Nikola Motor Company is a new startup promising to revolutionize the American transportation industry with energy storage system, electric vehicles and electric-vehicle drivetrain components. Now, the company is launching two products simultaneously, the Nikola One and Nikola Zero.
According to CNet, the Nikola One is a semi truck cab with a 320-kWh battery that will provide 2,000 horsepower and 1,200 miles of range. The battery does not require to be ever plug in because it is charged while driving by a natural-gas-powered turbine.
Interested customers are required to put down only $1,500 for a deposit. The Nikola One semi-truck cab will cost $375,000.
The Nikola Zero is an off-road vehicle with a 50-kWh battery that will provide 520 horsepower. The Nikola Zero will reach a speed from 0 mph to 60 mph in just 3 seconds.
The off-road vehicle will feature three displays and rear-wheel steering. Its price tag will be $42,000, but interested customers are required to make a deposit of just $750.
The Nikola Zero and the Nikola One vehicles actually do not exist yet. Nikola Motors Company is planning to unveil the prototypes later this year.
According to Nikola Motors' press release, the company was named after the famous electrical engineer Nikola Tesla. The startup was formed several years ago by Founder and CEO Trevor Milton with the main purpose to design and manufacture electric vehicles.
The company's press release announces that the most powerful production model UTV has already been designed, engineered and now is in the stage of finalizing assembly. The UTV project is dubbed as "Nikola Zero."
The 100 percent electric powered, zero emission UTV is a four-passenger, side-by-side that boasts 480 feet lbs. of torque and features 20 inches of suspension travel on all four wheels. The electric UTV has a 125-mile range.
The other prototype is dubbed Nikola One and it is the first-ever 2000 hp electric class 8 semi-truck. The vehicle will be capable for pulling a gross weight of 80,000 pounds.
The majority of the semi-trucks components are being developed by Nikola Motors, but together with Meritor the company also co-designed the industry's first ever independent suspension. Milton said that by collaborating with some of the top engineering companies in America, Nikola Motors was able to design vehicles thought previously as impossible to design.
