The Nikola all-terrain vehicle is a demon of high technology



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Nikola Motors is a start-up that develops large electric vehicles, but also focuses some of this knowledge in a futuristic and fast vehicle that non-truck drivers might want to drive, the NZT. Created for the first time at an event in Arizona Tuesday night, alongside these big platforms and a watercraft, the NZT is a four-wheeled vehicle with the modern atmosphere of the buggy dune, designed to go out off the beaten track. Nikola hopes to differentiate it by offering the usual comfort of road cars, as well as exceptional power – with a starting price of $ 80,000, equivalent to that of its production in 2021.

The NZT (which means "zero toll", a sign of its absence of emissions) should easily attack trails and hills thanks to 35-inch tires and an engine at each wheel. But drivers will not have to get dirty or sweat en route. The cabin can be completely insulated from the elements and has an HVAC system to heat or cool your workouts. The NZT also features a 7-inch dashboard and a 13-inch portrait-oriented screen (both waterproof IP68) that can be updated via live software updates. With so much technology, it would be easy to confuse the interior of the NZT with a small Tesla.


Photo of Sean O'Kane / The Verge

That said, with up to 590 horses It's hard to imagine that homeowners pay a lot of attention to screens when they cross the desert. Nikola says that the NZT will go from 0 to 100 km / h in 4 seconds and that the owners will apparently be able to take the speed of this supercar quite far too. The NZT will run 150 miles with a full battery thanks to a big 125 kWh pack, according to the Nikola website. Plus, it offers a towing capacity of 3,000 pounds and can spend 30 minutes in a meter of water.

These are big claims, especially on the battery side. The most expensive Teslas have batteries with a capacity of 100 kWh, and most other EVs currently in production offer less than that. We will try to answer the question of how Nikola plans to put so much battery in such a small package. (The exorbitant price of the labels, the enormous weight of 5250 pounds and the production date of 2021 offer some clues, however.)


Photo of Sean O'Kane / The Verge

One reason to believe in these bold claims is that the NZT Nikola showed Tuesday night that it was the culmination of many years of work. The company has repeatedly teased the prototypes of its all-terrain vehicle, and the NZT turns out to be the version that the company decided to try to market. Nikola is also developing a similar all-terrain electric vehicle for military purposes. A lot work has been done on the design and engineering of this vehicle.

The price of the NZT will be a major hurdle, but this is part of the plan to start. At a press conference held Tuesday night, Nikola executives said the company's big business would be the big electric lifting gear. This is not surprising, as the startup already has billions of dollars in commitments to trucks from companies like Anheuser-Busch. Just like the other more consumer-oriented product that Nikola announced in Arizona, the Wav electric watercraft, the NZT will exist on the sidelines of the start-up business sector.


Photo of Sean O'Kane / The Verge


Image: Nikola Motors


Image: Nikola Motors


Image: Nikola Motors

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