gas or diesel. High priced fuel doesn’t sell so well, and as a result we have a lack of filling stations. A lack of filling stations means manufacturers can’t sell a lot of fuel-cell cars and trucks, so the vehicles are expensive.

It’s the 'chicken and egg’ scenario. What comes first? You need filling stations in order to sell vehicles and you can’t sell vehicles without filling stations.

Nikola has a solution. Nikola will sell the Badger pickup in markets that have infrastructure created by their hydrogen semi-truck program. This helps spread the cost of hydrogen stations across multiple platforms making it more cost effective. Eventually, they will have a network of hydrogen stations covering the USA much like Tesla did with supercharging.

So why are we talking about a truck called Badger? It’s cool that we’ll have another EV truck, but the advantage of longer range comes at the cost of high-priced fuel that’s less than 100% green, and not enough places to fill up. That is of course, unless Nikola delivers on their business model providing clean hydrogen for around $4.00 per kg, which would make it cheaper than gasoline to operate and be a formidable competitor to the number one selling

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truck in America, the Ford F150.

But all three concerns are on the verge of vanishing.

First, hydrogen is about to get a lot cheaper and greener. Researchers in Alberta have discovered a way to create clean hydrogen at existing oil producing sites like the oil sands. They have developed a way to perform steam-methane reforming in the ground, which keeps the carbon out of our atmosphere making it very clean-and-green hydrogen. They will have cut the cost of hydrogen production by using existing infrastructure. Instead of having to buy natural gas, they use the gas in the ground for fuel, further reducing costs.

Even without this disruptive technology, economies of scale are improving, and the Hydrogen Council expects the price of hydrogen to become very competitive in the next decade. Honda, Toyota and Hyundai are invested in building, and are currently selling, hydrogen fuel-cell cars in California and are starting in Canada. And General Motors is throwing in with Honda on the next generation of fuel stack. More cars mean more filling stations, which means more trucks…you get the idea.

Second, consumer demand is driving companies to be green and this includes the delivery of products by truck. Amazon has placed an order for 100,000 electric Rivian delivery vans. Back in Arizona, Nikola Motor’s first and main foray into the truck market is in the design and manufacturing of BEV/FCEV Class 8 semi-trucks, along with companies like Volvo, Tesla, Daimler and a host of start-ups. Nikola’s ‘locomotive’ semi-trucks will have a range of 800 to 1125 km (500 to 700 mi), can be re-fueled with hydrogen in 15 minutes and don’t require the same number of heavy lithium batteries to get that range. Which is why Anheuser-Busch ordered 40 trucks from Tesla, but 800 from Nikola – an almost $800-million-dollar contract to deliver beer.

Fewer batteries make Nikola’s semi’s almost 2300 kg (5,000 lbs) lighter, which means they can carry a greater load – up to 36 metric tonnes (80,000 lb). You might be saying, “Who cares, I’m not buying a semi-truck.” In order to support the sale of these industrial trucks, Nikola intends to build 700 stations across North America by 2028. An ambitious target as there are currently two hydrogen filling stations in Vancouver, one in Quebec City, and roughly 40 in California. Nikola is working alongside other major FCEV semi-truck manufacturers to develop standardized stations. The semi-truck hydrogen network will be shared with the Badger pickup so it is crucial that it succeeds in order for Nikola’s Badger program to succeed.

Huge range, fast re-fueling time, emission-free, plus shocking horsepower, torque and acceleration. Will we all have one in the driveway in 2022? Probably not. Even if you live in California, Vancouver or Quebec City and everything we’ve talked about so far works in their favour, the price could be the consumer dream killer, at least at first.

The Badger BEV version is expected to sell for $60,000 USD and the FCEV version for $100,000 USD – depending on options. They plan on driving costs down by combining their Badger program with their off-road UTV program which uses much of the same components and similar specs. Think Badger, but made for extreme off-road, deep mud and it is waterproof (almost submersible).

Interestingly, Milton says he never intended to build a pick-up truck (although Nikola had sketched out a few ideas) knowing that Tesla’s truck was coming. As it turns out, the Cybertruck brought the Badger to life. Milton thought Tesla would be revealing something awesome but saw it as a ‘travesty to mankind’. Much the same as 4WDrive’s response. Watch the video at https://youtu.be/VkpdXjfSMzM.

After committing himself to build the Badger, named after ‘the fiercest animal in the animal kingdom’, Milton also committed to making it a spectacular off-road truck, not just the best electric truck. It is expected to be rated to pull 8,000 lbs with continuous torque, which is huge for EV’s as Milton says BEV’s lose 80% of their range under load (pulling a trailer).

Directly targeting the Ford Raptor, Tesla Cybertruck and the Rivian pickup, the Nikola Badger will have better travel, suspension, handling, lower center of gravity, and better rock crawling performance. The stock Badger will fit 35” tires without a lift, have 12 V connections ‘everywhere’ for accessories so you don’t have to hunt for a wire to tap, and will include special aircraft rails in, on and over the bed and cab so you can mount or tiedown anything, anywhere, and power it.

Is this all just vapourwear? A product promoted but never built?

Indications are that the company is on solid footing. They are cash rich and have raised over $400 million to this point and are expected to raise another $700+ million dollars in their initial offering as they go public on Nasdaq (NKLA) after a merger with VectoIQ Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: VTIQ), a publicly traded special-purpose acquisition company. Which at the time of writing puts them at almost $1 billion in cash with little debt. Nikola has also shown live demonstrations of much of their product lineup.

What is truly innovative though is the business model. Nikola describes themselves as an energy company. They won’t just make the $20,000 profit by selling a truck like other manufacturers. Nikola will make much more because they will own the whole supply chain. A complete ecosystem, profiting by providing the consumer with the truck, service, warranty, maintenance, and uniquely, the fuel.

The unveiling of a fully functional Nikola Badger is anticipated to take place at Nikola World. Event updates and details will be shared at nikolamotor.com/badger.