If Nikola Tesla only knew how popular his name would eventually become one day. Michigan-based Nikola Motor co. just released renderings for what looks to be the coolest tractor trailer concept to date. And not only does it boast a sleek and futuristic aesthetic, but its mechanics follow suit: we’re talking a natural gas fueled, turbine powered, electric drive big rig that puts out 2,000-horsepower.
Called the Nikola One, the truck has electric motors driving all of its wheels and stores its energy in a 320 kilowatt-hour battery pack. Just for reference, the battery pack is three times the size of the one featured in the Tesla Model S that was recently released as well. In order to keep this massive battery charged, the truck runs a natural gas turbine engine that drives the pack generator, similar to diesel-electric locomotives.
The numbers on this thing are impressive as well. The One gets 800-1200 miles on a single tank and has quadruple the horsepower and double the torque than that of a regular truck, allowing it to cruise at a steady 65 mph up hills where standard trucks would slow to a 20 to 40 mph crawl. It also hits 0-60 in half the time, and gets double to triple miles per gallon. On top of all that, the first 5,000 customers to place an order for the truck get free fuel at any of Nikola’s 20 nationwide fueling stations for the first million miles. If that’s not motivation to get a CDL, then I don’t know what is.
