Nikola Suspects 'Foul Play' After EV Truck Fire
Electric big rig manufacturer Nikola is blaming a fire that occurred outside its Phoenix headquarters early Friday morning on "foul play." Reportedly, a suspicious vehicle was seen in the vicinity of where the fire started. Although a row of four electric semi trucks was impacted, the fire doesn't appear to have spread to the building itself.
Early this morning behind our Phoenix headquarters, a fire occurred which affected multiple battery electric trucks. No one has been injured. Foul play is suspected as a vehicle was seen in the area of the affected trucks just prior to the incident and an investigation is...
— Nikola Motor Company (@nikolamotor) June 23, 2023
As of mid-morning Friday, local fire departments and hazmat crews were still working to cool the trucks' huge lithium batteries — which became superheated — to prevent the fire from reigniting. Thankfully, no one was injured in the blaze, but Phoenix officials are urging the public to avoid the area because of smoke and chemical odors that are permeating in the air.
After producing 63 of its Tre electric trucks in the first three months of 2023 — 31 of which were delivered to dealerships — Nikola's factory is on pause until production resumes sometime in July. Like its competitor Tesla, the company is named after Serbian-American inventor and engineer Nikola Tesla.
It's possible that a disgruntled employee was responsible
The timing of the blaze is indeed suspicious, because last week, Nikola announced plans to cut 270 employees — which represents 23% of the company's total workforce. Of those laid off employees, 120 worked at the Arizona facility, while 150 worked elsewhere in support of Nikola's sales efforts in Europe. The layoffs are part of a larger reorganization plan that the company hopes will save more than $50 million annually.
Shares of Nikola stock on the tech-heavy NASDAQ exchange were down as much as 15% with news of the fire, but have since halved that initial loss. Year-to-date, Nikola shares have plummeted more than 40%.
Nikola's rival Tesla is also battling sluggish production of its eponymous Semi truck. Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently indicated that sales were not going to ramp up significantly until late next year. That counters an earlier prediction by Musk that 50,000 units would be delivered during 2024. The delay was blamed on a lack of available batteries.