The Nikola Tre BEV electric semi truck was on display at the ACT Expo during its Ride & Drive event. Nikola claims that this is "the most advanced zero-emissions Class 8 semi truck." Why?
In this video we take a ride in the Tre BEV and talk to Michael Lohscheller, President & CEO of Nikola Motors, to find out.
[Related: Quick spin in Nikola Tre battery-electric semi]
In this video
00:00 - Intro
00:24 - Spec Overview
01:27 - Rider Impressions
01:48 - Why Is the Tre BEV the Most Advanced Electric Truck?
02:37 - What Kind of Fleet Should Buy This Truck?
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Here's everything you need to know about the Nikola Tre Battery Electric semi-truck, including an in cab driving experience and real impressions from a test rider. This video was filmed at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo. For more coverage from this show, make sure to subscribe and click the notification bell so you don't miss another video.
Michael Lohscheller (00:26):
So my name is Michael Lohscheller. I joined Nikola in March of 2022. Super excited to be the CEO of the company because we want to take a leading role in terms of zero emission mobility. We have an electric truck, we have a fuel cell truck, and we also want to make sure that we provide the energy. So really build an ecosystem.
(00:47)So we launched the battery electric truck last year in April. So we produced last year already 258 electric trucks. So let's look a little bit at the technical data. The range of the electric truck is up to 330 miles. The fueling with a 350 kilowatt charger, 80% is around 90 minutes. So that's also very fast and it comes with a lot of energy, of course, a lot of torque. So huge acceleration. And we also put a lot of emphasis on controls and software, that's actually what Nikola does in house. Which I think is a very, very competitive advantage because you can do over the air updates. Basically, we can do all the changes very, very quickly.
Natalie Hanson (01:29):
So I rode in a Nikola BEV semi. The riding experience was really smooth. It felt really comfortable. The other piece that was really impressive to me is that it's very tall. It was like climbing a ladder to get into the truck. There's a lot of vertical space.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Nikola claims that their Tre BEV is the most advanced zero emissions class eight semi truck. Why is that?
Michael Lohscheller (01:56):
Well, we think so for a couple of reasons. First of all, in terms of range, this is absolutely best in class. I mean, 330 miles is really good. And again, now, it's not announcing things for the future. So we have driving customers now who get 330 miles with this battery electric truck. We also think in terms of infotainment and controls. So we have a huge touchscreen. The cab over has a lot of space. Even for tall people like myself, being six foot eight, I can stand in the cab. It's very quiet. And of course the real benefit of the electric truck is the acceleration. It goes really fast, even fully loaded. So we have the opinion that we have a best in class truck available.
(02:39)So considering the range of up to 330 miles, it's important to plan this accordingly. So we see a lot of interest in the ports where you have a very determined route and also short haul. Where we think the fuel cell truck with a longer range of up to 500 miles is more for the mid and long term application. And the very good news is we have inventory available for sale.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
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