Nikola receives a $ 250 million investment from CNH Industrial

Nikola, the start-up company that is marketing fuel cell trailers, has become much more credible. On Tuesday, the company said it had received a $ 250 million investment from CNH Industrial during its Series D financing round.

What is CNH Industrial? Certainly not a household name, but the company operates Iveco and FPT Industrial. The two subsidiaries are important players in the commercial and powertrain market, and CNH's support gives Nikola the credibility it so badly needed to revolutionize semi-trailers and their powertrains. Iveco operates 28,000 trucks and buses equipped with LPT natural gas engines. Each partner stated that hydrogen fuel cell technology is the logical springboard.

At the announcement on Tuesday, Iveco and FPT will bring their engineering know-how to the preparation of Nikola's powertrains and semi-trailers for production. The work will extend to the three announced Nikola models: the A, Two and Tre, which are respectively berths, day cabins and heavy goods vehicles. The latter is specifically for Europe.

Speaking of Europe, Nikola will create a joint venture with CNH Industrial and bring its expertise in fuel cell powertrain and hydrogen fuel storage, among others.

In the short term, the two companies will also work to implement Iveco truck technology, called S-Way, in the Tre semi model. In 2022, when Nikola planned to launch his three models, he announced that the group would support Iveco's sales and service network as well as its warranty channel to penetrate Europe more efficiently.

Nikola is still working with partners to set up a hydrogen refueling network that he will desperately need if he wants to sell his trucks in the United States. She did not provide any new information on this project. Previously, the company wanted to build 364 hydrogen stations across the country. With a tank full of hydrogen and a charged battery, the Nikola One can travel between 800 and 1200 km.

The company has been silent for the past year. In early 2018, Nikola announced that it had chosen Arizona to manufacture its fuel cell semi-trailers. Later this year, Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch claimed to have placed an order for 800 Nikola Two weeks by taxi. With CNH Industrial on board, we can see that pre-orders are starting to climb.