Truck Maker Nikola Trims 135 Staff in Cost-Cutting Move
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Truck maker Nikola recently reduced staffing levels as it seeks to control costs.
The Phoenix-based hydrogen fuel cell electric truck and battery-electric truck manufacturer in October cut 135 jobs, a move that CEO Steve Girsky acknowledged was tough to make.
“This is a difficult, but necessary, decision and we thank those team members who helped build Nikola and wish them the best moving forward,” he said in a statement provided to Transport Topics. “Nikola is a pioneer in the zero-emissions trucking and hydrogen infrastructure solution arenas, and to ensure long-term viability and maintain our first-mover advantage, we must scale our business appropriately for the future. To extend our runway, we are adjusting and rescaling our staffing needs.”
RELATED: Nikola Leads Field in Hydrogen Fuel Cell EV Deployment
Girsky since arriving at Nikola in August 2023 has sought to bolster the company’s executive ranks with industry veterans. Former General Motors executive Mary Chan was appointed chief operating officer in September 2023, while ex-Eaton finance chief Tom Okray became chief financial officer in March 2024.
Girsky
Nikola in Q4 2023 raised more than $230 million to help fund its operations. In the third quarter of this year, it reported a loss of $200 million, narrower than the $425.5 million year-ago loss, but the company’s cash and cash equivalents as of Sept. 30 totaled $198.3 million, compared with $464.7 million at the end of 2023.
“We estimate that our existing cash is sufficient to fund our forecast operating costs and meet our obligations into but not beyond [the first quarter of] 2025,” Okray told analysts during the company’s most recent quarterly earnings call. “We are examining every opportunity to optimize cash.”
That may include partnerships, Girsky said during the call.
“We are actively talking to lots of potential different partners who value what we do and value what we’ve built,” he said. “It’s because we’ve been doing the hard work out front building the framework, and we have proof points. We’re on the road today with customers. So we are looking to build [a] coalition of the willing, [a] coalition of like-minded companies that want to pursue and push zero-emission forward because that’s all we do.”
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RELATED: Public-Private Partnerships Propel Hydrogen Infrastructure
Okray said potential partners include companies with corporatewide decarbonization goals, hydrogen producers and automotive original equipment manufacturers that want to bring a light-duty or heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle to market.
Nikola is one of two hydrogen fuel cell electric truck makers to begin serial production of a Class 8 tractor in North America. The other, Hyzon, also is facing a cash crunch.
Legacy truck maker Paccar expects serial production of hydrogen fuel cell electric versions of Peterbilt’s 579 Model and Kenworth’s T680 tractors to begin in 2025.
Nikola sold a hydrogen production project in July 2023, one month after it cut 270 jobs and two months after it halted production of its battery-electric trucks.
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