Nikola won't have a prototype until December but has already sold $2.3 billion worth of electric trucks

Nikola Motor Co. of Salt Lake City is off to a flying start. Since its announcement last month that it will launch a fully electric Class 8 semi truck, the company has booked reservations and received deposits for more than 7,000 units, according to a statement released last week by founder and CEO Trevor Milton. The reservations represent $2.3 billion in sales of the truck that has been dubbed Nikola One.

Nikola Motor Co. of Salt Lake City is off to a flying start. Since its announcement last month that it will launch a fully electric Class 8 semi truck, the company has booked reservations and received deposits for more than 7,000 units, according to a statement released last week by founder and CEO Trevor Milton. The reservations represent $2.3 billion in sales of the truck that has been dubbed Nikola One.

Nikola also announced that the first operational prototype of the Nikola One will be unveiled at a ceremony in Salt Lake City on Dec. 2. The event will open to potential buyers, fleet operators and the press. Operators holding reservations to purchase the vehicles will receive invitations to the unveiling and the event will be broadcast on the company website at nikolamotor.com.

“Our technology is 10 to 15 years ahead of any other OEM in fuel efficiencies, MPG and emissions,” said Milton. “We are the only OEM to have a near-zero emission truck and still outperform diesel trucks running at 80,000 pounds. To have over 7,000 reservations totaling more than $2.3 billion, with five months remaining until our unveiling ceremony, is unprecedented.”

Nikola will have a truck leasing program that costs $4,000 to $5,000 per month per unit, depending on which truck configuration and options the customer chooses, the company said. The first million miles of fuel is included with every truck sale, offsetting 100 percent of the monthly lease for every owner. An average diesel burns over $400,000 in fuel and racks up over $100,000 in maintenance costs over 1 million miles — costs that are eliminated with the Nikola One lease, the company claims.

“We believe we will pass the current market leaders like Daimler, PACCAR, Volvo and Navistar in sales orders within the next 12-24 months,” said Milton. “Just imagine the orders that will come in once we begin taking dealer applications. We have shown other OEMs and their shareholders why they should be nervous about Nikola Motor Co. Some of the top Class 8 dealerships in America have reached out and are willing to either add our brand or move away from their existing brands,” he added.

Nikola Motor Co. has already completed a seed round of funding and is working on a $300 million round of funding to be completed by December.

Privately held Nikola Motor Co. designs and manufactures electric vehicles, vehicle components, energy storage systems and electric vehicle drivetrains. Nikola is said to be named after the same man who gave his name to the hybrid Tesla electric passenger car, Nikola Tesla, a late-19th-century/early-20th-century inventor, electrical engineer and physicist, and developer of the AC induction motor.

While the majority of the semi-truck’s components are being developed by Nikola, the company also co-designed the industry’s first-ever independent suspension with Meritor, a Troy, Michigan, automotive components manufacturer.

The 2,000-horsepower Nikola One has been developed in secret for the past three years and features a 150-gallon dHybrid storage system stacked behind its cab that fuels a turbine generator, which, in turn, charges a 320-kilowatt-hour battery pack that drives six motors, one for each wheel. With individually driven wheels, it works much like diesel-electric locomotives familiar on America’s railroads.

The vehicle is not a conversion of another truck. The chassis was engineered specifically for the project and features a unique independent rear suspension system designed in conjunction with Meritor.

Nikola also announced plans to build a nationwide network of refueling stations to support its customers, much like Tesla’s electric supercharger network. Nikola owns its own CNG wells and will sell the fuel for the equivalent of $1.50 per gallon.

Meanwhile, Nikola will have its first vehicle on the road well ahead of the new trucks. The Nikola Zero is a 520-horsepower, all-electric 4x4 side-by-side UTV designed to run off-road — even under water. The four-seater is being designed with 14.5 inches of ground clearance and 20 inches of suspension travel. Its on-board computer can operate each of its four motors independently to maximize grip and handling, the company says on its website. Solar panels on the roof keep its 12-volt battery charged so its systems don’t need to draw from the main drive battery, which has a 100-to-150 mile range.