foreign media reported.
The penalty is far less than 11-year sentence that prosecutors sought when they sentenced Milton in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. In 2016, Nikola held a press conference to launch its first hydrogen energy truck product, Nikola One. As for Nikola One's technology, Trevor Milton is full of hype, saying that the hydrogen energy truck takes only 15 minutes to charge, runs more than 1000 miles on a single charge, and has zero emissions and no pollution. In a press release on the same day, Trevor Milton said that Nikola had been 10-15 years ahead of other car companies in the field of technology, and boasted that it would surpass Daimler, Volvo and other mainstream truck companies in 1-2 years. On September 9,
2020, short-seller Hindenburg Research released a scathing report against Nikola and its founders. According to the report, Nikola never developed hydrogen fuel technology and cashed out by forging a large number of orders. Even more bizarre, the agency pointed out that the Nikola One displayed by Nikola was not a truck because it did not have its own power. Hindenburg said that in the official promotional video, Nikola One appeared to be able to drive because it was placed on a hillside and glided down by gravity. During the video shoot, Nikola adjusted the camera angle and cut the acceleration to make the car model look like it was speeding. Eventually, Nikola pleaded guilty to the charges and founder Trevor Milton resigned on September 20, 2020. However, during the trial, Trevor Milton denied that he resigned because of the allegations, but for personal and family reasons.
Nikola, founded in 2015, claims to use hydrogen fuel cell technology to build heavy trucks with zero emissions, thus occupying a unique position in the highly competitive field of electric trucks. The company scored a huge victory in 2020. On June 3, 2020, Nikola announced that it had merged with VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, to become the world's "first share of hydrogen heavy truck". Three days after going public, Nikola's share price doubled and its market value peaked at $34 billion, surpassing Ford, a century-old car company. On September 8,
2020, General Motors announced a strategic partnership with Nikola to acquire Nikola's newly issued $2 billion common stock with equivalent non-cash asset investment. General Motors will own 11% of Nikola and nominate a board member.
The automaker said it will help Nikola design and build its hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, including the pickup Badge. According to Nikola, the Nikola Badge has 906 horsepower, 980 pound-feet of torque and more than 8,000 pounds of towing capacity. The fuel-cell hybrid version has a range of 600 miles, while the electric version has a range of 300 miles. The 100-meter acceleration time is exactly the same as Tesla Cybertruck. According to the data of various indicators, Nikola Badge directly attacked Tesla Cyber.
That is, the day after GM cooperated with Nokila, Nokila was accused of fraud, which eventually led to the continued decline of Nokila's share price. So far, Nikola's share price is only $0.820, and its total market value is only $949 million. In February
2023, Nikola said in a government filing that the company may run out of money in the next 12 months, so it may need to "modify or terminate" its business. In the first three quarters of 2023, Nikola reported revenue of $24.31 million, compared with $44.26 million in the same period last year, and a net loss of $813 million, compared with $562 million in the same period last year. In the third quarter, Nikola's revenue was- $1.73 million, compared with $24.24 million in the same period last year, and its net loss was $426 million, compared with $236 million in the same period last year. According to the results, Nikola's cash and equivalents increased to $362.8 million as of September 30, 2023, mainly through the sale of new equity.
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