Nikola Recalls Most of Its Battery-Electric Trucks After Fire Probe

Nikola is recalling about 209 of its battery-powered commercial trucks after an outside investigation indicated a defective battery part likely caused a fire in one of the trucks.

The company said Friday a battery component likely caused coolant to leak in one of the trucks. The battery overheated, leading to a June 23 fire in a truck parked at the company’s Phoenix headquarters. Nikola had initially suggested foul play could have caused the fire, but the company said a firm hired to probe the fire indicated that was unlikely.

The vehicles being recalled represent about 60% of the heavy-duty-battery electric trucks the company has produced in the past year and virtually all of the trucks shipped to customers. The trucks are at dealers or in use with commercial trucking companies. The remaining unsold trucks are parked at Nikola properties. 

Nikola said it was filing the recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and was temporarily halting sales of the battery-electric vehicles. The company has been curtailing production of the battery-powered trucks as it ramps up production of its hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks. It said last week it would limit production to making battery-powered trucks to fill customer orders. 

The recall doesn’t affect production of its hydrogen fuel-cell trucks, Nikola said, which generate electricity from hydrogen and don’t draw power from large banks of batteries.

Hydrogen trucks have been Nikola’s primary focus since its start in 2015. It started building battery-electric trucks, known as the Tre BEV model, about a year ago. Nikola executives had hoped the BEV would raise awareness of the startup company in the commercial truck market and provide Nikola with assembly experience as it prepared to start production this year on its flagship hydrogen model.

Demand for the BEV trucks has been tepid and the low-volume production was expensive for Nikola, which has struggled to generate enough cash in recent months to maintain operations.

Nikola earlier this month reported a second-quarter loss of $217.8 million, compared with a $173 million loss during the same period a year earlier. Revenue slipped to $15.4 million from $18.1 million.

The company’s stock has also been falling lately, and it received shareholder authorization this month to issue more shares to raise cash, though some investors fear that will dilute the stock. Nikola’s stock closed Friday down 0.51% at $1.95, and ended the week down nearly 29%.

Nikola’s handling of the recall will be an early test for new Chief Executive Steve Girsky, who replaced Michael Lohscheller last week. Lohscheller, a veteran automotive industry executive who was promoted to CEO early this year, said he was stepping down to attend to a family health matter.

Girsky, a former General Motors executive, had been chairman of Nikola’s board. He led the special-purpose acquisition company that merged with Nikola and allowed it to become a public company in 2020.  

Nikola’s safety and engineering teams found a component within the battery-powered truck that is likely responsible for the coolant leak, according to the company. It discovered another coolant leak this week in a truck parked at Nikola’s Coolidge, Ariz., plant.

Nikola said its engineers are working on a remedy that could be completed without returning all the trucks to Nikola for repairs. The battery-powered trucks can remain in operation, Nikola said, but it recommended owners enable real-time monitoring of the vehicles by the company and consider parking trucks outside.

Write to Bob Tita at [email protected] and Ben Glickman at [email protected]