Truck Troubles: Nikola Takes Action with Recall and Sales Halt After Fire Probe
Nikola Recalls Battery-Powered Electric Trucks Due to Fire Risk
Nikola announced on Friday that it will be recalling all battery-powered electric trucks it has delivered thus far and suspending sales after investigations revealed that a coolant leak inside the battery pack was responsible for recent fires.
There are currently 209 battery-powered electric trucks in the market, both with dealers and customers. The company is initiating a recall for these vehicles and is in the process of informing all concerned parties, as confirmed by a Nikola spokesperson to Reuters.
Preliminary findings from a third-party investigator were substantiated by a “minor thermal incident” in one pack of a parked engineering-validation truck on Thursday. Thankfully, there were no injuries resulting from the incident.
Nikola stated that “foul play or other external factors were unlikely to have caused the incident.” The company is working to find a remedy for the issue.
The initial investigation was initiated in June when trucks at the company’s Phoenix, Arizona, headquarters experienced fires. One damaged truck, kept for monitoring at the Phoenix site, also caught fire again last month.
Nikola’s internal examinations by safety and engineering teams point towards a single supplier component within the battery pack as the probable cause of the coolant leak leading to the fires.
Facing supply chain bottlenecks and reduced demand, Nikola made the decision to produce battery electric trucks only on order and shifted its focus to hydrogen fuel cell trucks.
Amid these challenges, the company appointed Chairman Stephen Girsky, a former General Motors executive, as its chief executive on August 4. This marked the fourth change in CEO within four years.
Due to uncertainties in its financial stability and while awaiting “critical” additional capital, Nikola expressed “substantial doubts” about its ability to continue as a going concern for the next 12 months. This announcement was reiterated for the third time since February.
In response to the recall, Nikola advised customers and dealers of its Tre battery electric trucks to take immediate safety measures, including considering parking the vehicles outside.
Following the news, Nikola’s shares experienced a drop of up to 5.6% after the market closed.
