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Troubled electric truck maker Nikola files for bankruptcy

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31–40 of 98 posts

Re: Troubled electric truck maker Nikola files for bankruptcy

#31
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hydrogen has its place in our energy economy It certainly does not! (At least, not in any meaningful sense). A) How do you store it? Hydrogen does not compress to a liquid (except a cryogenic temperatures), meaning storage requires bulky, heavy and dangerous high pressure storage..... or cryo kit. B) Where do you get the hydrogen from? Electrolysis of water gives less hydrogen energy out than electrical energy you…

> It certainly does not! (At least, not in any meaningful sense). The problem is, there are applications that for the foreseeable future cannot be made to work on batteries - airplanes larger than bushcraft and large-scale maritime shipping (the large ocean liners carry upwards of a million gallons of fuel). Assuming we want to convert these away from fossil fuels - which we have to! - there are only two renewable al…

synthfuels will catch up eventually, the economics keep getting better and there’s really no alternative

Re: Troubled electric truck maker Nikola files for bankruptcy

#32
post #20
post #3

Hydrogen has its place in our energy economy but its got too many issues to be used to power vehicles. Batteries have won, and synthesized hydrocarbons will be the alternative for where batteries won't work (i.e., most commercial air travel). That said, it's a pity to see this failure.

> Hydrogen has its place in our energy economy It certainly does not! (At least, not in any meaningful sense). A) How do you store it? Hydrogen does not compress to a liquid (except a cryogenic temperatures), meaning storage requires bulky, heavy and dangerous high pressure storage..... or cryo kit. B) Where do you get the hydrogen from? Electrolysis of water gives less hydrogen energy out than electrical energy you…

I agree with most of what you’ve said, but there are some niche uses.

https://www.liebreich.com/hydrogen-ladder-version-5-0/

Re: Troubled electric truck maker Nikola files for bankruptcy

#34

Briefly more valuable than the ford motor company. SPACs were borderline criminal enterprises, though this one was outright criminal.

And yet...just watch all the people who will think because they raised $700m that they're a success to be emulated. People still fervently defend Elizabeth Holmes.

Re: Troubled electric truck maker Nikola files for bankruptcy

#35
post #20
post #3

Hydrogen has its place in our energy economy but its got too many issues to be used to power vehicles. Batteries have won, and synthesized hydrocarbons will be the alternative for where batteries won't work (i.e., most commercial air travel). That said, it's a pity to see this failure.

> Hydrogen has its place in our energy economy It certainly does not! (At least, not in any meaningful sense). A) How do you store it? Hydrogen does not compress to a liquid (except a cryogenic temperatures), meaning storage requires bulky, heavy and dangerous high pressure storage..... or cryo kit. B) Where do you get the hydrogen from? Electrolysis of water gives less hydrogen energy out than electrical energy you…

> Electrolysis of water gives less hydrogen energy out than electrical energy you put in....

This is literally all energy storage... Lithium-ion batteries lose about 10-20% during charging and another 5% during discharge.

How do you figure any energy storage medium would give you more than 100% of the energy you put into it?

Re: Troubled electric truck maker Nikola files for bankruptcy

#37

I always wondered how it kept some value for a long time after the Hindenburg Research report[1]. To me, the report (and the CEO's empty response to it) made it clear there was pretty much no value in it, but the stock only lost 50% in the following week. [1] https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/

People also bought Fisker cars again, even knowing that the company produced defective cars before going bankrupt last time (which they did again this time).

I think its because Fisker was in bankruptcy and the cars were sold at deep discounts as part of liquidation.

Re: Troubled electric truck maker Nikola files for bankruptcy

#38
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SMCI lost 60% after its auditor failed to audit and resigned after that, it roses 300% SMCI is also a target of hindenburg https://hindenburgresearch.com/smci/ before this, I didn't even know that a company that couldn't be audited could still be listed.

Auditing a company is not a normal procedure. Many companies, even in the S&P500, may have trouble during an audit. I remember there was a serious report about GE at one time, they decided to split the company as a response.

By law, any public company in the US (and most other countries) are required to have a financial statement audit. I am sure there are instances where it is not required, but substantially all private companies that have debt are required per their credit agreement to have a financial statement audit completed. I would be interested where you are getting your information that auditing a company is not a normal process.

Re: Troubled electric truck maker Nikola files for bankruptcy

#39
post #10

Remember when they rolled a car down hill because it couldn’t even drive?

Imagine if someone had said this about Tesla. They would have been swamped if wall of text responses. At least Nikola delivered what they promised.

Imagine if Tesla copied another automaker's name then created a demo of their car rolling down a hill.

Re: Troubled electric truck maker Nikola files for bankruptcy

#40
post #20
post #3

Hydrogen has its place in our energy economy but its got too many issues to be used to power vehicles. Batteries have won, and synthesized hydrocarbons will be the alternative for where batteries won't work (i.e., most commercial air travel). That said, it's a pity to see this failure.

> Hydrogen has its place in our energy economy It certainly does not! (At least, not in any meaningful sense). A) How do you store it? Hydrogen does not compress to a liquid (except a cryogenic temperatures), meaning storage requires bulky, heavy and dangerous high pressure storage..... or cryo kit. B) Where do you get the hydrogen from? Electrolysis of water gives less hydrogen energy out than electrical energy you…

There are a lot of hydrogen vehicles on the road already, especially buses.
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