CNH Industrial will take a $250 million USD strategic stake in Nikola as the lead Series D investor. Pre-money valuation was set at $3 billion USD. Nikola anticipates raising over $1 billion USD in the D round, granting approximately 25% ownership to new investors and business partners, including CNHI. IVECO and FPT Industrial will assist in engineering and manufacturing expertise to industrialize Nikola’s fuel-cell and battery electric trucks. The following vehicles will benefit from this partnership: the Nikola ONE, a NAFTA- compliant Class 8 sleeper truck; the Nikola TWO, a NAFTA-compliant Class 8 day-cab truck; and the Nikola TRE, a European compliant cab-over Heavy Duty Truck.

Nikola will contribute technologies for a European JV with CNH Industrial that will include class-leading fuel-cell expertise, e-axles, inverters, independent suspension, on-board hydrogen fuel storage, over-the-air software update functionality, infotainment, vehicle controls, vehicle-to-station communication protocols, power electronics, and access to a hydrogen fueling network.

FPT Industrial has been active in alternative propulsion solutions,  producing over 40,000 natural gas-powered engines to date together with IVECO, 28,000 of its trucks and buses are powered by FPT Industrial engines, FPT and Iveco are also collaborating on setting up gas refuelling networks.

Strategic near-term project milestones include the industrialization of the Nikola TWO fuel cell- powered Class 8 truck for the North American market, as well as the integration of IVECO S-Way truck technology into the battery-electric powered Nikola TRE cab-over model for both the North American and European markets. In the long-term, a European joint-venture will cover both battery electric vehicles (BEV) and fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEV) launched by Q4 2022.

“The increasing focus on the recognition that there needs to be fundamental reductions in automotive emissions is driving our industry to rapidly seek advanced technological solutions. IVECO is now ideally placed to offer customers an even wider range of transport solutions including natural gas, electric and fuel-cell powered vehicles,” said Hubertus Mühlhäuser, Chief Executive Officer, CNH Industrial. “Nikola’s choice of IVECO as its strategic partner is testament to our internationally recognized excellence in heavy duty trucks and alternative powertrain technologies.”

“The time has come to finally provide a zero-emission solution to the Heavy Duty Truck market. While other OEMs believe zero-emission solutions cannot happen in the timeframe regulators have mandated, Nikola, FPT Industrial and IVECO are proving that these timelines are not unreasonable,” said Trevor Milton, Chief Executive Officer, Nikola Corporation. “Nikola has the technology but needs a partner with a European network to achieve it in a timely manner. With CNH Industrial’s investment and partnership, we can now bring zero-emission trucks to Europe. It is exciting to see IVECO taking the lead in providing zero-emission solutions in Europe through its partnership with Nikola. By bringing CNH Industrial on board, we now have access to manufacturing know-how, purchasing power, validated truck parts, plant engineering and much more. Few will doubt our ability to commercialize a truck now.”