Class 8 electric trucks

Kenworth begins taking orders for Class 8 electric truck

Kenworth will launch its first-ever Class 8 battery-electric truck in the U.S. and Canada in 2021, joining other major truck makers producing zero-emission heavy-duty models.

The volume of orders across the industry likely will be small as fleets measure the total cost of ownership against the higher up-front purchase price of an electric truck. With thousands of fewer parts, maintenance costs will be lower. The price of electricity to power the batteries could be cheaper over time than diesel...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/kenworth-begins-taking-orders-for-class-8-electric-truck

Logistics giant NFI Industries adding 5,000 jobs

Supply chain solutions provider NFI Industries is hiring 5,000 people before the end of 2020 to speed holiday shipments and meet the pandemic-induced demand for goods to manage life at home and work under the same roof.

Other evidence: Per-mile freight rates are rising along with tender rejections. Fleets ordered 52,000 new trailers in September, the third-highest order month on record.

Some of the new NFI jobs are seasonal. Others are full-time positions. The company wants experienced and novice...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/logistics-giant-nfi-industries-adding-5000-jobs

Minting millionaires and building buzz at Nikola

Nikola Corp. Executive Chairman Trevor Milton believes buzz-building creates long-term value for the electric truck startup. So, even if publicity was not a goal of his recent gift of 6 million of his shares to several dozen early employees, he’s fine with the attention.

“I think it’s important for every company in the world to stay in front of their followers, and their investors, and their clients, and their customers,” Milton told FreightWaves. “Investors in this generation want to be kept up...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/minting-millionaires-and-building-buzz-at-nikola

J.B. Hunt gets dibs on trying out Freightliner electric eCascadia

J.B. Hunt Transport eCascadia

J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. is running drayage from the Port of Los Angeles in a Freightliner eCascadia battery-electric truck.

The subsidiary of J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT) is the first of 14 companies to try the zero-tailpipe-emission Class 8 tractor as part of Daimler Trucks North America’s (DTNA) expanded exposure to fleets ahead of taking orders in late 2021.

DTNA has accumulated more than 300,000 electric miles on 20 eCascadias and 10 Class 6 medium-duty eM2 106 trucks...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/jb-hunt-gets-dibs-on-trying-out-freightliner-electric-ecascadia

Hydrogen fuel: linchpin of electric truck maker Nikola’s business

Nikola hydrogen fueling station

The focus on the stock price gyrations of electric truck startup Nikola Corp. (NASDAQ: NKLA) overlooks a major part of its business plan — making and selling hydrogen fuel for its fuel cell trucks and anyone who wants it.

“Hydrogen is a key to everything with Nikola,” says Executive Chairman Trevor Milton. “It’s our ability to separate ourselves from our competitors. “Nikola is not just a truck company. We’re really an energy technology company.

“We’ve spent more time on reducing the cost of...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/hydrogen-fuel-the-other-side-of-nikolas-electric-truck-business

Tesla tops Toyota as world’s most valuable transportation company

Tesla Cybertruck

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) climbed over Toyota Motor Corp. Corp. (NYSE: TM) as the world’s most valuable transportation company on Wednesday, July 1 as pre-orders for its angular Cybertruck exceeded the past two years’ deliveries of its electric vehicles.

Wedbush Securities reported 650,000 Cybertruck orders as of June 22, surpassing the 612,120 deliveries of Tesla’s Model S, X and 3 in 2018 and 2019, according to the weekly financial digest Finbold.

The current number of Tesla Cybertruck orders,...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/tesla-tops-toyota-as-worlds-most-valuable-transportation-company

Agility preorders 1,000 Hyliion hybrid-electric trucks

Hyliion ERX hybrid electric truck

Traveling an accelerated path to public trading, Hyliion Inc. introduced its Class 8 hybrid Hypertruck Electric Range Extender (ERX) with a 1,000-unit preorder from logistics giant Agility, which is also investing in the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) bringing the 5-year-old startup to market.

Hyliion claims the fully electric drivetrain and natural gas-powered onboard generator will provide more than 1,000 miles of range. The powertrain produces electricity for about 30% lower cost...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/agility-preorders-1000-hyliion-hybrid-electric-trucks

Xos electric truck startup edging toward low-volume production

Xos Trucks leaders

Despite help from a Google map on a sunny February afternoon, finding the headquarters of  Xos Trucks in North Hollywood, California, was not easy. Block letters on a window to the left of the building’s recessed entry was the only signage.

Most Xos employees work from home these days because of the coronavirus pandemic. A few workers test battery packs and perform other duties in the back of the building, whose neighbors include an auto repair garage and a thrift shop.  

Though unintentional,...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/xos-electric-truck-startup-edging-toward-low-volume-production

Pre-merger surge drives Nikola value to $12 billion

Nikola One

Before building a single vehicle for sale, the valuation of fuel cell electric truck maker Nikola Corp. quadrupled to about $12 billion during a week of frenzied trading in shares of its merger partner.

Double-digit daily upward moves in VectoIQ, the NASDAQ-traded holding company that is acquiring Nikola in a reverse merger, sent VTIQ shares as high as $35.38 early on May 13 compared with a closing price of $14.12 on May 6.

Two events supercharged the share price.

On Friday, May 8, VectoIQ...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/pre-merger-surge-drives-nikola-value-to-12-billion

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