Nikola, an electric truck manufacturer similar to Tesla but unknown before, went public early last month, and its share price soared. In just a few days, its market value approached $30 billion, surpassing Ford Motor Company and Fiat Chrysler. At that time, the scenery was infinite, but the doubts that followed were louder than Tesla. Why?
The relationship between Nicholas and Tesla
Nicholas? Motor? The Nicola company is owned by Trevor? Trevor Milton, founded on 20 14, is a company that develops and produces hydrogen fuel cell trucks and pure electric trucks, and provides hydrogen refueling station services. Its product line includes heavy trucks, pickups, all-terrain off-road vehicles and motorboats. Its founder Trevor Milton, like elon musk, is a "serial entrepreneur". More interestingly, the names of the two companies are also closely related.
At that time, elon musk, the founder of Tesla, wanted to pay tribute to his idol Nikola Tesla? Tesla), and named the company "Tesla" to commemorate the high-power AC motor created by nikola Tesla. Milton named the company "Nicola", probably out of admiration for nikola tesla, but some people said that it was Milton's "admiration" for elon musk. Because since the official registration of Nicolai, Milton has often provoked Musk on Twitter, and even thought it was the heat of Tesla.
Especially on 20 18, Nicholas filed a lawsuit against Tesla, claiming that the Semi electric truck developed by Tesla copied its own patents in design, such as the wrap-around windshield, the middle door, the streamlined body and the front fender. And demanded compensation of $2 billion. However, Tesla responded that such a lawsuit has no meaning at all, and said that the matter has been handed over to the court and is ready to be proved by litigation. This has also been interpreted by many media as "this may be a marketing tool of Nicholas".
But two years later, on April 20th this year, USPTO rejected Tesla's invalid application for Nikolai's design patent. Because Tesla filed a request with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in September, 2065438+2009, demanding that Nicholas's side door patent be declared invalid. Today, Tesla's request has been rejected.
In this regard, Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola, wrote on Twitter: "Tesla lost the complaint submitted to the US Patent and Trademark Office. The United States Patent and Trademark Office not only supports the important patent of Nicola truck, but also refuses Tesla to modify our patent. The lawsuit of $2 billion compensation will continue. No matter who it is, we will resolutely defend our company's IP. 」
Full of gimmicks, but can it really be mass-produced
The main reason why Nikola has not been optimistic about the media is not that it is suspected of bundling Tesla, but that it has not really landed a product so far. And there is no income, even a loss of $88.7 million in 20 19, but it claims to have made a major breakthrough in the field of battery technology.
According to the details of battery technology released by Nikola in June+10 last year, Nikola? Can the cruising range of pure electric trucks be reached? 800? Miles (about1287 km); Nicholas? The cruising range of hydrogen fuel cell trucks exceeds? 1000? Miles (about 1609 km), hydrogen injection only needs? 15? Minutes; The energy density at the raw material level is as high as? 1 100Wh/kg, the energy density of mass-produced batteries is as high as? 500Wh/kg, twice as much as the current lithium-ion battery; Battery passing by? 2000? After the second charge-discharge cycle, it still has good performance; Compared with lithium-ion batteries, the weight is reduced by 40%. How much can it be reduced per kWh? 50% of the material cost.
From the battery technical data, it is really amazing, but the credibility of mass production is really not too high. Even Toyota, which has devoted itself to the research and development of hydrogen fuel cells for more than 20 years and launched a mass production model of Mirai, dare not say that its technology can achieve the above effect. With Gartner? Senior research director? Mike. In Ramsey's words, "products stronger than lithium-ion batteries can be made in the laboratory, but there is still a lot of homework to be done to achieve mass production."
Nikola's mass production of specific models also gives people a sense of "Jia Yueting". In February of this year, Nikola released a new concept model of electric pickup truck named Badger, which has two versions of pure electricity and "hydrogen fuel+pure electricity". Front cruising range? 300? Miles (about 483 kilometers), the latter? 600? Miles (about 966 kilometers), the acceleration time of 100 kilometers is less than 3 seconds, and the drag force exceeds 3.6 tons. Milton even boasted that Badger's ambition is not only to compete with Tesla's Cybertruck, but to pull the Ford F- 150 from the throne of the number one pickup truck sales in the United States for 43 consecutive years.
The goal is clear and the wording is a bit arrogant, but can it really be achieved? Although Nikola said that the car began to accept reservations on June 29, the specific delivery time and price were not given by Nikola. And the deposit of this car ranges from $250 to $5,000. As long as it is finalized, Nikola will include this list in the total order, and the deposit of its competitor Tesla Cybertruck is about $40,000. I have to say that Milton is really no worse than Elon Musk in marketing and promoting his own brand ~
Those who make the most money also need to invest the most.
However, Nikolai believes that his real money will be electric semi-trailer trucks, which is another market segment that Tesla CEO elon musk wants to seize. However, unlike Tesla, Nikolai's power system is driven by hydrogen fuel instead of conventional batteries, so the construction of hydrogen refueling station becomes very important.
Up to now, the United States has built 7 1 hydrogen refueling stations. But similar to Tesla, Nicholas? It is planned to build its own hydrogen fuel charging network. 20 17? Year? 1 1? What month, Nicholas? Announced with Norway? Nell? Hydrogen? The hydrogen energy company reached a cooperation, and the cooperation between the two parties has continued until now, just the day before the listing, Nicholas? Announced with? Nell? Signed more than? 3000? 10,000 USD purchase agreement, which will support this order? Nicholas? What is the daily hydrogen production of the five initial hydrogen production stations? 40? Tons. Follow? Nicholas? It is said that these hydrogen production stations will be arranged in various States and truck transportation lines.
Nicholas is still planning to arrive? 2028? Built in North America? 700? A hydrogen production station, to? 2032? Built in Europe in 1860. 70? Seats. Trevor Milton, the founder, also revealed that the cost of increasing the hydrogen production station is about10-20 million USD. Obviously, it is not easy to achieve the goal in 2028.
It is worth mentioning that the production of Nikolai vehicles will take the form of "OEM". At present, we are already cooperating with equipment manufacturers? CNH？ Industry? NV？ And then what? Robert? Bosch? GmbH？ To reach a cooperation, the latter is also right? Nicholas? The first batch of semi-trailer trucks will be produced in a factory in Ulm, Germany. CNH？ Commercial vehicle brand? Iveco? Operation. Besides, is Nicholas still here? Plans to build a factory in Coolidge, Arizona, USA.
On the whole, Nicholas has a good eye, and there are many goals to be accomplished, but they are also quite difficult. Whether Tesla, after experiencing a series of doubts, blows, ridicule and losses, can finally turn the situation around successfully, only time can tell. However, the famous short seller Andrew lefter (Andrew? Left) said: "I think Nicholas? Motors will never reach the goal of mass production of automobiles. 」
Figure? |? From the network
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.