The companies announced Tuesday CNHI’s intention to enter into a strategic and exclusive heavy-duty truck partnership with Nikola Corporation. CNHI will take a $250 million stake in Nikola as the lead Series D investor. Pre-money valuation was set at $3 billion. Nikola says it anticipates raising more than $1 billion in the D round, granting approximately 25 percent ownership to new investors and business partners, including CNHI.
Iveco and FPT Industrial, the commercial vehicle and powertrain brands of CNH Industrial, will assist in engineering and manufacturing expertise to industrialize Nikola’s fuel-cell and battery electric trucks Nikola ONE, a NAFTA-compliant Class 8 sleeper truck; the Nikola TWO, a NAFTA-compliant Class 8 day-cab truck; and the Nikola TRE, a European compliant cab-over heavy-duty truck, CNHI says. FPT Industrial has produced more than 40,000 natural gas-powered engines to date. Iveco is the European leader in natural gas vehicles, with some 28,000 of its trucks and buses powered by FPT Industrial engines.
“The increasing focus on the recognition that there needs to be fundamental reductions in automotive emissions is driving our industry to rapidly seek advanced technological solutions. Iveco is now ideally placed to offer customers an even wider range of transport solutions including natural gas, electric and fuel-cell powered vehicles,” says Hubertus Mühlhäuser, CEO, CNHI. “Nikola’s choice of Iveco as its strategic partner is testament to our internationally recognized excellence in heavy duty trucks and alternative powertrain technologies.”
Nikola’s zero-emission heavy-duty trucks are powered by proprietary hydrogen fuel cell and battery technology and will be the first-to-production. Additionally, Nikola says it will contribute technologies for a European JV with CNHI that will include fuel-cell expertise, e-axles, inverters, independent suspension, on-board hydrogen fuel storage, over-the-air software update functionality, infotainment, vehicle controls, vehicle-to-station communication protocols, power electronics and access to a hydrogen fueling network.
“The time has come to finally provide a zero-emission solution to the heavy-duty truck market. While other OEMs believe zero-emission solutions cannot happen in the timeframe regulators have mandated, Nikola, FPT Industrial and Iveco are proving that these timelines are not unreasonable,” says Trevor Milton, Nikola CEO. “Nikola has the technology but needs a partner with a European network to achieve it in a timely manner. With CNH Industrial’s investment and partnership, we can now bring zero-emission trucks to Europe.
“It is exciting to see Iveco taking the lead in providing zero-emission solutions in Europe through its partnership with Nikola. By bringing CNH Industrial on board, we now have access to manufacturing know-how, purchasing power, validated truck parts, plant engineering and much more. Few will doubt our ability to commercialize a truck now.”
The companies note strategic near-term project milestones include the industrialization of the Nikola TWO fuel cell- powered Class 8 truck for the North American market, as well as the integration of Iveco S-Way truck technology into the battery-electric powered Nikola TRE cab-over model for both the North American and European markets. In the long-term, the companies add a European joint-venture will cover both battery electric vehicles (BEV) and fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEV) launched by Q4 2022. Nikola plans to leverage Iveco’s European sales, service and warranty channels to accelerate access to the European market.
