Nikola partners with GM

[Ehninger1212]

The only thing that i wonder about is the people at GM arent idiots. Obviously Nikola is legit enough for them to get on board, i dont see how they could BS them.. and hey... now GM is letting them use a factory.

 

[CyberMoose]

Well the way I see it from GM's perspective. If Nikola makes vehicles, GM makes money, if NIkola folds and makes nothing...GM still made money from the stock, even if it falls.

 

[azjohn]

Well the way I see it from GM's perspective. If Nikola makes vehicles, GM makes money, if NIkola folds and makes nothing...GM still made money from the stock, even if it falls.

11% of 0 is zero

 

[ricinro]

I was talking to Trevor about working for him, but too many things he said didn't make any sense, so I just bowed out.

You know how Steve jobs said "It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do"?

Well, Trevor is so full of himself that he already thinks his level of knowledge, despite being a complete noob, is comparable to someone with 30 years of experience.

The whole time I was talking with him, I kept wondering how this dude could be a billionaire with his inability to educate himself on any topic, even when presented with a crap ton of evidence. Well, now I know.

the saying "if you build it, they will come" seems aspirational for many.

"if you can lie and get their money we can build anything" seems the M.O. for too many entrepreneurs.

 

[CyberMoose]

the saying "if you build it, they will come" seems aspirational for many.

"if you can lie and get their money we can build anything" seems the M.O. for too many entrepreneurs.

I don't think that's it, I think that these people want to actually create something and they are trying to take all these shortcuts while making big promises and hoping it all comes together in the end.

Like a big problem for Nikola is not only do they not have the Hyrdrogen technology or a way to actually make it cheaper, but even their fallback which was battery technology fell through. They took a shortcut and made these promises, depending on the battery company that they were working with to actually produce results. Nikola didn't do their research and that company only had vaporware, this left Nikola with no Hydrogen or battery technology.

Even now they are probably optimistic with their partnership with GM, thinking GM can use their battery technology and their fuel cells to back up what Nikola had previously promised. I think this will blow up in their face, GM already gave up on their fuel cell goals, so I doubt this be beneficial at all for Nikola. If they get rid of the fuel cells, they might sell some trucks and actually make it through all the lies. However, they are still deep in a hole and I don't see them suriving in the end.

 

[CappyJax]

The only thing that i wonder about is the people at GM arent idiots. Obviously Nikola is legit enough for them to get on board, i dont see how they could BS them.. and hey... now GM is letting them use a factory.

Look at how many companies got on board with Theranos. Look at who comprised the board.

 

[AlexD]

I cant figure it out at ALL..

My guess is that this gets GM into large scale production of EVs without having to market that EV as a direct competitor to their ice pick-ups and through their dealer network. They still need their ice vehicles to survive and to recoup their investment in ice. When the time is right they will rebody the Badger underpinnings as a Silverado or whatever. Its all their technology after all. Nicola supplies the sketches and badge only.

 

[Mini2nut]

The real why reason GM invested 11%? EV credits.

EV automakers receive credits for building EVs, and those can be sold to other automakers to offset C02 emissions. GM will keep roughly 80% of the credits for Nikola Badger sales and Nikola gets the remaining 20%. GM has right of first refusal to buy them at market rate.

 

[Crissa]

The real why reason GM invested 11%? EV credits.

Do you have a citation for that? That would be interesting, but if they're using all GM parts for the trucks, there's no EV credits to be added to GM's balance sheet.

-Crissa

 

[ReddykwRun]

The real why reason GM invested 11%? EV credits.

EV automakers receive credits for building EVs, and those can be sold to other automakers to offset C02 emissions. GM will keep roughly 80% of the credits for Nikola Badger sales and Nikola gets the remaining 20%. GM has right of first refusal to buy them at market rate.

Sept 21 (Reuters) - Shares of electric-truck maker Nikola Corp tumbled as much as 30% on Monday after founder Trevor Milton stepped down following claims of nepotism and fraud by a Wall Street short-seller that have drawn interest from U.S. regulators.

The company named Stephen Girsky, former vice chairman of General Motors Co and a member of Nikola's board, to take over as chairman, as it strives to regain investors' confidence.

 

[hridge2020]

 

[Ehninger1212]

This whole thing has turned into a real ? show

 

[AlexD]

I laugh because generally speaking companies actually produce something most of the time. From what I've heard, both Nikola and Rivian have yet to sell any finished products.

I think you should not put Rivian and Nikola in the same basket.
Nikola is a scam. They have nothing but renderings and a few fake proto-types whilst Rivian have actually made working proto-types and have production facilities and major backing from Ford and more especially Amazon. I have little doubt that Rivian will actually deliver vehicles.
Nikola, well not so much unless you count vehicles totally manufactured by others such as Inveco and GM.
Rivian are very quiet and don't 'shout the odds' like that a-hole Trevor Milton did.

 

[AlexD]

The real why reason GM invested 11%? EV credits.

EV automakers receive credits for building EVs, and those can be sold to other automakers to offset C02 emissions. GM will keep roughly 80% of the credits for Nikola Badger sales and Nikola gets the remaining 20%. GM has right of first refusal to buy them at market rate.

GM invested sweet b-all!
They got given the share of Nikola free, gratis and for nothing!
Just for legitimizing Nikola by undertaking to supply the tech and everything other than the silhouette of a truck called a Badger. What's more Nikola still pay GM nearly 3/4 billion dollars to set up the production facility. AND GM get to keep 80% of the emission credits!
Man, what an amazing deal for GM!!! All they can loose is some reputation by associating with a scum bag like Trevor Milton (even though he has resigned)
Nikola has a market cap exceeding Ford! Go figure!

 

[Sirfun]

GM invested sweet b-all!
They got given the share of Nikola free, gratis and for nothing!
Just for legitimizing Nikola by undertaking to supply the tech and everything other than the silhouette of a truck called a Badger. What's more Nikola still pay GM nearly 3/4 billion dollars to set up the production facility. AND GM get to keep 80% of the emission credits!
Man, what an amazing deal for GM!!! All they can loose is some reputation by associating with a scum bag like Trevor Milton (even though he has resigned)
Nikola has a market cap exceeding Ford! Go figure!

WTF, no wonder GM say's their fastest speed is Watts To Freedom.

Edit: I looked up market cap. Ford is 30.21B and Nikola is 6.94B that's still pretty crazy.