Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
With sales of hydrogen-fuel cell trucks surging, the Arizona-based startup Nikola is confident that, despite the challenges that can be posed by regulatory hurdles, the company is confident of its influence.
In a new interview for the “Future Says” podcast, Nikola’s Global Head of Supply Chain Management, Pedro Garcia, anticipated that additional safety regulations will be implemented, necessitating industry-wide compliance and adaptation.
“There’s other areas on hydrogen in terms of buildings that you know, require certain regulations for getting hydrogen trucks around them,” he said.
The company announced earlier today that sold 72 units of its Class 8 Nikola hydrogen fuel cell trucks in the second quarter of the year. Following the sale of 40 units in the first quarter, sales of hydrogen trucks in the first half of the year totaled 112 units.
Nikola is actively involved in shaping these regulations. “At Nikola, we developed in many cases, the hydrogen standards for the world. We have people in our engineering organization that are actually sitting on the boards for these hydrogen standards worldwide,” Garcia stated.
Responding to the question, “Are there downsides of the hydrogen platform?” Garcia noted that developing the necessary infrastructure for hydrogen will be time-consuming.
“I think the infrastructure is one because it just it’ll take longer to put it in place,” he explained. He emphasized that the establishment of hydrogen fueling stations and related infrastructure is a significant hurdle that the industry must overcome to achieve widespread adoption of hydrogen vehicles.
Garcia enhanced that the company aims to maximize its production capacity and expand its market reach, particularly with battery-electric vehicles. “We want to fill up our capacity and expand the hydrogen infrastructure,” Garcia concluded.
In a new interview on the “Cleared Hot Podcast”, Trevor Milton, the founder and former CEO of Nikola, broke his silence for the first time since his departure from the company.
In the in-depth interview, which took more than two and a half hours, the former chief executive addressed his legal battles, the pressures of leading a publicly traded company, and the personal challenges he faced during his tenure.
Last Thursday, Nikola announced that Walmart Canada has integrated the first Nikola hydrogen fuel cell electric semi-truck into its fleet. Walmart Canada is the first retail fleet in North America to operate a hydrogen fuel cell electric truck.
Earlier in the week, the company announced that its hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have collectively surpassed 2.5 million miles driven across North America.
On the social media platform X, Nikola stated, “We are ecstatic to support Walmart Canada as the first major retailer in Canada to introduce a hydrogen fuel cell electric truck to its fleet. We can’t wait to see what the future holds. Thank you, Walmart Canada, for bringing us along on your journey to power your fleet with alternative power.”
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
