Nikola will decrease its cash spend and streamline operations in order to focus on North America and production of its zero-emission truck.
“Our battery-electric truck is in the marketplace and performing well for our customers, and the hydrogen fuel cell electric truck will go into production in a matter of weeks,” said CEO Michael Lohscheller, in a press release. “We are proactively managing costs and reducing expenses. We are streamlining operations, including our organizational structure, to efficiently execute our objectives.”
The company will reduce its headcount by 150, which is expected to decrease personnel-related cash spend by more than $50 million annually. The reduction affects multiple sites and includes workers who were previously supporting European programs, approximately 120 employees based predominately at the Phoenix and Coolidge, Arizona. Sites, and previously announced actions from Cypress, California.
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Additional moves include:
- Realigning cost structure and reducing cash use by reorganizing workforce and rationalizing spend in all areas of the business.
- Concentrating on the North American marketplace, including the planned sale of the company’s joint venture share to Iveco Group.
- Localizing the supply chain where possible, including transitioning battery manufacturing from Cypress, California, to the Nikola plant in Coolidge, Arizona, along with planned assembly of Bosch fuel cell power modules in Coolidge. Both actions are expected to reduce material cost of the trucks.
- Prioritizing a capital-efficient approach for the HYLA hydrogen energy infrastructure business, including a strategic partnership with Voltera to develop up to 50 hydrogen stations over the next five years.
- Focusing on launching the company’s Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell electric truck in Q3, which currently has 178 sales orders from 14 end customers.
- Optimizing production at the Coolidge, Arizona, manufacturing facility to accommodate Nikola’s battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks on one assembly line.
- Ongoing restructuring of legacy Romeo business and shut down of legacy Cypress operations.
Source: Nikola
