When Nikola first burst onto the scene in 2016, it wasn't with the cabover battery-electric truck that the now-Phoenix-area-based company manufacturers.
Nikola founder Trevor Milton had his sights set on a 2,000 horsepower/3,700 ft. lbs. of torque spaceship-modeled battery-electric semi with a 1,200 mile range (thanks to a CNG range extender), dubbed the Nikola One. The company soon after would debut an electric utility vehicle (I got to drive it), a garbage truck, and battery-electric/hydrogen-electric pickup named the Badger.
Seven years later, we don't have any of that. The Badger, the refuse truck and the UTV have been shelved, and Milton in 2020 stepped down from his company amid scandal.
What we do have is something altogether different. The Nikola Tre replaces heaps of big ideas and promises with something that, well... actually exists. Nikola delivered 131 battery electric vehicles (BEV) to dealers last year and hopes to deliver up to 350 this year, along with upwards of 150 Tre fuel-cell electrics by year-end.
With a range of up to 330 miles, Tre is already one of the longest range all-electric truck models among a peer group that includes Freightliner's eCascadia, Volvo's VNR Electric, the Peterbilt 579EV and Kenworth T680e.
Built on the Iveco S-WAY platform, Nikola's Tre is 13'2" tall, and that height is noticeable from the driver's seat. Circle the adjective you want to describe the view from behind the telescopic steering wheel: commanding, expansive, panoramic... There's at least 6 inches of extra ingress and egress compared to a conventional, which is not a bad thing (unless you've got bad knees or a fear of heights). But that height translates to headroom too. There's plenty of room to stand up inside, a lot of overhead storage and even a skylight
Most of the analog switches and gauges are gone from inside the Nikola Tre and have been replaced by screens.
