Ryder Systems and Nikola Motor Company announced last week the joint termination of their exclusive partnership on Nikola’s forthcoming hydrogen electric semis.
In late 2016 Ryder inked a deal to serve as the exclusive distribution and maintenance provider for Nikola, which at the time unlocked Ryder’s North American network of more than 800 service locations to lessors and owners of Nikola tractors. That deal has been mutually called off, enabling both companies “to explore emerging opportunities within the rapidly growing commercial transportation industry,” Nikola said via release.
“As the market evolves, each of us are now free to expand our operations to other partners, something the previous agreement did not allow us to do,” says Trevor Milton, Nikola CEO. “We look forward to finding ways to continue to work with Ryder in the future as a customer and have found them to be a great partner.”
Milton says his company will now be working with “major truck dealerships” to sell and service Nikola trucks. The company says it expects to complete a merger with VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, that once closed will see the hydrogen and battery electric truck maker listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker NKLA. Milton will serve as executive chairman of the combined company.
