Nikola Motor and GM Sign Memorandum of Understanding
Nikola Motors Corporation has been through the wringer in the past few months, but there is at least one company that still holds faith in them, General Motors. GM, who swapped shared with Nikola in the early summer, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the fledgling technology company, to show intention to use GM’s fuel cell technology in Nikola’s trucks.
Memorandum of Understanding
An MOU is a formal declaration that is not legally binding. It is essentially a public declaration to intend to work together in the future.
Such a move is not an irregularity within the trucking industry, especially in manufacturing. Traton and Hino reached a similar agreement in 2018, which has since expanded into a much larger partnership.
A Fuel Cell Future
Under the MOU, the two companies will jointly work on combining GM’s Hydrotec fuel-cell technology into Nikola’s Class 7 and Class 8 trucks. GM will rework its fuel cell system to specifications mutually agreed upon by both companies, and GM and Nikola will discuss the types of services that GM would bring to the plan for integration of the fuel cell system into Nikola’s vehicles.
Nikola hopes to start doing official beta testing of the fuel cell heavy-duty trucks by the end of 2021, start of 2022.
If the agreement reaches legally-binding fruition, Nikola will be expanding upon its portfolio of planned alternative fuel trucks. It is already building an electric truck factory in Arizona in an attempt to outpace Tesla. By moving on to fuel cells, they may also be attempting to take on other truck manufacturing companies such as Traton and Hino.
Conclusion
Nikola drama has spanned over the past few months, but in spite of it all, Nikola appears not to go down without a fight. Trevor Milton has willingly stepped down as executive chairman so that his company can distance itself from the fraud allegations that were directly linked to him rather than the company. GM has said before swapping shares that they did their due diligence in researching the company and believe they made the right decision. With this formal declaration to combine forces to create fuel cell trucks, Nikola and GM have asserted to the public their intention to keep moving forward despite the chaos of business.
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