Debut of Hydrogen-Electric Truck Launches Milton’s Vision to Revolutionize Industry
This story appears in the Dec. 12 print edition of Transport Topics.
In launching the Nikola One with a splashy Hollywood-type production in front of a live audience in Salt Lake City, Trevor Milton has let it be known that building a hydrogen-electric, zero emissions, over-the-road Class 8 truck is just part of his plan to revolutionize the trucking industry.
“You have a lot of paths you can take,” Milton explained in a promotional video that played during the Dec. 1 unveiling of the first electric heavy-duty tractor designed for longhaul use. “This is my path, to transform how trucking works, everything about it from the ground up.”
Milton, CEO of Nikola Motor Co., is emblematic of a new breed of technology entrepreneurs who have targeted the transportation industry for disruption.
Amazon.com’s build-out of regional fulfillment centers and its development of unmanned drones looms large over local distribution and replenishment activities.
Uber Technologies is parlaying its success in enabling ride sharing to develop automated trucks for delivery of packages and freight.
Elon Musk, whose Tesla car draws its name from the same source as Nikola Motor Co. — electricity pioneer Nikola Tesla — also is planning to develop an electric truck and promoting a competition to develop a high-speed transport pod for passengers and freight.
Tech companies are moving to the automotive market because that’s where the money is, said Michael Macauley, CEO of Quadrant Information Services, a supplier of pricing analytics to property and casualty insurers.
In mid-November, Intel Corp. CEO Brian Krzanich announced that Intel Capital will invest $250 million in autonomous driving over the next two years.
“The fact that Intel chose to make this announcement at the Los Angeles Auto Show highlights the massive crossover that’s currently taking place between technology and transportation,”
