Struggling electrical truck firm Nikola stated it was submitting for Chapter 11 chapter safety on Wednesday and would unload its property, successfully ending a difficult journey punctuated by speedy money burn, allegations of fraud, and the incarceration of its first CEO and founder.
Nikola stated it could search an public sale and sale course of, pending courtroom approval. The corporate stated it had $47 million in money readily available to fund its chapter proceedings, implement the sale course of, and exit Chapter 11. Nikola listed property of between $500 million and $1 billion, and estimated its liabilities had been between $1 billion and $10 billion, Reuters stated citing a courtroom submitting.
“Like different corporations within the electrical automobile trade, we now have confronted varied market and macroeconomic elements which have impacted our means to function,” Steve Girsky, President and CEO of Nikola, stated in an announcement. “In latest months, we now have taken quite a few actions to lift capital, scale back our liabilities, clear up our steadiness sheet and protect money to maintain our operations. Sadly, our best efforts haven’t been sufficient to beat these important challenges, and the Board has decided that Chapter 11 represents the absolute best path ahead below the circumstances for the Firm and its stakeholders.”
“Like different corporations within the electrical automobile trade, we now have confronted varied market and macroeconomic elements which have impacted our means to function.”
The submitting represents a fall from grace for the as soon as buzzy firm that aimed to rework the polluting heavy-truck trade into one based mostly on zero emissions. Based in 2015, Nikola pitched the thought of zero-emission huge rigs utilizing hydrogen gas cell expertise, and later stated it could embrace battery-electric vans as effectively. The corporate scored an enormous win in 2020 when Basic Motors introduced plans to would assist Nikola engineer and manufacture its battery-electric and hydrogen gas cell autos, together with the Badger pickup truck. In trade, GM would purchase an 11 p.c fairness stake within the startup.
However lower than per week later, short-selling agency Hindenburg Analysis revealed a bombshell report accusing Nikola of fraud, together with the video exhibiting the truck rolling down a hill to simulate driving. The report set off a sequence response that resulted in founder Trevor Milton’s stepping down as board chair and CEO and his eventual arrest. Later, GM backed out of the fairness deal.
Along with staging the video, Milton was accused of falsely claiming to provide his personal hydrogen fuels at below-market charges and acquiring “billions and billions and billions and billions” of {dollars}’ price of dedicated truck orders. He was sentenced to 4 years in jail.
Nikola went public in 2020, and began transport its first vans lower than a 12 months later. It ramped up manufacturing in 2024, however was shedding tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} on each truck it bought. As of the third quarter of final 12 months, the corporate had solely produced 600 autos, a lot of which have been recalled resulting from defects, costing the automaker tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
Nikola was the newest high-profile EV firm to go stomach after failing to satisfy excessive expectations. Different EV startups that failed embrace Lordstown, Proterra, and Fisker. TuSimple, a self-driving truck firm from China, pivoted to gaming tech.
