Factory Progress Video: Tesla Giga Texas vs Nikola Arizona

[cybertrucktruckguy]

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[Crissa]

Thanks for collecting the videos! I was wondering.

They probably chose such an out of the way spot because lots of big trucks are built like that. There's factories making big trucks up and down the inland valleys in Oregon and California, too, they mostly need space not really lots of hands.

I honestly don't know, as Nikola's speed seems so... Weirdly slow. But I don't expect their final assembly factory to be very fancy or high-tech.

-Crissa

And I had a roommate in University from there. He had the flu nearly all year and eventually bailed out. It was up in Prescott and I guess the altitude and wetness didn't agree with him.

 

[azjohn]

I used to live in Arizona and somewhat familiar with the area that the factory is being built. Not too far from I-10 and the land is very cheap nothing there. Lucid is not too far away in Casa Grande. Closest "city" is Chandler

IMO employees will be commuting, Distance to Phoenix is about 50 miles nice thing it is minimal traffic

 

[CostcoSamples]

Nikola will go to zero soon. Wouldn’t be surprised if the founder went to prison for fraud.

 

[Ehninger1212]

While i dont put to much faith in Nikola.. this being there first factory its gonna be a slow go for sure.

 

[CyberMoose]

Anyone who buys the Nikola truck will be restricted to using using current electric charging stations and that's only if they can actually make the truck. I'm actually a little excited for when they unveil the truck and talk about how much better hydrogen is, I could use a good laugh.

But anyone buying one of these isn't doing enough research. Lets say Nikola can actually get their 700 Hydrogen stations up and running (0 so far), that's still not many stations at all and they will be designed for Semi trucks. They are also going to be outside of cities so you'll have to take a trip if you want to fill up more than what you can with a regular EV charger. So if they are actually able to pull that off, not only will it still be more inconvenient for almost everyone, it will also be less efficient than fully EV cars by the time they can build this network. The way battery technology is heading, we could see solid state batteries probably in the next few years and put in production cars within 10 years if I had to guess.

So we will be looking at fully electric vehicles, with probably massive range, that can charge in less than half the time they take now, with a network of chargers probably in the millions (North America) if you include Tesla and other companies charger. And Nikola truck owners will be driving an hour away so they can fill up on hydrogen which is more expensive.

I can see that they wanted to make their trucks unique, but they should just take a page from Tesla's book and make the truck fart or something.

 

[Ehninger1212]

Anyone who buys the Nikola truck will be restricted to using using current electric charging stations and that's only if they can actually make the truck. I'm actually a little excited for when they unveil the truck and talk about how much better hydrogen is, I could use a good laugh.

But anyone buying one of these isn't doing enough research. Lets say Nikola can actually get their 700 Hydrogen stations up and running (0 so far), that's still not many stations at all and they will be designed for Semi trucks. They are also going to be outside of cities so you'll have to take a trip if you want to fill up more than what you can with a regular EV charger. So if they are actually able to pull that off, not only will it still be more inconvenient for almost everyone, it will also be less efficient than fully EV cars by the time they can build this network. The way battery technology is heading, we could see solid state batteries probably in the next few years and put in production cars within 10 years if I had to guess.

So we will be looking at fully electric vehicles, with probably massive range, that can charge in less than half the time they take now, with a network of chargers probably in the millions (North America) if you include Tesla and other companies charger. And Nikola truck owners will be driving an hour away so they can fill up on hydrogen which is more expensive.

I can see that they wanted to make their trucks unique, but they should just take a page from Tesla's book and make the truck fart or something.

While i do agree with a lot of what you are saying. The truck is BOTH a BEV and a FCEV Pickup. So you will allegedly have 300 miles of range from the battery, then another 300 from the hydrogen tank.

Still.. not really gonna compete with the CT and Tesla's infrastructure at ALL.. plus Tesla can also use the same public charging infrastructure Nikola will. EA, Blink, Chargepoint ect.

 

[CyberMoose]

yeah you could spend 60000 for the BEV only, but for that price, while remaining a standard pickup overall look, i'd probably wait for the Ford EV.

 

[5UBV3T]

You gotta remember that Nikola is where Tesla was 10 years ago... hopes and dreams and drawings and a bit of capital.

I won't dog Nikola because, assuming they're on the up and up, they're trying to break into a tough market.

However, I think all the Tesla haters that are supporting Nikola purely because they're not Tesla may be in for a surprise. Not the good kind either.

 

[Crissa]

You gotta remember that Nikola is where Tesla was 10 years ago... hopes and dreams and drawings and a bit of capital.

I won't dog Nikola because, assuming they're on the up and up, they're trying to break into a tough market.

However, I think all the Tesla haters that are supporting Nikola purely because they're not Tesla may be in for a surprise. Not the good kind either.

Yeah. Hopefully the Teslanuts that rag on other EVs will be surprised, too.

-Crissa

 

[CyberMoose]

You gotta remember that Nikola is where Tesla was 10 years ago... hopes and dreams and drawings and a bit of capital.

I won't dog Nikola because, assuming they're on the up and up, they're trying to break into a tough market.

However, I think all the Tesla haters that are supporting Nikola purely because they're not Tesla may be in for a surprise. Not the good kind either.

Oh I agree and I would fully support a company that is trying something new that is so different from everything that other companies in that market are doing. The reason why I'm so against Nikola is becauce they even said that they weren't planning on building a truck until they knew about the Cybertruck. Then out of nowhere they design a pretty nice truck and give a hydrogen option that they claim will have 600 mile range (between battery and fuel cell) but they don't mention how hard it is going to be to fill with hydrogen for people who will pay an extra $20,000. They have a hydrogen station map on their website that shows tons of locations to fill up but none of those are built yet. Even if they build half of them before deliveries which would take a miracle, I read they wanted 700 by 2028. So when people start getting their $80,000 truck, they are limited to the 300 mile battery. 300 is good, but they could also get that for $60,000.

If Nikola was more transparent and put it on their website that these Hydrogren stations will not be available for probably 4-8 years depending on the area, I would not be so hard on them. Also before anyone says anything about Tesla, I know Tesla could be more transparent about things too. I'm not trying to hold Tesla on a pedestal, this is just about Nikola.

 

[ajdelange]

I think you may have things a little confused. They said they had a design for the Badger for years but decided that their bread and butter lay elsewhere to the point that they offered the design to Musk who politely declined. Later, when they saw the CT design and the mania it generated, so they say, they decided to put the Badger back into consideration figuring it could compete. Of course that's what they say. This is reason to hate a company? I think the more appropriate approach to Nikola wouid be watchful wariness. Milton certainly has the markings of a slippery guy but I think his business plan is very ingenious. The best of both worlds (BEV around town; BV/FCEV if out on the highway) if he can pull the infrastructure off and that, to my way of thinking, is an awfully big if.

 

[ricinro]

I used to live in Arizona and somewhat familiar with the area that the factory is being built. Not too far from I-10 and the land is very cheap nothing there. Lucid is not too far away in Casa Grande. Closest "city" is Chandler

IMO employees will be commuting, Distance to Phoenix is about 50 miles nice thing it is minimal traffic

There are many private prisons within a few miles of the Nikola site. Perhaps they will "borrow" workers?
For me (I live in Mesa) this location is remote and about half way between Phoenix and Tucson and nowhere close to a place where high quality workers would want to relocate.

 

[CyberMoose]

Well they had some concept of trucks but they were intending to use them until they seen the Cybertruck. The reason I dislike them is because the are pushing something out that won't have the benefit that they are talking about for years to come. Also 700 hydrogen stations in North America isn't going to be the best benefit to people going on a roadtrip unless you want to follow Nikola's map of filling stations in 2028 when they say they should have those 700. Tesla has over 1000 supercharging stations in North America but even that's not enough for freedom to go on a roadtrip with any route that you want. A huge benefit of full BEV right now is the infrastructure is quickly expanding across the world with other companies installing chargers that can handle lvl 2 and lvl 3 charging.

All I want is for Nikola to come out and tell people that getting the BEV/FCEV model of the truck won't give any benefit for years and maybe they could let people know what areas they plan the first Hydrogen stations to be built. I also don't think Hydrogen is the worst idea right now, maybe not the best for a personal vehicle, but for the Semi's that Nikola is making, it could actually be a really good thing for the companies that do the same route all the time that has a hydrogen station on that route. I'm just not a fan of people not being given transparent information about when they will be able to use a huge feature. Tesla is also guilty of that, i'm sure a lot of people who originally purchased a Tesla was expecting that their car would be able to drive itself by now. Company timelines are commonly wrong which causes some unhappy customers, but if I was looking at buying a truck and decided on Nikola and did no outside research than what is on their page, I would be ordering that BEV/FCEV thinking that I have plenty of places to fill up right away.

 

[MEDICALJMP]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiapZiBhdHrAhWVUs0KHdwwCD4QwqsBMAJ6BAgJEAs&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LksqTWSwCvs&usg=AOvVaw1nwXebASk4hi1VZ0LokkT9

Tailosive EVs take on the Badger.
He makes valid points.