What happened
Electric heavy truck maker Nikola (NKLA 1.18%) announced a new offering for its customers yesterday, but investors are still in a "show me" mode with the start-up as other early-stage electric vehicle (EV) sector companies struggle.
Nikola stock is hovering near its all-time low, but has bounced off that bottom to start 2023 with a nearly 10% gain. Investors today are selling some of that bounce, and shares were lower by 5.7% as of 10:40 a.m. ET.
So what
Nikola investors may be reacting to two new announcements in the EV charging industry. Europe-based Wallbox said today it was cutting jobs "to better align our cost structure with the current demand environment," according to co-founder and CEO Enric Asunción. U.S.-based Volta announced yesterday that it was being acquired by a unit of energy major Shell. That's a negative development for investors in Volta, however, as the sale price of $0.86 per share is more than 80% below where the stock was a year ago.
Those announcements couldn't overcome the momentum Nikola shares had after it announced its own vehicle charging news yesterday.
Image source: Nikola.
Now what
Yesterday, Nikola announced the launch of a mobile fueling solution for its upcoming hydrogen fuel cell trucks. The mobile fuel trucks will complement the permanent hydrogen fueling station network Nikola is building.
The fueling trucks will have enough pressure and volume to rapidly fill multiple Nikola hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs) back-to-back, adding convenience for fleet customers. The first mobile fueler is ready for operation and others will be commissioned and released in the next two months, according to the company.
Investors are eyeing the more negative developments from the other EV charging companies today, though. Nikola likely won't get credit from investors until it delivers real results. Investors will watch for that as it sells more battery trucks and ramps up sales of its hydrogen fuel cell trucks this year. Investors who want to speculate on its success should do so with a long-term time horizon.
