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Tesla Semi rival Nikola throws shade, claims $8 billion in pre-orders, 100% reservation refunds

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8 years ago

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Tesla Semi rival Nikola Motors recently threw some shade at the Elon Musk-led company, stating that it will be refunding 100% of the reservations placed for its hydrogen-electric trucks and boasting that it had already received over $8 billion worth of pre-orders. Nikola also included what appears to be a pointed statement about Tesla’s finances, stating that it would not use its reservation holders’ money to operate its business.

Nikola’s bold declarations were posted on the company’s official Twitter account. According to the company’s tweets, Nikola customers could now reserve their trucks — the sleeper semi-truck Nikola One and the day cab Nikola Two — at zero cost. The startup also promised that refunds for those who have already placed reservations for their vehicles would be processed within 60 days.

“Great news! All reservations will be refunded 100%, and you won’t lose your place in line. We don’t use your money to operate our business. We want everyone to know we have never used a dollar of deposit money in the history of our company. All deposits will be refunded < 60 days.

“You can now reserve a Nikola One or Two without any deposit at https://nikolamotor.com/motor. With over 8+ billion in pre-order reservations, who needs deposits anyways!”

Nikola’s statements are very bold, considering that the company is yet to start the production of its hydrogen-electric semi trucks. Earlier this year, Nikola announced its plans to build a $1 billion factory in Phoenix, AZ, which will house facilities that would manufacture its offerings, according to a Fortune report. According to Nikola CEO Trevor Milton, the trucking startup will complete the move to the Phoenix, AZ site by October 2018. Production for the Nikola One and the Nikola Two is estimated to begin in 2021.

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Nikola’s hydrogen-electric trucks boast impressive specs. According to the trucking startup, its long-haulers would be able to offer up to 1,000 hp, up to 2,000 ft-lbs of torque, and up to 1,000 miles of range. Unlike the Tesla Semi, however, Nikola’s vehicles are not all-electric. Instead, they would run on hydrogen fuel cells, which, as we noted in a previous report, might give the startup some difficulties when it begins the rollout of its vehicles.

Hydrogen, after all, is usually derived from natural gas. Taking the process back a step or two, natural gas is often the result of fracking, a practice that is quite controversial in terms of its impact on the environment. Fracking, at its worst, can pollute the land and groundwater.

If there’s anything that Nikola can learn from Tesla, it is that producing a vehicle takes a lot of effort and resources. The challenges that Tesla is facing with the production of the Model 3 — a vehicle designed to be simple to build — is a testament to just how complex the manufacturing business really is. Thus, Nikola’s confident Twitter declarations, as well as its seemingly pointed remarks at Tesla, might end up as a case of premature hubris for the trucking startup.

Tesla’s own long-hauler, the Semi, after all, is already testing on public roads. Just last month, Tesla’s Semi prototypes have begun delivering cargo from Gigafactory 1 in Nevada to the Fremont factory in California. Sightings of the long-haulers have also been reported in several places across the country, including St. Louis, MO, Dallas, TX, and more recently, in Des Moines, IA. The production of the Tesla Semi is expected to begin in 2019, giving it a headstart over Nikola’s trucks.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla Optimus is learning martial arts in new video teasing capabilities

For the past few months, Tesla has been refining its capabilities and making some serious progress on what Optimus is capable of. This morning, Musk released a new video showing Optimus learning Kung Fu, perhaps its most impressive feat yet.

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2 hours ago

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October 4, 2025

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Credit: Elon Musk | X

Tesla Optimus is learning martial arts, a new video released by CEO Elon Musk shows, a crazy development and advancement in the robotics project the company has been working on for a few years.

Optimus has been a major focus of Tesla for the past several years, especially as Musk has said he believes it will be the biggest product of all time and could be the biggest contributor to the company’s valuation.

For the past few months, Tesla has been refining its capabilities and making some serious progress on what Optimus is capable of. This morning, Musk released a new video showing Optimus learning Kung Fu, perhaps its most impressive feat yet:

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The video shows Optimus working with a Kung Fu teacher, known as a Shifu, going through what appears to be some sort of routine of combinations. It’s quite impressive to see the fluidity of the movements and Optimus’s ability to keep up with Shifu.

Tesla has been “working hard” to scale Optimus production, Musk said last week, a project that has obviously confronted both AI and manufacturing teams with a variety of challenges.

The plan is to have an annual production run-rate of one million units by 2030, and there were plans to build 5,000 units this year.

Elon Musk gives update on Tesla Optimus progress

Musk still believes Optimus will make up roughly 80 percent of Tesla’s value. In January, he said it would be “overwhelmingly the value of the company.”

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Tesla plans to launch the Gen 3 version of Optimus soon, and although a video of a new-look prototype was released by Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, the company’s frontman stated that this was not what the next-generation prototype would look like.

Elon Musk confirms Tesla has never shown Optimus V3 design yet

This video seems to show there is still significant progress being made on the Optimus project, and it will be perhaps one of the most impressive humanoid robots available to consumers in the coming years.

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Elon Musk

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 gets new release date, Elon Musk details

“Last minute bug cropped up with V14. Released is pushed to Monday, but that gives us time to add a few more features.”

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10 hours ago

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October 4, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving version 14 has gotten a new release date after new details from CEO Elon Musk opened up some new perspectives on the suite.

Originally slated for an “early wide release” of v14 this past week, then a launch of v14.1 and v14.2 this week and next week, respectively, delays arose after Tesla’s Autopilot team found some issues within the software.

Tesla FSD V14 set for early wide release next week: Elon Musk

Musk detailed on X this morning that a “last minute bug” appeared before release, which has now pushed FSD v14’s release back to this Monday:

Musk also said the delay would give Tesla the ability to “add a few more features,” which seems like an added advantage, although he did not provide any additional details on what these features could be.

In classic Musk fashion, he has teased the capabilities of this version of the FSD suite since it became public knowledge that Tesla was working on it. He said that it is the second most important update for the AI/Autopilot team since FSD v12.

V14 will have a parameter count that is ten times what previous iterations were, which should provide more accuracy and a more human-like operation.

Musk has said v14 “feels alive” and has used the word “sentient” to describe its performance. The goal with the new FSD rollouts is to eliminate as many interventions as possible, making it as close to human driving as possible.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla just got a weird price target boost from a notable bear

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1 day ago

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October 3, 2025

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Credit: Tesla Manufacturing

Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) just got a weird price target boost from a notable bear just a day after it announced its strongest quarter in terms of vehicle deliveries and energy deployments.

JPMorgan raised its price target on Tesla shares from $115 to $150. It maintained its ‘Underweight’ rating on the stock.

Despite Tesla reporting 497,099 deliveries, about 12 percent above the 443,000 anticipated from the consensus, JPMorgan is still skeptical that the company can keep up its momentum, stating most of its Q3 strength came from leaning on the removal of the $7,500 EV tax credit, which expired on September 30.

Tesla hits record vehicle deliveries and energy deployments in Q3 2025

The firm said Tesla benefited from a “temporary stronger-than-expected industry-wide pull-forward” as the tax credit expired. It is no secret that consumers flocked to the company this past quarter to take advantage of the credit.

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The bump will need to be solidified as the start of a continuing trend of strong vehicle deliveries, the firm said in a note to investors. Analysts said that one quarter of strength was “too soon to declare Tesla as having sustainably returned to growth in its core business.”

JPMorgan does not anticipate Tesla having strong showings with vehicle deliveries after Q4.

There are two distinct things that stick out with this note: the first is the lack of recognition of other parts of Tesla’s business, and the confusion that surrounds future quarters.

JPMorgan did not identify Tesla’s strength in autonomy, energy storage, or robotics, with autonomy and robotics being the main focuses of the company’s future. Tesla’s Full Self-Driving and Robotaxi efforts are incredibly relevant and drive more impact moving forward than vehicle deliveries.

Additionally, the confusion surrounding future delivery numbers in quarters past Q3 is evident.

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Will Tesla thrive without the EV tax credit? Five reasons why they might

Tesla will receive some assistance from deliveries of vehicles that will reach customers in Q4, but will still qualify for the credit under the IRS’s revised rules. It will also likely introduce an affordable model this quarter, which should have a drastic impact on deliveries depending on pricing.

Tesla shares are trading at $422.40 at 2:35 p.m. on the East Coast.

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