by Nikola, a start-up of electric vehicles that once hoped to become the Tesla of heavy trucks, presented bankruptcy on Wednesday.
Nikola, founded in 2015, promised to develop semi-trucks with long-distance that are powered by hydrogen and electricity, and mentioned in 2020 on the stock exchange in 2020 before it had sold a single vehicle. The share price rose briefly as individual investors and some Wall Street companies screamed to bet on companies that they thought could replicate the success of Tesla and the rising share price.
The short -lived enthusiasm of investors for Nikola made his founder, Trevor Milton, and other early investors. But it didn’t take long, there were important doubts about Mr Milton’s claims about the technology and orders of the customer’s company. He was dropped quickly and later convicted of fraud.
In the past quarters, Nikola had started delivering small numbers of electric trucks, but far too little to make money. At the end of last year, the company said it had $ 200 million in cash and $ 270 million in long -term debts. The shares fell at the beginning of February on reports that the company was approaching a bankruptcy application.
The company said in a release that it had around $ 47 million in cash and was planning to continue the “limited” service and support for trucks on the road. The bankruptcy application stated obligations of between $ 1 billion and $ 10 billion, and placed the number of creditors it owes between 1,000 and 5,000.
Nikola is one of the many young electricity companies that have had difficulty turning their ideas into actual cars and trucks.
Lordstown Motors, who had tried to make Pick -Up Trucks in a Shuttered General Motors factory in Ohio, sought bankruptcy protection in 2023 and was accused of misleading investors in 2024 by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A start-up based in Great Britain, called arrival, is planned to make electric vans and buses. But it had difficulty having his vehicle and production ideas work and then sold his assets to another start-up, Cano. That company applied for bankruptcy protection last month.
A few start-ups for electric vehicles still work, although their stock prices have fallen and it is not clear how or when they will become profitable.
Rivian, which makes electric pick-ups and sports-utility vehicles, has had problems generating production to the levels that it was originally focused on, and the shares are now acting at slightly less than $ 13 per share-one tenth from where it was at the end of 2021. But the company insured an important lifeline last year when it founded a partnership with the German car maker Volkswagen, who took a great importance in Rivian.
Lucid Motors makes luxury electric cars and SUVs, but has been achieved well at its original sales and production goals. It also hopes to close deals in which it sells its technology to other car manufacturers.
“Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have had to deal with various market and macro -economic factors that have influenced our ability to operate,” said Steve Girsky, CEO of Nikola, in a statement on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, our very best efforts have not been sufficient to overcome these important challenges.”
