Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Nikola, which reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings last week, announced on Monday the opening of a new hydrogen refueling station in Los Angeles.
During the earnings conference call held last Friday, the truck manufacturer said it expects to increase the deliveries of its Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) from 72 in the second quarter to between 80 and 100 in the third quarter.
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The new station is located at 13443 Freeway Dr. in Santa Fe Springs, a key spot on one of the busiest truck routes in the United States, situated at Tom’s Truck Center, a partner in Nikola’s sales and service dealer network.
Nikola aims to establish a total of 14 refueling stations by the end of the year, including a combination of HYLA-branded and partner-operated locations to serve its customers.
At the company’s earnings call held last Friday, the management was asked about Tesla’s battery-electric truck, a major competitor to its fully electric model, the Nikola Tre BEV.
Addressing concerns raised by analysts regarding the potential impact of Tesla’s model, Nikola’s CEO, Stephen Girsky, emphasized the limitations of battery-electric trucks in certain operational environments.
“We have customers who want to try ours, want to try everybody else’s, including Tesla’s, and we’ll see where it all lands,” Girsky said.
The chief executive shared an example of a customer who initially bought six battery-electric trucks but switched to Nikola’s fuel cell trucks due to issues like reduced range and long charging times.
“He said the manufacturer told them the range would be 220 miles on a charge, and they were getting 150,” Girsky noted.
For the full year, Nikola expects to deliver between 300 and 350 vehicles. This delivery guidance represents a critical uptick for the Arizona-based company as it strives to convince large fleet operators to adopt its truck models.
The Vancouver-based firm HTEC announced last week that Nikola trucks have passed its vehicle acceptance tests and will now integrate the Pilot Trucks fleet in Canada.
On the last day of July, Nikola opened the first commercial hydrogen refueling station in Ontario, Canada. The station was inaugurated together with IT industries, the company’s first dealer partner in the country.
Around 20 trucks from Nikola were recently seen at the headquarters of J.B. Hunt, one of the largest supply chain solution providers in North America.
The company is rumoured to be buying additional Nikola trucks following the order of 13 units announced one year ago.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
