Nikola Badger fuel-cell pickup would have relied virtually fully on GM

The now-cancelled Nikola Badger hydrogen fuel-cell pickup truck was to be manufactured by Common Motors with Nikola’s tech, however the latter had just about nothing to do with the engineering of the truck, in keeping with testimony from a GM govt.

Scott Damman, a senior supervisor in GM’s software program division, was despatched to work with Nikola after the 2 firms drafted an settlement to collaborate on the Badger, in keeping with Automotive Information. He testified towards Nikola founder Trevor Milton, who’s at present on trial for securities fraud, contradicting statements made by Milton in 2020 about Nikola’s contribution to the challenge.

“There have been no elements coming from Nikola,” Damman reportedly mentioned. “They owned the inventive design, what the automobile regarded and felt like, however the entire components have been to come back from Common Motors.”

That is at odds with Milton’s declare that the Badger was “most likely 70% Nikola, 30% GM,” made in a September 2020 interview, the identical month GM introduced it could construct the pickup in trade for funds and an 11% stake in Nikola.

The unique truck first teased in November 2019 featured social-media jabs on the Tesla Cybertruck and Elon Musk, and it received much more consideration than it in any other case would due to Milton. He took purpose on the Cybertruck’s unorthodox design, and promised a variety of 600 miles for the Badger, utilizing a mix of gasoline cells and batteries.

Nikola solely confirmed a rendering of the Badger, and that hadn’t modified in June 2020 when the corporate started taking $5,000 pre-orders. The tall speak had already began round then, with Milton calling Nikola a BEV and fuel-cell chief, when it hadn’t but delivered any automobiles.

A reveal occasion for the Badger set for October 2020 was cancelled, as GM regarded to extricate itself from the partnership. Then in July 2021 Milton was charged with securities fraud for allegedly deceptive buyers in regards to the firm, together with false claims that the Badger was additional alongside in improvement than it really was.

By October 2021, after the scandal with Milton broke, the Badger was reportedly prone to be dropped as a part of a “base plan” that returned the corporate to its authentic deal with industrial fuel-cell vans.

And Nikola’s huge hydrogen refueling community that was purported to assist the Badger together with its different vans hasn’t but materialized in wherever near what Milton had been promising.