Things aren’t looking as stagnant anymore at Nikola’s site in Coolidge, Arizona. New drone footage at the site shows construction is finally underway. It’s no where near the “speed of Tesla” but with all the hurdles the company has been having to jump over, that wasn’t expected.
Now, almost five months after breaking ground, we can see the first foundations for the first buildings. Nikola broke ground at the Arizona site on July 23, 2020 but has been busy struggling with a slew of legal issues as of late.
In September, Nikola Motors and founder Trevor Milton were hit hard with claims and evidence of deception. Nikola allegedly faked the original video its electric truck driving. In addition, Milton claimed that the company developed their own inverter and even released a video of it. However, evidence found that it was a Cascadia inverter with a piece of masking tape covering its logo.
Nikola’s legal issues ultimately led to founder Trevor Milton giving his resignation, leaving the company’s partnership with GM up in the air. GM was expected to partner with Nikola to produce the Badger in exchange for 11% stake in the company. However, in November, GM officially vetoed its plan to build the Nikola Badger and taking stake in the company. GM did note they will still supply the company’s semi trucks with fuel cell hydrogen technology.
As far as Nikola’s Arizona site, it still looks like a big patch of dirt, but Nikola is apparently still planning on building a manufacturing plant. Check out the first signs of substantial movement in the video below: