Nikola seized two major deals with BayoTech and Bosch on supplying them with its hydrogen-powered trucks. In return, BayoTech will offer its HyFill hydrogen transport trailers while Bosch shall provide its fuel cells power modules.
On Thursday, July 13, the stock of electric truck maker Nikola (NASDAQ: NKLA) surged by a staggering 60% ending the trading at $2.22. The development comes into the picture as Nikola secured two big deals for the supply of its hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
The first is Nikola entering into a bilateral deal with small-scale hydrogen producer BayoTech. As part of the deal, BayoTech will be purchasing up to 50 Nikola Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell trucks over the period of the next five years. Of them, the delivery of the first twelve trucks shall happen in 2023 and 2024. As per Nikola, its fuel-cell trucks have a range of up to 500 miles.
Furthermore, BayoTech has collaborated with Nikola HYLA’s division. As a result, Nikola will purchase BayoTech’s 10 of BayoTech’s HyFill hydrogen transport trailers. These are essential for distributing high-pressure hydrogen from production sites to refueling stations.
Earlier this year, Nikola CEO Michael Lohscheller announced that the company expects to produce “between 375 and 500 trucks” this year. As part of their plans, they intend to temporarily halt production at their Coolidge, Arizona, plant.
This pause is necessary to make modifications to the assembly line, enabling the manufacturing of both hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric vehicles. Nikola also expressed a preference for increasing production of hydrogen fuel cell trucks and assembling battery-electric models on a “build-to-order” basis.
Nikola Signs Deal with Bosch
In another development, Nikola also signed a deal with Bosch at its Tech Day 2023 in Stuttgart, Germany, on Thursday, July 13. As per the deal, Bosch would begin volume production of its fuel-cell power modules while Nikola will serve as Bosch’s private customer.
Nikola’s Class 8 trucks will be using Bosch’s fuel cells power modules. Also, Nikola’s delivery of Class 8 trucks will begin to customers in North America by the third quarter of this year. In a statement, Markus Heyn, Bosch board member and chairman of Bosch Mobility, said:
“Bosch is one of the very few companies that are capable of mass-producing technology as complex as fuel-cell stacks. We don’t just have the required systems expertise, but also the capability of quickly scaling up new developments to mass production.”
Bosch has announced an increased investment of $2.8 billion in hydrogen fuel technology through 2026. This amount is more than $1 billion higher than its initial planned investment. Despite yesterday’s surge, the NKLA stock is still up by 20% in the pre-market trading hours on Friday.
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