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Businesses Transportation

Nikola Files for Bankruptcy With Plans To Sell Assets, Wind Down (msn.com) 58

Posted by msmash from the end-of-road dept.
Nikola, the hydrogen-truck maker that briefly sported a market value comparable to Ford Motor, has filed for bankruptcy with plans to wind down its business. From a report: Nikola on Wednesday said that it made the chapter 11 filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and that it plans to conduct a court-supervised auction of its assets.

The Phoenix company said it worked for months with its financial and legal advisers to find a way to sustain its operations before determining that a structured sale process was the best way to maximize the value of its assets.

Nikola Files for Bankruptcy With Plans To Sell Assets, Wind Down More | Reply

Nikola Files for Bankruptcy With Plans To Sell Assets, Wind Down

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  • Surprised it took this long (Score:3)

    by UnknowingFool ( 672806 ) on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @01:49PM (#65179701)
    To me Nikola was the vaporware of car manufacturers. Did they manufacture any vehicles other than prototypes? Didn’t their first "prototype" not even have a motor?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

      Hydrogen combustion might be interesting, but manufacturing hydrogen isn't efficient and storage of it is tricky.

      • Yeah, efficiency is a problem. But is it though when compared to battery technology? Round-cycling is still better for batteries but when mature the storing of energy as hydrogen gas esp on big scale (like power plants) should be better than batteries.

        Another advantage of hydrogen over rechargeable batteries is speed of transferring the energy, esp important for transpiration.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by stripes ( 3681 )

          Yeah, efficiency is a problem. But is it though when compared to battery technology?

          Yes. Batteries are expensive, but have vast areas where they work out economically. Witness say cars where a battery EV can be sold for under the average selling price of a gas car (although over the median) and make substantial profit.

          Hydrogen so far has only proven to be useful in space applications where the constraints are far more extreme and saving “just a little” weight is worth orders of magnitude in

          • Weight, ie energy density is an advantage in space tech.
            I suppose another application would be power-plant level accumulation? This is where scaling is beneficial.
            Creating commercial system for transportation is a huge effort. The electric cars piggy back it's chagrining on existing power grid while with hydrogen everything is anew.

      • No one was combusting hydrogen in a truck or car. The focus was entirely on hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles including the Nikola truck.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by vbdasc ( 146051 )

        Hydrogen combustion might be interesting

        And it is very safe, just ask the Zeppelin Hindenburg.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by stripes ( 3681 )

      To me Nikola was the vaporware of car manufacturers. Did they manufacture any vehicles other than prototypes? Didn’t their first "prototype" not even have a motor?

      Yes, although in the pre-EV era it is common for “concept cars” to not actually have an engine, or the ability to move (except by being pushed or towed). With EVs it is far easier to shoehorn some other model’s motor and battery (or part of the battery) in “somewhere” and make functional prototypes. Which much

      • It is one thing to have concept cars; it is another to have a "prototype". From what I remember Nikola had a promotional video with their first prototype "driving" on a rural road. It turned out later that the truck only moved because it was rolling downhill. It did not have an engine. I think they tried to excuse by saying: "Well, we never said it was moving under its own power"

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by stripes ( 3681 )

          It is one thing to have concept cars; it is another to have a "prototype”.

          Because it appears my message was less clear then I had intended, I’ll clarify.

          I don’t think anyone misunderstood Nikola, they staged a rigged demo, and didn’t wink and nod at anyone, to even imply it was rigged. They attempted to lie. They got caught.

          They were engaging in fraud, and it caught up to them.

          They found the line others edge up to, jumped over it with both feet, and might have actually been sur

  • Is this is a surprise? (Score:4, Informative)

    by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @02:16PM (#65179777)

    They attempted to defraud investors by rolling a non functional truck down a slope to make pretend it was under propulsion. It wasn't. When that was revealed their share price tanked and their CEO got charged with fraud. Ever since their efforts have reduced to trying to make battery electric trucks which have failed miserably.

    In a way it reminds me of Magic Leap - the same use of bullshit and lies to promote something they couldn't possibly deliver and eventually they squeeze out some turd product before going bust.

  • Not a huge surprise (Score:4, Informative)

    by shilly ( 142940 ) on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @02:22PM (#65179799)

    H2 is always challenging for transport because of the small molecule challenges like embrittlement. BEV is surprisingly good for HGV because trailer ladder frames have a lot of space that a battery can fit in, and the ICE engine and nubbins is pretty bulky and heavy, so the net weight gain isn't too bad. So H2 tech was always a tough sell even before we get to the fact it doesn't do much for decarbonisation until we get industrial scale no-carbon production which is a long way off, and the cost and the infra challenges.

    • The batteries can fit in the frame, and then the capacity may scale directly with load being hauled (put 50kwh on that big light thing, pur 200kwh on the trailer full of lead bricks, for instance) and could be hot swappable assuming SOC matching is done at the time of connection.

    • No one was proposing transporting H2. That just isn't viable for large scale like trucks, it barely manages for smaller scale things such as forklifts. H2 refueling stations virtually universally manufacture on site with local electrolysers and compressors.

      That said it is still highly explosive. Several companies built electrolisers in built up areas before doing a risk assessment, thinking OH FUCK, and then selling it to whomever will buy it as quickly as possible.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shilly ( 142940 )

        By “transport”, I meant “for use in vehicles”, not the transportation of the H2.

  • ...hucksters can sell the magic and hype
    It started as a dream, moved to being a fraud, and never really had a chance, but investors are so hungry for "the next big thing" that they ignored all of the warnings

  • I have to wonder if they really filed.

    Or did they fake it?

    Someone needs to download and see if it's real.

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