NMC
Donald Trump’s incoming administration might be going full steam ahead in returning to fossil fuels, but the clean energy sector might have other ideas. Nikola Motor Company has just unveiled a huge class 8 truck (as big as they get) that’s powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, claiming it will have an operational range of as much as 1,200 miles (1,900km) when it’s released in 2020.
The Nikola One, which is designed for long-haul good transport across a large landmass, will according to its creators be able to travel between 800 and 1,200 miles on a single tank of fuel, while delivering over 1,000 horsepower and 2,000 foot-pounds of torque.
If these claims are true, it will provide nearly double the power of the current generation of diesel-powered semis/articulated lorries.
It runs on a fully-electric drivetrain powered by high-density lithium batteries, which are charged on the go by a hydrogen fuel cell. Of course, its horizons are currently limited by a severe lack of hydrogen fuelling stations, so Nikola—which, like Tesla, is named for the Serbian-American scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla—will also be constructing a network of 364 hydrogen fuelling stations “across the US and Canada,” starting in 2018.
The price of the fuel will be included in the cost of leasing the trucks, as will servicing and warranty, though there’s no word yet how much that lease will actually cost. To date, NMC says it has accepted reservations totalling “nearly three billion dollars” in future orders.
At yesterday’s launch in Salt Lake City, Utah, Nikola’s founder and CEO Trevor Milton described the Nikola One as “the most advanced semi-truck ever built.” Amongst its innovations are a smart dashboard which, he claimed, would be able to pick out the most cost-efficient route for drivers. Also included inside the vehicle’s enormous cab will one one or two full-size beds, a 40-inch curved 4K TV with Apple TV, Wi-Fi, and 4G LTE connectivity, and a refrigerator, freezer, and microwave.
The first 5,000 or so trucks will be built by a the trucking giant Fitzgerald, but Milton hopes to have a location for its planned “world-class advanced manufacturing facility” sorted by mid-2017. His plans—which also involve eventually producing up to 50,000 units per year—are incredibly ambitious.
Nikola will be competing with Tesla, after Elon Musk announced in August in his second “master plan” blog that his firm would also be producing an articulated truck. He wrote a short paragraph suggesting he’d announce the Tesla semi next year, with little additional detail.Over the last few years we’ve tested some of the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicles—the Toyota Mirai and the Riversample Rasa—and found them quite proficient, though still clearly ahead of their time until hydrogen refuelling infrastructure exists.
This post originated on Ars Technica UK
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