When you think pickups, what truck jumps to mind? For most Americans, the first contender is the Ford F-series considering these have been bestsellers for donkey's years. Then there is RAM, Chevrolet, and GMC; and finally, come the Nissan and Hondas et al.
However, with the environment becoming a bigger cause just about every day, the grail for the perfect emission-free electric truck is on. Of course, there’s the Tesla Cybertruck, which Elon Musk declares will precede the next Roadster. And now, there’s a new entry in the market as well and its upward graph may be giving the head honchos at Tesla some sleepless nights.
Forget Tesla, we present to you, the Nikola…
Who Or What Is Nikola?
Nikola Corp was founded by Trevor Milton in 2014. The company's name, Nikola, is a play and a direct challenge to Tesla. Why? Because the inspiration for both is the same man: Nikola Tesla, who was said to have been bamboozled by many and never got his due for his work in electricity.
Milton is Nikola’s spokesperson and the founder, and while Elon Musk is the face Tesla is known by. Technically, he was brought on much later because Tesla was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. While Tesla solely focuses on electric vehicles and reigns supreme for now, Nikola does hydrogen and electric trucks.
The main difference between Tesla and Nikola is that while Tesla has delivered on its vehicles, for now, Nikola has not shipped out a single-vehicle. But according to Auto News, its market value today is at $34 billion and that's more than Ford's current market value! Just a 100-days after its NASDAQ entry, the stock price of this company jumped a whopping 103%. For now, Nikola is known for its fuel-powered semi-trucks that are supposed to start deliveries from 2020, but nothing has come to fruition.
Presenting: The Badger
In the animal world, the badger may look like a quiet and somewhat unassuming animal but it has many tricks up its sleeve, including a natural immunity to a venomous snake, which a badger is only too happy to make a meal out of. The Nikola Badger perhaps considers the Tesla Cybertruck as a viper. Dangerous yes, but cool enough to make a nice little snack out of.
The Badger is a pickup truck that will be available in both electric and hydrogen powertrains, and the final announcement is awaited on December 4, 2020, during the yearly Nikola World symposium. Bookings for the Badger opened up on June 29th this year. And Nikola founder Trevor Milton has rather high hopes for the pickup that he revealed in an interview with Yahoo Finance.
He wants to take the throne from the Ford F-150 and feels that the Nikola Badger can beat every truck there is in the market today and that the bookings will speak for themselves.
Badger VS Cybertruck
The Cybertruck is very edgy and futuristic and looks like something out of a sci-fi movie with a small budget. According to Tesla, there have been half a million bookings for the Cybertruck already at a $100 refundable deposit, and deliveries are likely to start end of 2021.
Specifications for the Cybertruck stand at a less-than 6.5-second 0-60 mph run, and more than 250 miles on a single, full charge, plus it can tow more than 7,500 pounds. The single-motor base version will chug out 400-500 horsepower with the highest “plaid” trim jetting out more than 800 horses and 1,000 ft-lb torque.
The Tesla Cybertruck gets another point because of Tesla’s already-in-place network of charging stations as well as the direct sales setup.
The Badger looks futuristic as well but is still more in line with what people feel is a good-looking pickup truck. The battery-only version (EV) offers 300 miles on a single charge but if you get the fuel-cell hydrogen-powered version, the range doubles to 600 miles. The Badger is also faster with a 0-60 mph sprint in 2.9 seconds and the towing capacity is slightly higher at 8,000 pounds. For the Badger, its 455 continuous horsepower that peaks at 905 and an equally impressive 980 ft-lb torque.
Not to be left behind on the charging bit, Nikola plans to install 700 Hydrogen filling stations across North America.
Now, For The Catch…
Trevor Milton talks big. When Elon Musk unveiled the Cybertruck, Milton offered Tesla his unused truck design just so that the first electric truck "could look good". And then, he decided to use that very design and launch the Nikola Badger. The Badger is still very much on paper, and not a single physical one has been delivered till today.
The other challenge the Badger faces is that while pickup lovers are used to their gas and diesel-powered giants and seem to roll with hybrid trucks as well; is the electronic truck market big enough to have both the Tesla Cybertruck and the Nikola Badger turn into bestsellers?
The Nikola Badger's hydrogen power version offers an advantage over the Tesla Cybertruck. But even Tesla faces challenges when it comes to its charging stations. Having Nikola set up a new network, for now, is a very big hurdle, and something Nikola will have to actively work on if it wants the Badger to succeed.
Finally, while there have been a concrete number of Cybertruck bookings provided by Tesla, Nikola has only said that its $5,000 booking packages have been sold out and that it was receiving 1,500 reservations per day. The numbers have not been announced to date, even though there have been talks about a big order.
Sources: Autoevolution, BusinessInsider, AutoNews, MarketWatch, YahooFinance