Hydrogen early adopter faces big problems amid Nikola challenges
Nikola stock sinks to a 52-week low, a NHTSA complaint claiming the fuel cell shuts down unpredictably, and one of hydrogen’s early adopters remains unconvinced. Is it time for Nikola to throw in the towel on hydrogen?
William Hall’s Coyote Container company made headlines earlier this year, when it became the first company to successfully complete a 400-mile delivery in a Nikola Tre semi truck powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.
Hall, Managing Member and Founder of Coyote Container, drove the hydrogen Nikola over the hilly, 400-mile route that took the truck and its 17.7 ton trailer through California’s Altamont Pass and Grapevine Canyon on the I-5 interstate between the Port of Oakland and the Port of Los Angeles in Long Beach. The trip seemed like a ringing endorsement for the hydrogen-powered trucks. Nearly a year later, though, William seems to have soured on the early adopter experience, specifically citing higher-than-anticipated operating costs, fuel costs, weight limitations, and warranty concerns.
Coyote Container’s Nikola
“The truck costs five to ten times that of a standard Class 8 drayage [truck],” Hall told Clean Trucking. “On top of that, you pay five to ten times the Federal Excise Tax (FET) and local sales tax, [which comes to] roughly 22%. If you add the 10% reserve not covered by any voucher program, you are at 32%. Thirty-two percent of $500,000 is $160,000 for the trucker to somehow pay [out of pocket].”
Coyote Container isn’t alone in expressing concerns about the practicality of hydrogen trucks in general, but there are concerns about Nikola’s hydrogen semi truck, in particular.
In an official NHTSA complaint made against one Nikola HFCEV, the truck experienced five roadside propulsion outages resulting in three towings and two instances where the truck had to limp home on battery power. The failure was unpredictable, cutting off power while the vehicle showed between 20 and 140 miles left of FC range.
The first such incident happened with about 900 miles on the truck’s odometer, while the most recent occurred at 28,340 miles. You can read more about the Nikola NHTSA complaint, below – or just read Hall’s summary of the situation, in his own words: I have dealt with more tow trucks in the last 10 months than in my entire 62 years on this Earth.
NHTSA ID Nu. 11621826
While no recall has been issued for the above issue yet, the company has been no stranger to recalls in the past, and may be sensitive about issuing another one as its stock reaches a new 52-week low (more on that in a minute).
Regardless, the company issued a technical service bulletin (TSB) on October 29th, just 13 days after the official NHTSA complaint was filed.
The TSB itself mentions that, “a coolant fitting may come loose due to excess tension on a coolant line. Extension of the hose returns the tension to an appropriate level,” but while it’s unclear whether or not the TSB is intended to address the propulsion system, what is clear is that the TSB impacts VINs 001-266 – effectively all of the Nikola hydrogen semis currently on the road (as of September 30, Nikola reported selling 235 hydrogen semis).
And as for what it costs to fill up one of those 266 hydrogen semis? Hall says it’s impossible to tell. “No one will tell you what the H2 fuel costs,” he said. “This is because it’s being subsidized by the truck manufacturers by artificially raising truck pricing. This is a severe market distortion.”
Hall also said the added weight of the truck’s hydrogen system, compared to a conventional semi, was also hurting his ability to operate the trucks. “A Nikola Tre FCEV weighs 27,000 pounds versus my heaviest [diesel] sleeper weighing 19,400 pounds,” he told Clean Trucking, in that same interview. “Most drayage trucks weigh between 16,000 to 18,000 pounds. Shippers max out cargo whenever they can, so I have to constantly switch to a diesel in order to be road legal.”
A higher GVWR rating for ZEV trucks, especially on drayage facilities and on off-highway routes with lower relative speeds, could help mitigate that issue without adding excessive risk at highway speeds.
That won’t happen overnight, however, and Hall is losing patience.
The Coyote Container founder took to LinkedIn to vent. There, he shared some thoughts on a Seeking Alpha article calling Nikola a, “strong sell.” Hall wrote, “I have experienced an amazing amount of warranty repair down time in the last 14 weeks only making five of my weekly trips from Oakland to Long Beach. Dealing with battery failures and fuel cell shutdowns.”
Dave Baiocchi, General Manager of ETHERO Truck + Energy (the selling dealer), chose to respond to Hall publicly, writing in defense of Nikola, “I think it’s fair to say that as an extremely early adopter of this technology, and with one of the first units off the assembly line this truck has served you well.”
Nikola recently celebrated the production of its 300th hydrogen semi truck at the company’s Coolidge, Arizona facility. Nikola’s third-quarter net revenue reached $25.2 million, falling short of Wall Street estimates of $37.2 million. The miss was blamed on the unexpected costs associated with the repurchasing of 20 battery-electric Nikola Tre trucks in October.
Electrek’s Take
Despite what might be perceived as the negative tone of this article, I want Nikola to succeed. I want to see a new American truck company figure out a way to succeed, and a way to continue to grow. That said, having proxy arguments with your customers about very real, very concerning issues on social media – and through your dealers – isn’t the way to do that.
We (I) reached out to Nikola staff through both email and LinkedIn on Tuesday regarding these facts and other (as yet) unsubstantiated rumors about its 2025 FCHEV production plans, but received no response as of EOD, Friday, when this story went live.
SOURCES | IMAGES: Fuel Cell Works, NHTSA, Clean Trucking, Investing, Electric-Vehicles.com, Seeking Alpha, and Coyote Container, via William Hall (links throughout the article).
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Environment
U.S. Steel shares rally as Trump approves Nippon takeover with unique government ‘golden share’
Trails of Iranian ballistic missiles light up the night sky as seen from Gaza City during renewed missile strikes launched by Iran in retaliation against Israel on June 15, 2025.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
Tehran will “pay the price” for its fresh missile onslaught against Israel, the Jewish state’s defense minister warned Monday, as markets braced for a fourth day of ramped-up conflict between the regional powers.
Fire exchanges have continued since Israel’s Friday attack against Iran, with Iranian media reporting Tehran’s latest strikes hit Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, home to a major refinery. CNBC has reached out to operator Bazan for comment on the state of operations at the Haifa plant, amid reports of damage to Israel’s energy infrastructure.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said overnight it deployed “innovative methods” that “disrupted the enemy’s multi-layered defense systems, to the point that the Zionist air defense systems engaged in targeting each other,” according to a statement obtained by NBC News.
Israel has widely depended on its highly efficient Iron Dome missile defense system to fend off attacks throughout regional conflicts — but even it can be overwhelmed if a large number of projectiles are fired.
The fresh hostilities are front-of-mind for investors, who have been weighing the odds of further escalation in the conflict and spillover into the broader oil-rich Middle East, amid concerns over crude supplies and the key shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
Oil prices retained the gains of recent days and at 09:19 a.m. London time, Ice Brent futures with August delivery were trading at $73.81 per barrel, down 0.57% from the previous trading session. The Nymex WTI contract with July expiry was at $72.7 per barrel, 0.38% lower.
Elsewhere, however, markets showed initial signs of shrugging off the latest hostilities early on Monday.
Spot prices for key safe-haven asset gold retreated early morning, down 0.42% to $3,417.83 per ounce after nearly notching a two-year-high earlier in the session, with U.S. gold futures also down 0.65% to $ 3,430.5
Tel Aviv share indices pointed higher, with the blue-chip TA-35 up 0.99% and the wider TA-125 up 1.33%.
European stock markets opened higher Monday, meanwhile, and U.S. stock futures were also in the green.
Luis Costa, global head of EM sovereign credit at Citigroup Global Markets, signaled the muted reaction could be, in part, attributed to hopes of a brisk resolution to the conflict.
“So markets are obviously, you know, bearing in mind all potential scenarios. There are obviously potentially very bad scenarios in this story,” he told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Monday. “But there is still a way out in terms of, you know, a faster resolution and bringing Iran to the table, or a short continuation here, of a very surgical and intense strike by the Israeli army.”
U.S. response in focus
As of Monday morning, Israel’s national emergency service Magen David Adom reported four dead and 87 injured following rocket strikes at four sites in “central Israel,” reporting collapsed buildings, fire and people trapped under debris.
Accusing Tehran of targeting civilians in Israel to prevent the Israel Defense Forces from “continuing the attack that is collapsing its capabilities,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, a close longtime ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a Google-translated social media update that “the residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon.”
The IDF on Sunday said it had in turn “completed a wide-scale wave of strikes on numerous weapon production sites belonging to the Quds Force, the IRGC and the Iranian military, in Tehran.”
CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.
The U.S.’ response is now in focus, given its close support and arms provision to Israel, the unexpected cancellation of Washington’s latest nuclear deal talks with Iran, and President Donald Trump’s historically hard-hitting stance against Tehran during his first term.
Trump, who has been pushing Iran for a deal over its nuclear program, has weighed in on the conflict, opposing an Israeli proposal to kill Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to NBC News.
Discussions about the conflict are expected to take place during the ongoing meeting of the G7, encapsulating Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S., along with the European Union.
— CNBC’s Katrina Bishop contributed to this report.
A Tesla Model 3 got stuck on a train track and was hit, albeit slightly, by a train in Sinking Spring, PA. The driver claimed it was in “self-driving mode.”
According to the fire alerts in Berks County, a Tesla Model 3 drove around a train track barrier near South Hull Street and Columbia Avenue and got stuck in the tracks.
The driver was able to exit the vehicle, but a train hit the car, reportedly snapping off the side mirror.
The fire commissioner ordered to stop all train traffic as the emergency services worked to get the Model 3 off the tracks using a crane.
Spitlers Garage & Towing, performed the recovery and shared a few pictures on Facebook:
The Tesla driver reportedly claimed that the vehicle was in “self-driving mode” leading up to getting stuck on the train tracks.
Tesla claims that all its vehicles built since 2016 will be capable of unsupervised self-driving with software updates; however, this has yet to occur.
Instead, Tesla has been selling a “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) package for up to $15,000 that requires the driver to constantly supervise the vehicle, with the driver remaining responsible for the car at all times.
Electrek’s Take
There have been instances of Tesla drivers engaging in reckless behavior and then attributing it to the Full Self-Driving (FSD) features.
I’m not saying it’s the case here, but it’s a possibility.
On the other side, I’ve seen FSD try to navigate around construction barriers. It’s possible that it tried to do that in this case, here and then got caught on the tracks.
We would need more data.
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