Posted on 12/15/2016 1:14:14 AM PST by Aquila Vita
Nikola One Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Semi-Truck Debuts
Nikola Motor Co. finally debuted its Nikola One electric semi-truck Thursday night after months of curiosity and skepticism from the long-haul freight industry.
At the company’s headquarters in an industrial area on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, as suspenseful music throbbed, hundreds of guests watched chief executive Trevor Milton pull the veil off the hydrogen fuel cell big rig parked on stage.
“Oh, that thing is so awesome,” the 34-year-old entrepreneur said, emotionally, once the lights went up.
Guests included Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, Reps. Greg Hughes (R.) and Sue Duckworth (D.) of Utah, government officials from states such as Tennessee and California, employees from Paccar and Navistar and visitors from Norway, Germany, Australia and South America.
Milton teased several other products: a day cab called the Nikola Two, an Uber-esque load-listing system called Nikola Shipments.
But the sleek white Nikola One was the main event.snip---
Solar Hydrogen Fueling Network
...On Thursday night, Nikola also detailed plans for a North American network of hydrogen fueling stations to support the Nikola One trucks. The web of stations —56 are planned initially — will eventually balloon to 364 stations. The first stations will start construction in January 2018 and begin opening in late 2019...snip
MORE: https://www.trucks.com/2016/12/01/nikola-one-hydrogen-fuel-cell-electric-semi-truck-debuts/
Related: Nikola Motor CEO Milton Explains Hydrogen Fuel Cell Truck Strategy
As he unveiled the Nikola One hydrogen fuel cell semi-truck in a warehouse on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, Nikola Motor Co. chief executive Trevor Milton became visibly emotional...snip More: https://www.trucks.com/2016/12/02/nikola-motor-ceo-hydrogen-fuel-cell-truck/
Nikola Motor Co. Home: https://nikolamotor.com/one
Nikola Motor on Reddit-videos and articles: https://www.reddit.com/r/NikolaMotor/
Related: Honda produces Hydrogen from sunlight in Swindon, UK
(Excerpt) Read more at trucks.com ...
Chrysler had turbine cars in the 60’s. Ford had turbine boats in the 70s.
You are probably correct on that being an influence. I watched YouTube interview with the head of Nikola. He grew up with trains as a kid (I think it was Union Pacific he said his dad worked for).
I’m interested in the drive train too. The design would obviously affect diesel engine manufacturers for the OTR market. Occupational trucks might be a different story. The hydrogen fueling stations would be a possible limitation at first.
Ammonia can be manufactured from hydrogen sourced from water, and nitrogen from the air, in an electrically driven synthesis cell. An ammonia-reforming oxide fuel cell can then in turn produce electricity from ammonia as needed.
Ammonia can be effectively stored in a magnesium chloride adsorption device. This is about 10-15 times less volume than either high pressure gas, or cryogenic hydrogen storage systems.
The fuel cells generate heat when under load. The battery systems of electric vehicles are vulnerable to cold, and usually draw upon their reserves to maintain an operational temperature. Assume in this case, the fuel cells maintain battery charge to full capacity under normal operating conditions.
Cryogenic, unlike the hydrogen electric cars from Hyundai, Honda and Toyota. They do say that they will sell compressed hydrogen gas from their hydrogen stations at $3.50 per Kilogram, which is ~$10 less than the present price. But that’s the thing about H2- it will get cheaper as time and tech bets better, not more expensive. And it’s domestic- not a dollar needs to go to some foreign country. H2 will help to make America great again!
Toyota (and surely Honda and Hyundai) did extensive cold and hot weather testing on their Hydrogen Electric. Here’s Toyota’s cold test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YOUgMFHp5g
Toyota fuel cell hot weather test (120 degrees in Death Valley) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LTlF8ndygU
Very interesting videos. It appears the vehicle started in -30 in Canada, which I presume is Fahrenheit, which is a reasonable cold temperature to play with.
My interest is fuel/cost efficiency, which they never got into.
Our 2015 Subaru 4 cyl Outback will get 30+ mpg summer at 70 degrees. Winter it drops to 25 mpg at around 0 degrees. Tomorrow we will go to town (90 miles away) to shop, and it is expected to be -20 to -25 degrees. I expect the Subaru to get about 21, maybe 22 mpg.
Anyway, if a hydrogen fuel cell type vehicle can compete with this, I see it as marketable. If a hydrogen fuel cell truck can compete with a diesel with regards to fuel economy, it may succeed.
One thing nice about Toyota, is they will have the quality built into it before they try and market it. They should also have good creature comforts such as a cab heater/defroster, heated seats, heated mirrors and electrically heated windshield.
Not so subtly trading off of the Tesla name. I’m surprised they haven’t been sued for trademark infringement.
Given the mass and frontal area it’s been historically difficult to break below a Cd of .30 or so. Several have approached or matched that level, old streamlined locomotives, one factory semi tractor, the old GMC motorhome of the seventies, maybe a few others.
Toyota's Hydrogen Electric Mirai has been on the market for sale since August, 2015. Youtube has lots of reviews and test drives, if you're interested. This was the first Mirai commercial (which Toyota has pulled for some reason, presumably the use of the BS word) showing that the car could actually be fueled by BS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx0zmIR51ZI
Tesla will be lucky to be in business in a few years anyway. The company is run by a con artist/liar, the cars aren't reliable (see Consumer Reports latest) and the resale will plummet as time goes on because the battery has a roughly 8 year lifespan and will need to be replaced.
A new Model S Tesla battery lists at $40,000 + tax and installation. A new Nissan Leaf battery costs $5,000 + tax and installation. And wait until these Tesla owners have to wait in line just to get to the charger- to spend another 45 minutes twiddling their thumbs. Maybe they'll call it "Charger Rage".
Your reasoning sounds more than just a little left wing, quite frankly. The “right” to use a name commercially, certainly one that trades off of an existing trademark in more than one way, is ripe for a trademark infringement lawsuit no matter what you, I or anyone else thinks about the company that owns the trademark.
Interesting video.
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