Nikola Corporation, through its HYLA brand, recently announced that they have received orders for 100 Class 8 Nikola Tre hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) from their dealer network. These purpose-built heavy-duty trucks are set to be delivered in Q4 2023.
Nikola’s President and CEO, Michael Lohscheller, proudly stated, “We believe Nikola is the only company in the U.S. with a Class 8 hydrogen FCEV available in calendar year 2023, engineered and assembled in the U.S., as well as a variety of upcoming hydrogen energy solutions. Customers are recognizing this and are demanding zero-emissions trucking solutions to fulfill their shipping needs and to meet their environmental, social and governance goals. And it will have quite an effect, as one heavy-duty zero-emission truck equates to removing 23 gasoline-powered passenger cars from the road in annual CO2 emissions.”
The Nikola Tre FCEV boasts a range of up to 500 miles and an estimated fueling time of about 20 minutes based on expected technology improvements. This makes it one of the commercially-available zero tailpipe emission Class 8 trucks with the longest range. The truck is suitable for a variety of applications ranging from drayage and intermodal to metro-regional truckload and less than truckload and specialized hauling use cases.
The California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP) program played a significant role in securing many of the 100 sale orders. The HVIP program allows customers to access a point-of-sale incentive starting at $240,000 and ranging up to $288,000 per truck in 2023. Customers will also be eligible for a $40,000 clean commercial vehicle tax credit from the federal government.
The HVIP program is intended to advance commercialization and reduce the total cost of ownership of hybrid and zero-emission commercial vehicles in California. The program accelerates the adoption of zero tailpipe emission commercial vehicles on a first-come, first-served basis that does not require the retirement and scrappage of an existing diesel vehicle.
Lohscheller concluded, “This 100 sale order milestone is certainly something to celebrate and shows the commitment of our customers, dealers, employees and stakeholders. And this is expected to be the first of many upcoming announcements.” With this, the future looks bright for Nikola and its hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles.
