- Nikola Corporation has unveiled the Badger, the automaker’s first electric pickup truck.
- The Badger has a maximum range of 600 miles by using both a hydrogen fuel cell and battery power sources.
- Nikola also announced that it is planning on opening 700 hydrogen stations in North America.
- Reservations for the Badger will open on June 29, according to a tweet from Nikola Motors CEO Trevor Milton.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Nikola Corporation has unveiled the Badger, the automaker’s first electric pickup truck.
It has a maximum range of 600 miles by using its fuel cell – hydrogen – and battery power sources.
Nikola traditionally manufactures electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles for “heavy-duty” use, including semi-trucks, off-roading power sport vehicles, and jet ski-esque watercraft. This is the company’s first time entering the soon-to-be crowded electric pickup truck market.
“I have been working on this pickup program for years and believe the market is now ready for something that can handle a full day’s worth of work without running out of energy,” CEO of Nikola, Trevor Milton, said in a statement.
Customers will have the option to purchase a battery-electric (BEV) or joint battery and fuel-cell electric (FCEV) hydrogen-powered pickup truck. The Badger can operate on FCEV and BEV at any time, and the combination of both allows the pickup truck to have a range of 600 miles, according to its maker.
This surpasses Tesla Cybertruck's most expensive tri-motor pickup range by 100 miles.
The truck will soon open for reservations and is expected to be fully unveiled in production form at Nikola's event later this year, although pricing has not been announced yet. Keep scrolling to see the five-seater electric pickup truck:
The truck will have an estimated range of 600 miles using both FCEV and BEV. For those who don't want the hydrogen option, the 160-kilowatt-hour battery-powered pickup truck will have a range of 300 miles.
The automaker's president Mark Russell claims the option for customers to select a FCEV or BEV option will allow costs to be lowered for everyone.
The pickup truck can reach 60 mph in about 2.9 seconds and tow over 8,000 pounds. Its powerplant is rated at 455 horsepower but peaks at 906.
The Badger was designed to be heavy-duty enough for a construction company to utilize. To optimize it for such use, its maker included a power outlet on the truck for plug-in tools that can last 12 hours without an external generator.
The Badger can also operate in a negative 20-degree Fahrenheit climate. Milton claims there isn't any other electric pickup truck that can operate in the same "temperatures and conditions."
The truck has 980 foot-pounds of torque. It can also start on a 50% incline hill without any stalling.
The truck is 9.36 feet long, 6.07 feet tall, 7.09 feet wide, and has a bed width of 5.12 feet.
Nikola partnered with reality TV personality Heavy D from "Diesel Brothers" for designing and testing, and another manufacturer — which is set to be announced soon — for parts and facility use.
Nikola also announced that it is creating 700 hydrogen stations in North America. To support the start of this infrastructure, the automaker purchased over $30 million worth of electrolysis equipment that can produce over 40,000 kilograms — about 44 tons— of hydrogen daily. This purchase is meant to supply the first five hydrogen fueling stations with 8 tons of hydrogen everyday.
Source: Nikola Motors
Reservations for the Badger pickup truck will open on June 29, according to a tweet from Nikola Motors CEO Trevor Milton on June 8. This announcement sent Nikola Motors' shares surging by 104%.
Source: Twitter, Markets Insider
