Nikola and General Motors are joining forces. On Tuesday, the two car manufacturers formed a strategic partnership that will allow the Nikola Badger, an electric pickup truck, to be engineered and manufactured by the automotive giant.
"GM was kind of a no-brainer" Trevor Milton, Nikola founder and executive chairman, told Cheddar when explaining how the EV manufacturer chose who to partner with. "Their battery alone will save Nikola over $4 billion just in our heavy-duty truck costs alone. That makes up for the whole program, and everything else is just gravy."
General Motors will be in charge of building and engineering the Nikola Badger, a fully-electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric pickup truck that is set to go into production in 2022. Milton says that if it weren't for his company's new partnership, the project would take considerably longer.
"If we were to do this on our own, it would take us a few more years than that. So we're lucky to have GM on our side and also their purchasing power."
Tuesday's news also lifted Nikola to a surge on Wall Street, with share prices soaring over 40 percent on the day. "Days like today, obviously, it's a lot of fun," said Milton."It's very rare in your life, do you ever get to see those kinds of numbers."
However, the Nikola founder said that the company's mission is to continue to grow and hit all of its annual priorities. He added that now is the time for investors to buy on Nikola, which began trading on the Nasdaq in July.
"It's a chance to get in early. It's a chance to grow with the company and also experience the volatility," said Milton, comparing Nikola to the early days of Tesla."It's going to be up and down. You can't worry about it. But if you're a long-term investor, this is going to be one hell of a fun ride.'
Speaking of Tesla, Milton expressed that his company's deal with GM gets Nikola to the next level — one that allows it to compete against the EV giant.
"GM's got the best pricing of almost anyone in the world. So we can now come in and compete with [companies] like Tesla and actually have better pricing than they do on our parts because we're consolidating it with GM's quantities," Milton said.
"We're going to be competitive amongst the best of the world. You just could never dream of that kind of partnership."
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
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