- The electric trucks in the pipeline are sending shares higher
- Tesla rival, Nikola is the construction of electric trucks fuel cell
- A lot of hype and promotion, but the market may not be large enough
- Nikola has to build a large hydrogen production and refueling network
The trucks are as American as apple Pie or baseball. Ford launched the first factory-built pickup truck for farmers in 1925, and the company’s F-Series has been America’s best-selling vehicle for 38 years in a row. We hear a lot of things on the truck lately, but these are not your father or grandfather microphones. We’re not even 100% certain that they will be yours. For one thing, most exist only as prototypes, digital images and features at this point and not all can be on the market. Ford yesterday delayed its F-150 electric pickup truck launch in mid-2022.
Yesterday, Tesla’s stock price has ripped past $1,000 after CEO Elon Musk told employees that it is time to “go all out” and bring the Tesla semi, unveiled in 2017, for a volume of production. “It has been in limited production until now, which has allowed us to improve many aspects of the design,” he said. In April, production has been delayed to next year. We are not sure of the cause of this change of heart, but we can imagine a new player who shares the name of the Serbian-American inventor, had something to do with it. Bloomberg estimates that Tesla’s stock is 11% more valuable car company in the world, taking the title away from Toyota. The Production on the Cybertruck, Tesla’s entrance into the van of the race, is scheduled for the end of next year.
Nikola is a wannabe Tesla with a spike in the market cap since it went public at the beginning of this month. It was valued at $ 3.3 billion before its debut, but it is now worth about the same as Ford and Fiat Chrysler, even if it has not sold a single vehicle. Nikola is the construction of a hydrogen fuel cell (Musk calls them “fool cells”) electrical semi-finals and a Badger catcher, its founder describes as “bad ass”. He claims that he has $ 10 billion of “commands”, but there has been no deposit of the money.
In the last month, the stock is the most popular on Robinhood trading platform and is currently being held in some form of 130 000 users. Famous seller Andrew Left believes the share price will return to $40 in a month. “When $TSLA was the mkt cap, the Model S has been scaled and X has been produced. There is no real-IP $NKLA and PR have been too much promo,” he tweeted.
More to come the electric trucks include startups and established firms, such as Ford and Amazon-backed Rivian, Bollinger, Atlis, Lordstown Motors, General Motors and Ford. It gets mighty crowded and the problem is there will not be enough buyers. Sam Fiorani, AutoForecast Solutions analyst, said electric pickup sales may not exceed 70 000 years. This estimate may be pessimistic, but it will be difficult for car manufacturers to make the vehicles cost-effective and affordable, considering the price of the massive batteries. Tesla claimed that he had received 250,000 orders for the Cybertruck, but these deposits are non-refundable and costs only $100.
Companies may also need to invest in support networks such as the Tesla does. This is particularly a problem for Nicolas. Hydrogen fuel cells are lighter, load quickly and provide more range, but you can’t have the plugin and do the full at home and the network load for the trucks does not yet exist. Nikola intends to build his own, with 700 stations and includes the cost of the rental.
Source: investopedia.com
