Electric Big Rigs of Today Create Potential for Pickups of Tomorrow
In a small warehouse outside the Salt Lake City Airport, electric vehicle manufacturer Nikola Motor Co. introduced an impressive piece of big-rig powertrain technology designed to outperform traditional diesel trucks in every way. Called the Nikola One, this all-new Class 8 hydrogen-electric sleeper cab could set the freight-hauling world on its head, as well as send ripples into what types of pickup trucks we might see in the next 10 years.
The tall, electric semitrailer with a sleeper cab is the brainchild Trevor Milton, founder and CEO of Nikola, a small company that wants to create a less complicated and safer way to move freight around the country via highways.
The spaceship-like Nikola One uses hydrogen to charge and power several lithium-ion battery packs that should be able to give the semi a range of almost 1,200 miles between fill-ups. This fuel-cell big rig can be outfitted to be six-wheel-drive — and potentially six-wheel steer — with a fully independent chassis using an electric motor for each wheel and produces a total of 2,000 pounds-feet of torque. The Nikola One will not produce greenhouse gasses and will not need to idle at truck stops during layovers because all internal systems will run on battery power.
Wilson said Nikola already has partnered with trucking company Fitzgerald to produce the first 5,000 cabs, which are predicted to hit the road by 2019. By that time hydrogen fuel stations will be in place across the country. Phase one of the station buildout will follow major interstates, with 56 stations ready in late 2019. That number will quickly grow to more than 300. And because there are so many ways the company can generate hydrogen fuel, Nikola will provide free fuel for these vehicles for the first 1 million miles.
As you can imagine, this system provides tremendous weight savings because there is no need for an engine, a transmission, axles or an emissions system. The Nikola One is likely to weigh at least 2,000 pounds lighter than an equivalent Class 8 big rig. Naturally, that saved weight can be added to the vehicle's weight-carrying ability, which is likely to lead to more money for trucking companies.
It will be interesting to see whether this technology makes its way to full-size pickup trucks soon. Of course, Toyota already has workable fuel cell automobiles on the raod (called the Mirai). All we can say at this point is that Nikola Motors already has the Nikola Zero, with is a sporty four-seater fully electric utility task vehicle that has a range up to 300 miles, and the system looks easily adaptable. In the meantime, Nikola Motors also will be coming to market in 2020 with a smaller, lighter, work-truck Class 8 hauler called the Nikola Two. Maybe it's only a matter of time before we see a Nikola Three and Nikola Four, or a hydrogen-electric one-ton pickup truck. A more thorough photo gallery to come.
Cars.com photos by Mark Williams
Comments
As expected, it sounds promising. Hopefully they can deliver.
If this technology does become mainstream in pick-ups we are assured Ford will be one of the last manufactures to get on board. Want proof? Look how slow they are adapting to the massive growth in the mid size truck market.
Awesome!!! Curious to see how they perform in real world testing :) wonder what the cost of one will be compared to a conventional rig or the cost of fuel compared to diesel or maintenance cost like batteries or motors? The shelf of a lithium battery I think is like 3-5 yrs. also didn't gm make a hydrogen vehicle?
Looks very imposing, I like the looks of it!
@GasserV8
this is a great departure from the earlier hydrogen powered vehicles because the truck can make its delivery within a reasonable radius of the nearest hydrogen filling station--which there aren't really a lot of.
But if you run a trucking business and your logistics center has hydrogen storage and fueling, then you could be sending your trucks to a delivery that's 500 miles away and the hybrid drive and batteries power the truck back to the home base with fuel to spare.
If some of your customers are outside the 500 mile radius then you either need a closer fueling station, or you'll need to keep a few diesel powered tractors in the fleet for the longer trips.
But this design is very promising! It's the first good news about hydrogen fueling I've seen in a long time.
Very cool to idea. To bad GM is incapable of anything close to this. The closest they could get it to buy them and slap their badge on it like Isuzu. Even Ford is closer to this technology because they are already in the truck market and are successful in it. An easy transition for Ford, not GM.
Very cool to idea. To bad GM is incapable of anything close to this. The closest they could get it to buy them and slap their badge on it like Isuzu. Even Ford is closer to this technology because they are already in the truck market and are successful in it. An easy transition for Ford, not GM.
Posted by: Lionel & Bobby Dec 3, 2016 5:05:05 PM
Ah,.... excuse me. If you two could leave each other alone for a couple minutes and do some research you would have discovered GM already has this technology.
http://fortune.com/2016/10/04/gm-hydrogen-powered-truck-army/
Awesome rig,hope its as good as promised,,
Id like to see someone build a class A motorhome using this tech and shaped like that..
This semi truck is not an EV (Electic Vehicle). Like a Prius hybrid it is an electrified vehicle as it has some EV components (guts).
But when it come time to put energy back into the truck, it is not electricity, but chemical fuel that it consumes. That h2 fuel comes from ch4, methane, natural gas: a fossil source usually from fracked ground wells, not renewable energy sources.
So, this fuel cell semi truck is not an EV, but relies on h2 from non-renewable sources.
The 1000+ mi range on h2 is impressive, and as a commenter mentioned, well within the range to find another h2 refueling station.
I hope in the future, this company (using a name that infers Nikola Tesla), will hand out pr copy that correctly states that their semi truck is an fcv, and not infer that it is an EV.
For EVLN EV-newswire posts use:
http://evdl.org/evln/
{brucedp.0catch.com}
You can see this is a real mans truck. Round wheel well in the front and as round as you can get running two axles in the rear.
You can see this is a real mans truck. Round wheel well in the front and as round as you can get running two axles in the rear.
Posted by: Lionel and BRONCO2020 | Dec 3, 2016 7:09:27 PM
Look again guys, those are square rear wheel wells. That truck is a hybrid, and based on your criteria could go either way just like you two.
I would try and compare this truck to a GM truck. But, GM trucks have the towing capacity if a midsize truck. Oh well. At least I can tow a golf cart trailer with a Chevy 3500.
I would try and compare this truck to a GM truck. But, GM trucks have the towing capacity of a midsize truck. Oh well. At least I can tow a golf cart trailer with a Chevy 3500.
Posted by: GMSRGREAT | Dec 3, 2016 7:46:54 PM
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Leasing companies are going to blow up if these go mainstream. Who's stock can I review?
I would try and compare this truck to a GM truck. But, GM trucks have the towing capacity of a midsize truck. Oh well. At least I can tow a golf cart trailer with a Chevy 3500.
Posted by: Lionel and BRONCO2020 | Dec 3, 2016 7:46:54 PM
Do you two fight over who drives the golf cart.
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
"Awesome!!! Curious to see how they perform in real world testing :) wonder what the cost of one will be compared to a conventional rig or the cost of fuel compared to diesel or maintenance cost like batteries or motors? The shelf of a lithium battery I think is like 3-5 yrs. also didn't gm make a hydrogen vehicle?"
-- Posted by: Gasser V8 | Dec 3, 2016 11:05:14 AM
I would suggest a little research, Gasser.
• Batteries are expensive. The going cost of battery packs right now is roughly $175 per kWh. At 320kWh of batteries on board, you're talking $56K for the battery packs alone, not even counting the rest of the rig. Expect pricing to be 50%-100% higher than a conventional diesel rig.
• Hydrogen, where it is available for vehicles, is priced approximate to that of mid- to high octane gasoline; a slight savings over current diesel rates.
• Lithium-ion batteries as used in the Tesla car have yet to demonstrate that short lifespan as seen in lesser cars like the Nissan Leaf. Even the Toyota Prius gets better at roughly ten years lifespan. Tests have suggested that due to the battery conditioning and thermal controls on the Tesla, those battery packs have a potential lifespan of twenty years or longer before they fall below 75% capacity. Since Nikola is implying a similar battery conditioning as Tesla's, the truck's batteries should last nearly the useful life of the chassis.
• And no, GM didn't make a hydrogen vehicle, they made the EV-1 electric vehicle back in the '90s. Hydrogen fuel cells have been prototyped by many other brands and there has always been potential, but the restrictions on fuel cell size in 4-wheelers has limited their output to no better than a small 4-cylinder engine. That said, with the huge hood on modern pickup trucks and the high ground clearance, a modest HFC system might work (the US military is experimenting with that right now in a Chevy Colorado. That said, this implies that Chevy could be the first brand with a usable fuel cell pickup truck.
"I hope in the future, this company (using a name that infers Nikola Tesla), will hand out pr copy that correctly states that their semi truck is an fcv, and not infer that it is an EV."
-- Posted by: bruce dp | Dec 3, 2016 7:02:02 PM
While not incorrect as far as it goes, your statement isn't totally correct, either. The truck is an EV in that its motive power is electric motors and primarily batteries, albeit that the charge for those batteries come from a hydrogen fuel cell. However, the source for the hydrogen does not need to come from hydrocarbon sources and as we move forward the odds are high that hydrocarbon sources will be phased out. The cost of using hydrocarbons is higher than other forms of hydrogen cracking, though is far easier to perform with current technologies.
The problem is, you end up using twice as much hydrocarbons in the production process because you have to heat water to the level of "clear" steam (superheated) and that heating process uses oil, natural gas or coal as fuel. Electrolysis of water is more efficient in fuel cost but somewhat slower, and still tends to require a fuel-burning energy source at least until renewable sources such as wind, solar, tidal and others gain a larger share of production.
So the truck is an EV in a literal sense simply because its motive power is electric. It becomes a hybrid of sorts because it uses a fuel cell to keep those batteries charged.
Wow this is a cool truck the red one is nicer,,,,,,what it's the difference on a snow day for traction ,,??
The comments to this entry are closed.