Nikola, the once-hyped hydrogen-truck maker whose founder was convicted of securities fraud, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it revealed its cash balance had fallen to $47mn.
The Arizona-based company that was once valued at almost $30bn said on Wednesday that it would wind down operations and sell its intellectual property and remaining assets through a process supervised by a federal court in Delaware.
“Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic factors that have impacted our ability to operate,” said chief executive Steve Girsky, a longtime automotive executive whose blank cheque company took Nikola public in 2020.
Nikola told investors at the time of its listing that it would annually produce and sell thousands of hydrogen fuel cell- and battery-powered electric trucks. However, the company struggled to commercialise its technology while it burnt through hundreds of millions of dollars in cash each year. Nikola delivered fewer than 400 trucks in 2024.
“Our customers have accumulated approximately 3.3 million fleet miles across both our FCEV [fuel cell] and BEV [battery] truck platforms and our HYLA fuelling network has dispensed well over 330 metric tons of hydrogen,” Girsky said in a statement.
The company reached a peak market capitalisation of nearly $30bn in the frenzied pandemic-era trading of 2020, at the time giving it a valuation almost on par with Ford. But a report from short selling hedge fund Hindenburg Research accused Nikola of faking its progress, including creating a promotional video of its flagship truck that was only moving because it was rolling downhill.
Trevor Milton, Nikola’s founder and original chief executive, was eventually arrested by federal authorities and has been sentenced to four years in prison, a decision that is under appeal.
Nikola has more than $350mn of debt and leases. Revenue for the first three quarters of 2024 was just $64mn.
The company joins the likes of Fisker, Arrival and Lordstown Motors as recent EV bankruptcies.
Additional reporting from Claire Bushey in Chicago