Hey, do you recall Nikola? You know, the electric semi-truck firm that had a wholly inflated valuation and then turned out to be primarily a scam perpetrated by founder and former CEO Trevor Milton, for which he was charged with three counts of fraud?
Right — well, it turns out that the company has pushed on, albeit with a lot less fanfare, and is now delivering its first Nikola Tre trucks to a company called Total Transportation Services Inc. in Southern California, according to an announcement issued by the company on Friday.
We’re a little surprised as well. TTSI has ordered 100 zero-emission Tre trucks for drayage (short-distance transportation, usually within a port) at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. In addition, TTSI has ordered four trucks, two of which are fully electric, and the other two are hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Nikola built its reputation on the latter technology. Still, it’s unclear how far the firm progressed before its massive meltdown last year.
On its website, Nikola boasts that the Tre will have a range of up to 350 miles and a sustained output of 645 horsepower thanks to a 753-kilowatt-hour battery. It’s unclear whether the trucks sent to TTSI have these features or if these specs are even available in a car you can buy right now, but if true, it’s still intriguing.
The EV company also has plans to export its vehicles due to a relationship with the Port of Hamburg and IVECO trucks (the truck manufacturer on which Nikola’s Tre chassis is based), which might result in the delivery of up to 25 electric trucks in the coming year.
Nikola was contacted for confirmation on car specifications, but we did not receive a response in time for publishing.