When Nikola first burst onto the scene in 2016, it wasn’t with the cabover battery-electric truck that the now-Phoenix-area-based company manufacturers.
Nikola founder Trevor Milton had his sights set on a 2,000 horsepower/3,700 ft. lbs. of torque spaceship-modeled battery-electric semi with a 1,200 mile range (thanks to a CNG range extender), dubbed the Nikola One. The company soon after would debut an electric utility vehicle (I got to drive it), a garbage truck, and battery-electric/hydrogen-electric pickup named the Badger.
Seven years later, we don’t have any of that. The Badger, the refuse truck and the UTV have been shelved, and Milton in 2020 stepped down from his company amid scandal.
