Nikola electric truck edges closer

State of the art fuel cells claimed to last a million kilometres

Just ahead of the big launch of the Tesla Semi this week, rival Nikola Motor Company has named Bosch and PowerCell AB as the primary suppliers of its fuel cells for the Nikola class 8 hydrogen/electric truck.

The Nikola fuel cell is anticipated to output more than 300kW continuously and it has been designed to handle the entire lease period of one million miles per truck.

Nicola says its fuel cell is one of the most power dense and advanced fuel cells ever built and is one of the most important pieces of the Nikola drivetrain.

“Our relationship with Bosch also gives us access to their experienced engineering team which is one of the largest and most respected in the world,” said Nikola Motor CEO Trevor Milton. “This relationship will be helpful in bringing our products to market as quickly and safely as possible.

“Design of reliable systems for commercial vehicles takes decades of experience and Bosch brings that to our relationship.”

Joining the fuel cell development team is PowerCell AB of Sweden as the primary stack supplier for the fuel cells in the first pre-production testing vehicles.

If all goes well during road testing, PowerCell will be integrated into the production lineup. Nikola plans to announce a secondary stack supplier in 2018 that will act as a backup and overflow for any testing issues or production bottlenecks.

The fully operational, pre-production Nikola Two day-cab will begin testing in the US autumn of 2018. Following its release, the Nikola Two will undergo a rigorous 12-month testing period in extreme climates. We’re told that this testing period will give the company valuable data in preparation for full production in 2021.

The first 5000 trucks will be built at Fitzgerald Gliders in Tennessee while Nikola builds its own manufacturing facility. The location of the Nikola manufacturing facility will be revealed in early 2018.

Nikola electric truck edges closer

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