Hydrogen trucking startup Nikola has gained a $2 million grant from the Division of Vitality simply two weeks after founder and former chairman Trevor Milton was indicted for allegedly committing fraud.
The grant is supposed to assist Nikola analysis autonomous refueling applied sciences for hydrogen refilling stations. It was awarded by the DOE’s Vitality Effectivity and Renewable Vitality transportation workplace as a part of its Hydrogen and Gasoline Cells R&D program, which is targeted on proving the reliability and sustainability of utilizing hydrogen as a zero-emissions energy supply.
The DOE grant comes at a time when the division is on the point of ramp up funding exercise to assist advance the USA’ improvement of fresh power applied sciences — a precedence underneath President Biden. One in every of Vitality Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s first strikes after she was appointed was to revive the division’s mortgage program, which has been largely dormant because the early Obama administration. That program made quite a lot of bets on clear power startups within the aftermath of the recession that blew up within the administration’s face, like photo voltaic tech firm Solyndra (which went bankrupt after China dramatically drove down the price of photo voltaic panels) and Fisker Automotive (which went bankrupt after issues with its battery provider).
The DOE mortgage program additionally helped some corporations survive the tumultuous years of the early clear tech growth, like Tesla. “If you wish to have the main electrical automobile producer on the planet… you’ll must make a number of bets. And a few of these bets will result in losses,” new mortgage program head Jigar Shah stated when he was tapped earlier this 12 months. Whereas it’s separate from the grant packages, the DOE mortgage program is understood to be in discussions with at the least one different troubled EV startup: Lordstown Motors, which has stated for months now that it’s within the “due diligence” part of a request from about $200 million.
Nikola has spent a lot of the final 12 months making an attempt to rebound from Milton’s ousting, which got here after he was accused of mendacity in regards to the progress the startup had made by the point it went public. Brief-selling analysis agency Hindenburg Analysis printed a report final September that attempted to make the case that Nikola was an “intricate fraud,” together with the now well-known declare that the startup had staged a video exhibiting certainly one of its vehicles working by secretly rolling it down a hill. The report torpedoed Basic Motors’ choice to take an 11 p.c stake in Nikola, and Milton resigned quickly after.
Nikola finally carried out an inside investigation that confirmed Milton had lied, lots, and the Division of Justice and the Securities and Trade Fee opened investigations into his claims. Final month, they filed parallel legal and civil fees towards Milton because of this.
Nikola continues to be shedding round $100 million per quarter, and it had round $630 million within the financial institution on the finish of the second quarter of this 12 months.
“Autonomous fueling is a part of the business’s effort to make sure quick, environment friendly, and protected fueling of a big onboard storage system to be lower than 20 minutes for heavy-duty automobiles,” the corporate stated in a press release. “This mission is predicted to handle this aim by working to develop an autonomous fueling system that may quickly refuel heavy-duty fuel-cell electrical vehicles, whereas minimizing labor and challenges referring to ergonomics and upkeep of kit, as in comparison with an equal guide fueling course of.”