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Nikola admits One wasn’t self-propelled in response to Hindenburg
Nikola Motor has released a lengthy statement responding to a report from Hindenburg Research, which accuses the company of being an “intricate fraud.” In the statement, the automaker states that the report is “false and defamatory.” However, Nikola admitted that its “One” semi-truck was not self-propelled, adding that the company decided against pouring more funds into the development of the vehicle.
Last week, Hindenburg Research released an extensive report on Nikola Motor, claiming that the company was a fraud and “built on dozens of lies.” The September 10th report accused Nikola and its executives of several points that mislead shareholders, one of which claimed that the 2016 test of the Nikola One semi-truck was not what it seemed.
In its report, Hindenburg dedicated a full section to the December 2016 test. The report stated that the One prototype used in the 2016 tests was a “pusher,” and used a low-grade hill to roll and appear functional.
In October 2016, Nikola stated that the truck was fully functioning, according to a series of tweets that the research company included in its report.
At the December 2016 event, the company once again stated that the One was operational. “This is a real truck–this is not a pusher,” Nikola Chairman Trevor Milton stated.
A pusher is a vehicle that is not designed to move with its own propulsion system. While Nikola states the One was “designed to be powered and driven by its own propulsion system,” the company then states that it “ultimately decided not to invest additional resources into completing the process to make the Nikola One drive on its own propulsion.”
Nikola states that the gearbox, batteries, inverters, power steering, suspension, infotainment, disc brakes, high voltage systems, and air systems were all functional. However, the company does state that the Nikola Two prototypes were self-propelled and have been “frequently demonstrated.”
Milton’s statements during the vehicle’s launch event show that he stated the Nikola One would be “fully functional” and that it wouldn’t need to be pushed in order to be functional. However, the statement the company made shows that this was not the case, and Nikola put its focus on propulsion systems into the Two instead.
Other claims made by Hindenburg in the report also are confronted Nikola. For example, Hindenburg alleged that Nikola buys third-party inverters and does not make them in-house.
The company stated, “At no time did Nikola state that the inverter on the prototype truck shown in the video was the Company’s or would be used in production. Nikola has been designing, engineering and working on its own inverters for quite some time. The Company does use third-party parts in prototype vehicles, some of which may be subsequently swapped out for its own parts in production. This is common practice among vehicle manufacturers and Nikola often blocks supplier names from the view of media and competitors.”
Nikola stated in its reponse that many of Hindenburg’s claims are inaccurate and irrelevant to the company. Nikola’s full response to the report is available here.
SpaceX and Tesla, the two flagship companies under Elon Musk’s leadership, share a commitment to groundbreaking technology yet pursue dramatically different paths in how they connect with customers.
Tesla has built its brand through a philosophy of minimal traditional advertising, trusting that exceptional products will generate their own momentum.
SpaceX, by contrast, has embraced high-visibility paid advertising for its Starlink satellite internet service, placing prominent spots during major live sporting events such as the Super Bowl and the recent UFC Freedom 250. This divergence highlights how each company tailors its marketing to the unique demands of its products and target markets.
Tesla’s approach stems directly from Musk’s long-held conviction that superior engineering sells itself. Musk has repeatedly explained that the company redirects resources into research and development rather than endorsements or television commercials.
Tesla’s growth has relied instead on organic channels: enthusiastic owner referrals, viral product reveals like the Cybertruck, extensive media coverage of launches and achievements, and the sheer visibility of its vehicles on roads everywhere.
Even as the company has tested more social media promotions in response to fluctuating demand, its overall strategy remains restrained and digital-focused compared to legacy automakers that pour hundreds of millions into marketing annually.
SpaceX has taken a more assertive route with Starlink to drive widespread consumer awareness. In February of this year, SpaceX aired its first-ever Super Bowl advertisement, marking the initial time any Musk-led enterprise invested in the massive event.
The thirty-second spot emphasized fast and affordable internet available nearly anywhere on the planet, blending inspiring footage of Falcon 9 and Starship landings with narration drawn from science fiction visionary Arthur C. Clarke. United Airlines complemented this with its own Super Bowl commercial showcasing Starlink-enabled high-speed Wi-Fi on flights.
🚨 Starlink Super Bowl ad! https://t.co/pEdH1KevBj pic.twitter.com/01onakkoqX
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 9, 2026
But that is not all SpaceX has done to get word out about its internet service.
Just last night, Starlink branding appeared prominently on the octagon and during the broadcast of UFC Freedom 250, the high-profile event staged on the White House South Lawn. These placements represent a strategic investment in reaching massive, engaged audiences.
🚨 Starlink ads have appeared on the UFC Freedom 250 broadcast on Paramount+ pic.twitter.com/VPAAhDR6LI
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 15, 2026
The rationale behind SpaceX’s advertising push lies in Starlink’s distinct position as a consumer broadband service. Unlike Tesla’s visually striking cars that act as mobile billboards for early-adopter enthusiasts, Starlink must overcome awareness gaps in rural, remote, and mobile markets where traditional internet infrastructure falls short.
Starlink now serves as SpaceX’s leading revenue generator, with ambitions tied to future growth and potential public offerings. Targeted advertising during sports broadcasts efficiently demonstrates real-world reliability for applications ranging from home connectivity to aviation and live event broadcasting.
Partnerships with airlines and mobile providers further extend its reach, while high-profile placements help convert curiosity into subscriptions amid competition and regulatory considerations.
Ultimately, these contrasting strategies reflect the different maturity levels and competitive landscapes each business navigates. Tesla benefits from built-in visibility and a passionate community that amplifies its message at little cost.
Starlink, operating in the more fragmented broadband sector, requires deliberate efforts to educate and attract mainstream users. By leveraging the spectacle of major sporting events where Tesla once declined to participate, SpaceX is accelerating Starlink toward global ubiquity.
This flexibility underscores a key lesson: even the most innovative companies must adapt their tactics to the practical realities of their markets and customer acquisition challenges.
Elon Musk
SpaceX (SPCX) IPO is live today at $135: Here’s exactly what you need to know
SpaceX priced its historic IPO at $135 per share today, raising a record $75 billion.
SpaceX officially priced its initial public offering at $135 per share, offering 555,555,555 shares of Class A common stock and raising $75 billion in what is the largest IPO in stock market history. Shares are set to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Friday, June 12, under the ticker symbol SPCX. The previous record holder was Saudi Aramco’s 2019 offering at $29 billion, followed by Alibaba’s $22 billion offering in 2014.
At $135 per share and roughly 555.6 million shares, the implied valuation sits near $1.75 trillion, which would make SpaceX roughly the seventh largest company in the United States, just above Tesla’s current market cap. Regular investors can request shares at the IPO price through Robinhood, Fidelity, Charles Schwab, SoFi, and E*TRADE, though the deal is heavily oversubscribed and most retail allocations will be partial or unfilled. Once trading opens June 12, anyone with a brokerage account can buy SPCX on the open market.
SpaceX’s amended S-1 is sparking a major Tesla merger conversation
The valuation is anchored primarily by Starlink. Starlink crossed 10 million subscribers as of February 2026 and is adding 750,000 to 1.5 million new users per month, with the connectivity segment already posting a $1.19 billion profit last quarter. The offering also bundles in xAI following SpaceX’s all-stock merger earlier this year, adding Grok and the Colossus supercomputer to the investment thesis. As Teslarati reported, Starlink ended 2025 with $10 billion in revenue, a figure analysts project could reach $24 billion by end of 2026.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives has been vocal in his support. “I think the time is right,” Ives said, adding that the offering expands the Elon Musk ecosystem rather than competing with Tesla. An average 12-month price target of $165 per share represents roughly 22% upside from the IPO price. Not everyone agrees – Motley Fool noted xAI is spending $1 billion per month playing catch-up to OpenAI and Anthropic.
Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with a single stated purpose. “Elon founded SpaceX with a goal to change humanity, to make us a multi-planet species,” CFO Bret Johnsen said in the company’s retail roadshow video this week. Musk himself has been more direct: “We are building the systems and technologies necessary to provide global connectivity on Earth and beyond, to understand the true nature of the universe, and to extend the light of consciousness to the stars.”
Investor's Corner
Tesla unfolded its first European “folding Supercharger”
Tesla’s folding Supercharger just arrived in Europe and it changes how fast charging expands.
Tesla’s Folding Unit Supercharger has officially landed in Europe, with the company teasing a new installation in its effort for a broader rollout targeting major motorway rest stops across the European continent in Q3 2026. The arrival marks a notable shift in how Tesla is thinking about network expansion, moving from hardware performance alone to engineering the logistics chain itself.
While Tesla did not reveal the exact location for the new folding Supercharger in Europe, the photo shared on X heavily suggests that this maybe somewhere in Norway. Historically, whenever Tesla rolls out an entirely new infrastructure architecture in Europe, whether it was the original Supercharger stalls years ago or these brand-new modular V4 “Folding Units”, Norway is almost always the designated launch pad because of its unmatched EV adoption rate and supportive infrastructure
The Folding Unit, introduced in March 2026, is a factory pre-assembled V4 charging station built on an industrial hinge system mounted to a heavy-duty concrete base. The entire assembly arrives on site ready to unfold and connect. Tesla confirmed the units feature telescopic light poles specifically designed for easy transportation and fast on-site deployment, a detail that signals how carefully the logistics chain has been engineered alongside the hardware itself. The design allows 33% more stalls per delivery truck, cuts installation time roughly in half, and reduces overall deployment costs by more than 20% compared to traditional installations.
Tesla’s newest “Folding V4 Superchargers” are key to its most aggressive expansion yet
Tesla also noted telescopic light poles which provide benefits over traditional Supercharger installations that require fixed-height poles that are awkward to ship, slow to position on site, and often require separate crews and equipment to erect before charging hardware can even be staged. By engineering poles that compress for transit and extend on arrival, Tesla has removed one of the quieter bottlenecks in the physical deployment process. Every hour saved on a light pole installation is an hour redirected toward getting stalls energized. At scale, across dozens of new sites per quarter, those hours add up to a meaningful acceleration in how quickly a location goes from approved permit to serving its first customer.
Each Folding Unit pairs a single V4 power cabinet with eight charging posts. The V4 cabinet delivers up to 500 kW per stall for passenger vehicles and up to 1.2 MW for the Tesla Semi, supporting twice the stalls per cabinet at three times the power density of its predecessor. Longer cables make every new station immediately usable by non-Tesla vehicles, a priority as Tesla continues opening its network to Ford, GM, Rivian, Hyundai, Stellantis, and others.
As Teslarati reported when the Folding Unit was first unveiled, Tesla’s Gigafactory New York produced its final V3 Supercharger cabinet in March 2026 after more than seven years and 15,000 units, completing a full pivot to V4 production. The European arrival of the folding design is the next chapter in that transition.
Faster and cheaper deployment means Tesla can justify building in markets and corridors that were previously too expensive to serve, filling the coverage gaps that have slowed EV adoption outside major urban centers.
First Folding Unit Superchargers in Europe 🇪🇺 https://t.co/KNfYWJukkL pic.twitter.com/YR1udIpH1i
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) June 10, 2026
SpaceX maintains bold advertising push for Starlink, contrasting Tesla’s minimalistic approach
Elon Musk just put a $1 Trillion revenue number on SpaceX
