Who is ceo of nikola

Nikola’s “cab-over” Tre semi goes into production this year as a battery-powered model. Deliveries of a hydrogen fuel-cell version follows in 2023.

Nikola

Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton faces severe financial penalties and jail time if found guilty of federal charges that accuse him of making fraudulent statements that misled investors. His legal woes—and global auto parts shortages—are also ratcheting up pressure on the startup to get its first electric trucks into production this year and convince skeptics it remains on a path to commercial success. 

Mark Russell, Nikola’s CEO since it went public in June 2020, tells Forbes a key part of his job right now is keeping the Phoenix-based company focused on business targets set earlier this year, starting with shipments of battery-powered Tre semis. Reviews of Nikola by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department—begun last year after allegations by a short-seller of the stock that Milton made numerous false statements about the company—were already a “potential distraction,” Russell said in an interview a few days before Milton’s indictment. 

Nikola CEO Mark Russell

Nikola Corp.

“It’s been a top job for me to keep everybody focused on the things we all agree are the top priorities,” he said. Following those first deliveries of Tre trucks, built at a new assembly line Nikola set up at the Ulm, Germany, assembly plant of its commercial vehicle partner Iveco, the company is to begin producing them at its new Coolidge plant, about an hour away from Phoenix next year. It’s also preparing to get its hydrogen-powered trucks on the road by late 2022, and ramp up production of them and the hydrogen fuel they’ll need from renewable sources by 2023. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan charged Milton on July 29 with two counts of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was freed on $100 million bail. The SEC also filed a civil suit against him alleging securities fraud.

“The approximately 100 pages of charges against Trevor are against Trevor personally,” Russell said on Nikola’s second-quarter results call today, in response to an analyst’s question. “If you read through those, they all involve statements Trevor made personally and nothing the company said or filed, and nothing anybody else at the company said or recorded was mentioned in the indictment.”

Nikola is not yet generating revenue as vehicle sales haven’t begun. It reported a loss of 36 cents a share in the quarter, or 20 cents a share excluding certain items, for the quarter that ended June 30. The consensus expectation was a quarterly loss of 29 cents a share. Russell and CFO Kim Brady cautioned that increasingly tight supplies of key components, including semiconductors, touchscreens and even some more basic types of truck parts remain hard to come by and could push back the start of commercial deliveries to the first quarter of 2022. 

“The entire automotive industry is facing a global parts and material shortage, and the situation has only gotten more acute over the last 90 days,” Russell said. “We have supplier confirmation for enough battery cells to build up to 80 trucks in the fourth quarter, but we’re experiencing delays in receiving numerous other parts at this point. Of particular concern are vehicle head units, crash sensors, touchscreens and other displays. The common root cause for many of these is the worldwide shortage of integrated circuits and critical chipsets.”

“We’ve got the manufacturing capability to build up to 80 trucks in Coolidge and Ulm in the fourth quarter but we may not receive enough of those components by early December to delivery salable trucks to regular customers,” he said.

Since Milton’s departure from the company in September 2020, Russell has tightened Nikola’s focus to big trucks and fuel, scrapping side projects—including the Badger pickup truck, electric watercraft and an electric all-terrain vehicle.

Regardless of potential exaggerations by Milton about the market-readiness of Nikola’s technology its goals to shake up the heavy-duty vehicle market are highly ambitious. Nikola is not alone in readying high-tech electric trucks for the commercial market. Competitors including Tesla, Toyota’s Hino, Volvo Trucks, Daimler and Hyundai Motor are all readying their own battery or hydrogen models. Nikola’s pitch to customers is that it will be the first to also produce large amounts of hydrogen from low- and no-carbon sources and dispense that fuel them at stations it operates and at a price that’s cheaper than diesel fuel. 

Nikola founder Trevor Milton leaves a federal courthouse in New York on July 29 after being charged with three counts of criminal fraud.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nikola seemed to be making some progress on the latter goal this year, announcing a string of deals on the fuel infrastructure side, including a contract to buy cheap electricity from Arizona’s utility grid, a partnership in Europe to create a hydrogen pipeline in that market and its $50 million investment in a hydrogen project in Indiana, that will make the clean fuel from petroleum coke and other waste materials, and sequester carbon produced from the process. 

Continuing to move forward with those and other initiatives will likely require additional funds that may be harder to come by in the months ahead, because of Milton’s circumstances. At this point, it’s unclear whether existing Nikola partners, such as Iveco and Bosch, or anchor customer Anheuser-Busch would be willing to provide additional financial support. 

The company has secured additional funding of up to $300 million from a common stock purchase agreement with Tumin Stone Capital, but will likely still need to raise additional funds, CFO Brady said in the results call. He also noted that Nikola incurred $11 million in regulatory and legal charges in the second quarter related to the Hindenburg short-seller report that led to Milton’s resignation and legal woes.

Nikola plans to make and dispense hydrogen fuel for its high-tech trucks.

Nikola Corp.

“The company said it intends to deliver preseries Tre BEVs in the second half of 2021,” Garrett Nelson, an equity analyst for CFRA, said in a research note. “With a potential liquidity crunch looming and possible class action liability related to alleged fraudulent statements made by founder Trevor Milton, we remain skeptical of the story and reiterate a Strong Sell opinion on the shares.”

Russell says the company has cooperated with the SEC and DOJ throughout their review. And as for communication with Milton, it’s been “only through his counsel” since he left the company last September.

Nikola fell 8.7% to $10.21 in Nasdaq trading on Tuesday. The stock has dropped 28% since news of Milton’s indictment broke on July 29. 

Nikola Corp.

PHOENIX. February 22, 2022 — Nikola Corporation (Nasdaq: NKLA), a global leader in zero-emissions transportation and energy infrastructure solutions, today announced that Michael Lohscheller has been named President of Nikola Motor. Reporting to CEO Mark Russell and supported by the team that is already on the ground, he will be responsible for scaling Nikola’s global truck business.

“Michael Lohscheller brings several decades of direct automotive industry expertise to our already accomplished leadership team at Nikola. His role will be immediately pivotal as the Nikola Tre BEV moves into production, and as we continue to achieve development milestones for the Nikola Tre FCEV,” said Nikola Chief Executive Officer Mark Russell.

Lohscheller’s career has included leadership roles in finance, technology, purchasing and logistics at Volkswagen, before becoming Volkswagen Group of America Executive Vice President. Lohscheller was named CEO of Opel, both under GM and Stellantis ownership. Under his leadership, Lohscheller led Opel to sustainable profitability. He also oversaw Opel’s transformation into a respected electrified car brand. Most recently Lohscheller served as CEO of VinFast, the global electric automotive brand from Vietnam.

“As Nikola moves into global production, an experienced and respected industry veteran like Michael strengthens the Nikola team,” said Stephen Girsky, Nikola Corporation board chair. “He knows his way around the manufacturing floors, board rooms and showrooms and has worked with the latest technologies throughout his career. We are pleased to welcome Michael to the team.”

“It goes without saying that hydrogen fuel cell and battery-electric zero-emission vehicles are the future of mobility, and I am extremely proud to be joining a company that is paving the way for this global transformation,” stated Lohscheller. “My career has prepared me well to achieve the ambitious milestones needed to make this happen.”

About Michael Lohscheller

Michael Lohscheller graduated from Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and the University of Barcelona (Spain) in 1992. During his working years, Lohscheller completed a Master’s Program in European Marketing Management and obtained his M.A. at Brunel University London in 1996.

Having been active in the automotive industry for more than 20 years, Lohscheller has held a variety of high-ranking positions: Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Mitsubishi Motors Europe, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Volkswagen Group of America, Chief Executive Officer at Opel Automobile GmbH and Member of the Board at PSA Group and Global CEO of VinFast.

In his tenure as Opel CEO, Lohscheller was presented with several prestigious awards including Eurostar 2019 (Automotive News), Manbest 2019 (Autobest) and Manager of the Year 2019 (AutoZeitung).

ABOUT NIKOLA CORPORATION

Nikola Corporation is globally transforming the transportation industry. As a designer and manufacturer of zero-emission battery-electric and hydrogen-electric vehicles, electric vehicle drivetrains, vehicle components, energy storage systems, and hydrogen station infrastructure, Nikola is driven to revolutionize the economic and environmental impact of commerce as we know it today. Founded in 2015, Nikola Corporation is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information, visit www.nikolamotor.com or Twitter @nikolamotor.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS OF NIKOLA CORPORATION

Certain statements included in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook,” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the anticipated benefits of Mr. Lohscheller’s employment at Nikola. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, and on the current expectations of Nikola’s management. We cannot assure you that forward looking statements will be achieved and forward-looking statements are not predictions of actual performance. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, the failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the agreement; design and manufacturing changes, challenges and delays; economic, financial, legal, supply chain, regulatory, political and business conditions and changes in domestic and foreign markets; the potential effects of COVID-19; the outcome of legal, regulatory and judicial proceedings to which Nikola is, or may become a party; demand for and customer acceptance of Nikola’s trucks; risks associated with development and testing of fuel cell power modules and hydrogen storage systems; risks related to the rollout of Nikola’s business and the timing of expected business milestones, including delivery of trucks for sale; the effects of competition on Nikola’s future business; the availability of capital; risks associated with changes in accounting treatment or accounting standards; and the other risks detailed from time to time in Nikola’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 and other documents Nikola files with the SEC. If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and Nikola specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

NIKOLA MEDIA CONTACTS

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