Nikola Founder Exaggerated the Capability of His Debut Truck

An anonymous reader shares a report: After half an hour of promotional videos and big promises, Nikola’s 13-foot-tall prototype parked atop a rotating stage began to spin. The dramatic music reached a crescendo, lights flicked on and a partially translucent white sheet lifted off the Nikola One. Founder Trevor Milton walked up to applause, put his hands on his side and admired the big rig. “Oh, that thing is so awesome,” he said. “We’ve been waiting so long to show this to the world, you have no idea. It’s hard to even contain my emotion about this.” Milton then made several comments to the crowd at the December 2016 event suggesting the Nikola One was driveable. The statements alarmed people familiar with the truck’s capability, who told Bloomberg News recently that it was inoperable and missing key components to power itself. On Wednesday, Milton said key parts were taken out of the vehicle for safety reasons and that it never drove under its own power. […] At the event 3 1/2 years ago, Milton said the company had put up a chain to keep people from bumping into any of the vehicle controls. “We’re going to try to keep people from driving off,” he said. “This thing fully functions and works.” Later, he said the truck was not a “pusher,” referring to an inoperable prototype that needed to be nudged onto the stage. The people familiar with the truck, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive information, said they were concerned about the statements. Gears and motors were missing, and while the words “H2 Zero Emission Hydrogen Electric” were emblazoned on the vehicle, there was no fuel cell on board.