Nikola Motor Co. announced plans to bring the Nikola One and Two, a class 8 hydrogen-electric truck lineup, to market by 2021. According to Nikola, the truck will deliver more than 1,000 horsepower and 2,000 ft./lbs. of torque all with “zero local emissions.”
At the heart of the Nikola truck lineup is a new commercial vehicle powertrain achieved thanks to a development partnership between Nikola and Bosch, who developed the powertrain from the ground up.
The eAxle developed by Bosch is a scalable, modular platform with the motor, power electronics and transmission in one compact unit. This, Bosch says, makes it suitable for vehicles of all kinds, from small passenger cars to light trucks. Nikola and Bosch say they will use this knowledge to commercialize a true dual-motor commercial-vehicle eAxle for a long-haul truck.
The eAxle will use commercial vehicle electric machine technology and SMG (separate motor generator) motors from Bosch, and will be paired with a custom-designed fuel cell system, also being developed jointly between Nikola and Bosch, designed to deliver benchmark vehicle range. The overall vehicle controls will also be jointly developed based upon Bosch’s vehicle control software and hardware.
“Bosch is an incubator of electromobility solutions. No matter whether at established OEMs or start-ups, Bosch is accelerating development and helps achieve fast breakthroughs on the market,” said Dr. Markus Heyn, member of the Bosch board of management responsible for the commercial vehicle organization. “Breakthrough mobility technology requires visionary targets, speed to market and disciplined structure to ensure long-term success. Together with Nikola, we are pushing ourselves to realize new levels of technological achievement and market penetration.”
“We have been aggressively pursuing our goal of bringing the most advanced semi-truck ever built to market,” said Trevor Milton, founder and chief executive officer of Nikola. “The powertrain requires an innovative and flexible partner able to adapt quickly to the speed of our team. Bosch has empowered us to come to market quickly with automotive-grade hardware and software so our vision can become a reality.”
