大概在6個月以前Nikola這間公司就發表了Nikola One這個電動拖車頭的概念
Nikola One具有全輪驅動、1000馬力、2000ft.lbs扭矩、1200miles的續航力
採用氫動力，加滿只需15分鐘，內含320kWh的電池
http://i.imgur.com/TmOQCpt.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/AdRLEPH.png (第N代的柯博文會長這樣子嗎？ XD)
今天更進一步的正式發表了這台車並且敘述了未來加氫站的建置計劃
Nikola One跟Nikola Two的發表會影片：https://youtu.be/wLidTCqAAtY
Nikola計劃2018在北美開始建設300個加氫站
並且在2019年末讓第一個加氫站開始運作
而氫氣的來源將會是由太陽能農場製造出來的電力電解水而產生的
個人覺得這餅有點畫的太大了
加氫站的建設資金非常高，比加油站高多了
記得以前看過一份評估說建設一座加氫站需要150萬美金，300座那就是4.5億美金了
再加上太陽能農場
不過氫能源倒是很適合用在這種大型卡車上
一般小型車比較適合在家就能充的純電動車
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https://goo.gl/zmdY6Z
Nikola Motor unveils its plans to revolutionize trucking: a Uber-like
service for cargo using hybrid fuel cell/battery trucks
After months of teasing its electric truck, Nikola Motor finally unveiled
the first Nikola One prototype before a crowd at its Salt Lake City
headquarters last night. There wasn’t any surprise for the truck itself
and most of the startup’s plans, but they did reveal a few new partners
and explained in more details what they plan to do and when they plan to
do it.
The Nikola One is an electric Class 8 truck powered by a 320 kWh battery
pack and a stack of hydrogen fuel cells, which the company claims enables
a range of 1,200 zero-emission miles. The vehicle was first supposed to
be equipped with a natural gas range extender, but the company announced
a few months ago that it will be using hydrogen fuel cells and possibly
also natural gas in different markets.
That’s where things are difficult to believe. With a 320 kWh battery,
which is large for your average electric vehicle, but not sufficient for
a class 8 truck, you can’t go anywhere with that kind of energy towing
80,000 lbs. Nikola’s concept relies on hydrogen and there’s just no
hydrogen infrastructure in the US, or almost anywhere else on the planet
for that matter.
It’s not like battery-powered vehicles where we didn’t have any
charging stations. Yes, we didn’t have many charging stations, but there
was an existing electric grid infrastructure. It’s not the case for
hydrogen. You need to build the infrastructure and the refueling
stations. That’s like building the electric grid and charging stations
for electric vehicles.
Hydrogen fuel cells fans, like Nikola Motor CEO Trevor Milton, like to
point out that it’s the most common element in the universe, like he did
during his 40-minute presentation (embedded below), and it is true, but
they always forget to mention that it doesn’t exist on our planet in any
usable form for energy storage. We need to create it.
There are different ways to create it, but Milton said that Nikola plans
to use electrolysis powered by solar farms. They plan to build those
solar farms, electrolysis plants, storage systems, and then transport the
hydrogen to refueling stations.
The company announced that they plan to cover North America with over 300
hydrogen refueling stations with construction starting in 2018 and the
first stations being operational in late 2019:nikola-2
The company will not sell hydrogen and instead, the cost will be included
in the $5,000 to $7,000 monthly leases Nikola plans to offer.
Milton didn’t explain how he plans to accomplish that with his team of
roughly 20 people nor where the money will come from for all those
stations. It seems like an unlikely plan at best at this point.
The plans for the actual manufacturing of the Nikola One truck seemed a
lot more realizable than the hydrogen infrastructure plans, but one doesn
’t work without the other.
The company partnered with truck manufacturing and tuning company
Fitzgerald. They will be taking care of the manufacturing of the first
5,000 units, according to Milton, but he wants for Nikola to eventually
take over the production process with a $1 billion manufacturing facility
to be announced next year.nikola-3
Where the money will be coming from for the factory is also unknown at
this point. They still have some time to figure this out since Nikola One
is not expected to hit production until 2020 – when the first hydrogen
stations are planned to be active.
The truck itself was designed by Nikola’s team in partnership with two
engineering firms, Pratt Miller and Meritor. Here’s the prototype:
The company claims to have received reservations worth nearly $4 billion,
but they didn’t disclose if there’s a deposit attached to those
reservations. Apparently, U.S. Xpress is among those who reserved the
Nikola One.
Ryder System with its network of 800 service locations in North America
was announced as Nikola’s exclusive nationwide distribution and
maintenance provider for the Nikola One.
Milton also announced a Uber-like service for cargo that he presented as
a way to facilitate the job of independent truck drivers that will be
leasing Nikola’s trucks.nikola-6
Nikola Motor will serve as a trucking company with customers and it will
list jobs for independent drivers to deliver.
A mentioned ‘Uber-like’ service, but Uber itself is actually working on
a similar service with its UberFreight. The company started testing the
service earlier this year alongside its autonomous driving program by
Otto. They made the promotion of it during an autonomous beer run with
Budweiser.
Speaking of autonomous driving, Milton mentioned cameras around the
Nikola One, but he said that they are in place for the driver to have a
better vision of his surroundings. It didn’t mention any advanced
autonomous features for the Nikola One.