Nikola's tall prototype started to spin on its rotating stage after half an hour of large promises and promotional images and videos.
The dramatically intense music reached its peak, then suddenly the lights were turned on and a thin white sheet was taken off the Nikola One. This was when the founder of Nikola, Trevor Milton, walked onto the stage to an applause, then he put his hands on his sides and seemed to admir their company's debut truck.
Milton stated that the truck was amazing and that he and everyone at Nikola have been waiting a long time to show the truck to the world. He said he had difficulty containing his emotions about it.
Did Milton Seemingly Deceive The Public?
During the December 2016 event, Milton commented to the audience that suggested that the Nikola One could already be driven. This alarmed people that knew what the truck was capable of at the time.
He told Bloomberg recently that the Nikola One was missing vital components needed to power the truck and that made it inoperable. Milton said on Wednesday that key components of the vehicle were taken out temporarily for safety reasons and that the truck never drove under its power.
According to Milton during a phone interview, he claimed that he never deceived anybody.
At the event in 2016, Milton said that they had to put a chain up to secure the vehicle's controls so that no one would bump into it and damage it. He wanted to keep people from driving off with the vehicle since he claimed that it was fully functional.
Later on during the event, he said that the prototype truck wasn't a pusher, which refers to a prototype that isn't operational and it needs to be physically pushed on and off the stage.
Several people that know a bit more about the truck said that they were worried about Milton's statements. Motors and gears were missing from the internals, and there was no fuel cell in the vehicle even if it has the words H2 Zero Emission Hydrogen Electric on the truck.
Milton admitted that there was no fuel cell inside the truck, while also claiming that he never mentioned that there was one. Also, he confirmed the missing gears and motors from the vehicle were for safety reasons.
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Nikola's Plans For The Future
Nikola initally planned to start delivering the One in 2020, which doesn't seem likely anymore. It's taking longer than Milton hoped it would take to enter the field.
Nikola isn't definite about when they're expecting to deliver more than 3 years after the unveiling. It seems that revenue is something that Nikola won't have this year.
On March, Nikola has stated that they will announce the production plans for their debut truck, the Nikola One, when they have established a refueling infrastructure that is stable and robust. It will take until 2022 or later for their initial hydrogen stations to start operations.
