Posted on 06/09/2018 7:29:21 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Nikola Motor has started hiring for its Arizona Research & Development Center that is slated to open in November in Phoenix, Ariz.
The facility will test and develop the Nikola’s hydrogen electric Class 8 trucks. The company has received 10,000 orders so far, including a high profile order from Anheuser Busch for 800 trucks. The first vehicle prototypes, along with heavy-duty demonstration stations, are being built for the concept testing phase to roll out later this year.
“We want the world’s top talent in vehicle electrification, fuel cell development, hydrogen storage and hydrogen fueling to apply for these premium positions,” said Trevor Milton, CEO and founder, Nikola Motor Company. “It is rare you get in on the ground floor of one of the most innovative companies in America.”
Nikola’s Phoenix-based R&D center will house testing and validation systems and include battery testers, climate chambers, fuel cell chambers and all-wheel-drive dyno laboratories. The R&D facility will be the first of several planned facilities in Arizona to be built by Nikola. The company is currently in the planning phase for its 500 acre, one million sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Buckeye, a Phoenix suburb.
On June 12, Nikola representatives will be interviewing on site as part of the National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Forum in Washington D.C. that marks National Hydrogen Day.
Multiple job descriptions will be posted on June 13 at www.nikolamotor.com/careers/jobs. Resumes can also be sent to careers@nikolamotor.com
Video: Nikola Hydrogen Fuel Cell Truck on the Road
Nikola, how original.../S
They also make great cough drops.
Nice looking tractors, but where is the hydrogen station in the middle of the western US? Probably work ok back east.
I’ll keep my antique Peterbilt with its Cat 3406 E and avoid an ELD, thanks.
bump
I fondly remember my father hauling travel trailers for Morgan Drive-Away on a low boy. In the Summer I’d occasionally go with him.
Lots of interest in this technology from fleets that return to the same location such as a warehouse or DC every night (like UPS for example). Companies like Air Products want to build hydrogen plants (natural gas reforming process) right at the facility. Such plants are scalble, safe, and relatively inexpensive.
Nikola plans to build >700 Solar powered hydrogen stations across the US and southern Canada to fuel these trucks. They have signed contracts for the first 8 stations and have supposedly broken ground on 2 of them. The equipment supplier is Nel Hydrogen, Nel built the national network of H2 stations in Denmark. A US National H2 network is a big thing.
Nikola also plans to sell hydrogen from these stations to anyone that wants it for ~$6.00 per Kilogram. Since a Kilogram of hydrogen will move a 4,000 pound car and 4 adults around 65 miles in a Toyota Mirai, that equals around $3.00 per gallon petrol prices. But the money stays in the country- no oil tankers, no refineries, no long distance delivery.
You can see Nikola’s plans for these stations on their website nikolamotor dot com
Toyota is building a hydrogen station at the Port of Long Beach to fuel hydrogen trucks. They have a prototype running now, search “toyota project portal”
France just said they want to lead the world in Hydrogen tech (which received almost no news coverage at all), and China has said the same thing in “Made in China 2025”. China is in the process of building “Hydrogen Cities”. It’s the next big thing, but you won’t hear much about it on the National News.
Alright, taking the claims at face value (always a bad idea) we have a way to fuel vehicles and we can make the fuel anywhere. That’s good. Potentially better in many ways compared to huge battery banks in vehicles.
But... there’s always a catch.
Hydrogen is still massively explosive.
So you trade the battery capacity/weight/discharge/charging issues for other issues. Namely deciding how much hydrogen you can safely carry at once to power a vehicles. Answer: not much or you have a really huge bomb.
So even if you can generate a parity on price with gasoline or diesel you’ll have to fuel up far more often.
Either that or we will just allow very large high capacity hydrogen cylinders on trucks and cars?!?
I’m filing papers for the Henry Car Company tomorrow. (The Edsel was apparently already taken).
Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
Propane is massively explosive too but people have learned how to handle it. Hydrogen is less dangerous than propane because escaped hydrogen floats into the atmosphere at 45 MPH, whereas propane sinks and collects, waiting for a spark.
An article in EV World details an experiment by a U of Miami professor who wanted to see the difference between a hydrogen car fire and a petrol car fire. Guess which one was more dangerous? Article here: evworld DOT com/article.cfm?storyid=482
H2 isn’t just for cars- you can cook with it, heat homes and fly drones for 4 hours instead of 20 minutes. Hydrogen is the next big thing.
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