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From “Musk in the truck industry” to “Jia Yueting in North America”, Nikola founder Trevor Milton fell from heaven to hell like his company’s stock price. Customized Non-standard metal product
Trevor Milton, founder of U.S. electric truck maker Nikola, has been convicted of three counts of criminal fraud, accusing him of spreading lies about the electric truck startup for personal gain. A federal jury in Manhattan, New York, found Trevor Milton guilty of two counts of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud, with trial set for Jan. 27, 2023, and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted.
The two most important complaints against Trevor Milton are:
- In 2018, Nikola showed a prototype of its hydrogen fuel cell truck Nikola One in a video advertisement. The advertisement was a picture of the car in motion, but it was not the case. Nikola dragged the truck directly onto a small hill and let it slide down a 2-mile ramp by gravity. In order to make the video look more realistic, Nikola also specially tilted the angle of the camera when shooting.
- In July 2020, Trevor Milton claimed that 5 Nikola Tres had rolled off the production line in Ulm, Germany. However, Bosch, the partner responsible for the production of the truck, confirmed that no Nikola products were fully produced.
As a result, prosecutors concluded that Nikola engaged in extensive deception to gain momentum, successfully turning its misrepresentation into a $20 billion public company. Customized Non-standard metal product
During the trial, prosecutors played a video interview in which Trevor Milton claimed that Nikola was already producing “green” hydrogen from renewable energy that costs less than diesel, a major milestone. But in fact, Nikola doesn’t produce “one molecule” of hydrogen.
According to the data, Trevor Milton was born in 1982 and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Unlike Musk, who has a double degree in physics and economics, Trevor Milton only has a high school degree and dropped out after only one semester at Utah Valley University to start a business. Trevor Milton’s early entrepreneurial projects include security system sales, used car classified advertising network, etc. It can be said that there is almost no foundation in the field of new energy technology.
In 2014, taking advantage of new energy vehicles, 32-year-old Trevor Milton established Nikola Company, known as the Tesla of the truck world, because Nikola and Tesla together are American inventor Nikola Tesla ( Nikola Tesla). It is understood that the American electric car company Tesla was co-founded by Martin Eberhard and Mark Tarpenning. The reason why the founders named the company “Tesla” is to commemorate the physicist Nikolai Tesla, and Trevor Milton’s name for the company “Nikola” is a bit of a hit, because at the time Tesla already had a lot of market share in the electric car market. Unlike Tesla, Nikola focuses on developing new energy heavy-duty trucks powered by hydrogen fuel cells and batteries.
In 2016, Nikola held a press conference to launch its first hydrogen energy truck product, the Nikola One. Trevor Milton described Nikola One’s technology in a hype, saying that the hydrogen-powered truck only takes 15 minutes to charge a single charge, and it can run more than 1,000 miles on a single charge, and it is also zero-emission and pollution-free. In the press release of the day, Trevor Milton said that Nikola has been ahead of other car companies in the field of technology for 10-15 years, and boasted that it will surpass mainstream truck companies such as Daimler and Volvo in 1-2 years. Customized Non-standard metal product
For this reason, Nikola is known as “Tesla for trucks”, and with Trevor Milton’s remarks, it has attracted commercial vehicle company WABCO, hydrogen energy equipment manufacturer Nel, photovoltaic manufacturer Hanwha, etc. These global giants not only reached an agreement with Nikola Strategic cooperation, joint technology research and development, and participation in financing.
After five years of development, an unsold Nikola went on the market. On June 3, 2020, Nikola announced the completion of the merger with VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose merger and acquisition company, to become the world’s “first share of hydrogen energy heavy trucks”. Three days after its listing, Nikola’s share price doubled, with a market value of up to $34 billion, surpassing the century-old car company Ford.
On September 8, 2020, Nikola once again ushered in a highlight moment. General Motors of the United States announced a strategic cooperation with Nikola to obtain the newly issued ordinary shares of Nikola with an equivalent non-cash asset investment of US$2 billion. GM will own 11% of Nikola. Equity and may nominate a board member. Affected by the news, GM shares rose 7.93% that day, while Nikola shares soared 40.79%.
Just the other day, Nikola was slammed in the head by short sellers. On September 9, 2020, short-seller Hindenburg Research released a scathing report against Nikola and its founder. According to the report, Nikola has never developed hydrogen fuel technology and cashed out by falsifying a large number of orders. What’s even more bizarre is that the agency pointed out that the Nikola One that Nikola showed to the public was not a truck, because the car itself did not have power. Hindenburg said that in the official promotional video, the Nikola One appears to be drivable because it is placed on a hillside and glides down by gravity. Nikola sped up the video by adjusting camera angles and editing to make the car model look like it was speeding. Ultimately, Nikola admitted to the charges, and founder Trevor Milton resigned on September 20, 2020. Customized Non-standard metal product
It is incomprehensible that Trevor Milton has blown the company’s market value to $34 billion with only car models and videos, and has also tricked giants such as Bosch and General Motors into the pit. In fact, it is not just how superb Trevor Milton’s flickering skills are, but also the excessive touts of the new energy market.
From 2020 to 2021, Tesla’s stock price has risen from $23.37 to $414.50, an increase of 1160.09%, and the stock prices of new car companies including Weilai, Ideal, and Xiaopeng have also risen sharply. In this context, global investors are trying to find the next “Tesla”, not only Nikola, but also many new energy startups such as Rivian and Lordstown are sought after. However, from the current point of view, many new energy start-up companies are left with only chicken feathers.
As for Nikola, after the founder left, he miraculously built a production car. The latest data shows that the company has begun production and delivery of electric Nikola Tre semi-trucks in North America, and has delivered 93 units so far, but all of them were recalled not long ago due to parts safety issues.
The latest financial report shows that in the second quarter of 2022, Nikola achieved revenue of $18.13 million and a net loss of $173 million. However, although the company’s situation is improving, after revealing the inside story of PPT’s car manufacturing, the company’s stock price is only $3.06. Customized Non-standard metal product
