#HTE

The Tesla of Trucks is Coming

While it’s common practice for a company to take the last name of a prominent inventor, few have taken the first name. But since “Tesla” was already taken, electric vehicle company founder Trevor Milton went with “Nikola.”

Milton’s Nikola Motor Company develops sleek-looking, electric-powered vehicles, but they won’t be competing with Elon Musk. That’s because the former company’s vehicles cost around $375,000 and are aimed at the lone driver. Luxury car? Nope; the Nikola One is a bad-ass semi truck with “near-zero” emissions by virtue of its electric-drive motor.

Unlike a Tesla, the Nikola One never needs to be plugged in, as the batteries are charged by a natural-gas powered turbine. The company reckons that this will halve fuel costs for operators compared to diesel, to say nothing of the cleaner air left behind.

The performance statistics are impressive. First off, it being electric, there is of course no clutch and no gears to go through; just a gas pedal and brake. And the absurd torque of an electric motor–at 3,700 ft. lbs., more than double what a diesel engine provides–is available as soon as you hit the gas. The company says the motor will put out 2,000 horsepower compared to the paltry 500HP put out by a diesel engine, and they claim their range to be 800-1,200 miles, which dwarfs the 500-750 miles you’d get with diesels. Lastly, the Nikola One weighs nearly 2,000 pounds less than a diesel rig.

From a design standpoint, the interior cabin will reportedly be a vast improvement over a diesel cab. Without that huge engine to contend with, Nikola says the driver will be placed further forward to enjoy a panoramic view and greater visibility, which they’re touting as a safety feature.

Though the Nikola One is not to be unveiled until December of this year, fleet operators and individual leasees seem convinced: This month Milton announced the company had clocked a whopping $2.3 billion in pre-orders. With any luck, by next year perhaps you’ll see one of these on the road…hauling a carrier full of Teslas.