The Nikola Badger Is Back, But Will The Electric Pickup Really Be Made?
A pickup once embroiled in controversy has returned from the dead.
The Badger was announced by electric and hydrogen fuel cell heavy truck maker Nikola in 2020 as part of the company’s expansion plans.
The interest around the vehicle helped increase Nikola’s value and led to a $2 billion deal with General Motors to build it on the Ultium electric vehicle platform that had been revealed with the GMC Hummer EV.
Just two days after the collaboration was announced, Nikola was the subject of a scathing report from short-seller Hindenberg Research that accused the company of misleading investors and led to the conviction of founder Trevor Milton on securities fraud charges last year.
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The Badger project and partnership with GM to build it were shelved shortly after the report and the vehicle was never shown publicly beyond the original renderings that were released.
Now, Sparks Motors owner Dave Sparks, star of the ‘Diesel Brothers” TV show, has announced that he has started a new company that has acquired the rights to the Badger and several ATV and water vehicles Nikola was developing when Milton was still in charge of the company.
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Sparks made the announcement in a YouTube video in which he displayed two physical prototypes that he said were ready to be unveiled in 2020 before the controversy kicked in and have been sitting in storage ever since. He said they are functional electric vehicles and demonstrated one by driving it on camera.
Sparks said his company helped develop the prototypes in exchange for an equity stake in Nikola and that Nikola holds a position in the new project.
Nikola has not yet responded to an e-mailed request for comment from American Cars And Racing.
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Sparks didn’t put a timeline on when the truck could make it to production and has also not responded request for comment asking if it would use a unique powertrain, or something supplied by a major manufacturer similar to the GM Ultium proposal.
He did say that both full battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell versions were being looked at, which was the original plan for the vehicle.
Milton, who was sentenced to four years in prison last December for securities fraud, but won’t start serving it until after appeals are exhausted, is still a Nikola shareholder and this month nominated Sparks and several Sparks Motors employees to the Nikola board.
The current Board of Directors issued a statement rejecting the slate and said that the company “continues to suffer harm created by Mr. Milton’s business decisions.”
Sparks said Milton was a “good friend” and that “I know he was doing things the right way.”
He said he’s trying to promote Nikola to get it thriving again, but that the video was not meant to be taken as investing advice.
Sparks, whose company was recently fined after losing a lawsuit centered around diesel emissions in trucks it had built, said “I am committed to delivering cleaner power to the truck worldâ€
The business entity that controls the Badger intellectual property is called Ember and Sparks said the vehicle would not be sold under the Nikola name.
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