EXCLUSIVE | Nikola hydrogen station czar on what went wrong – and how others could get it right
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At the heart of every failure are lessons that might just pave the way to success. In the case of now-bankrupt zero-emission truck maker Nikola, its attempt to build a hydrogen-powered trucking market single-handedly exposed the fragility of refuelling – from staggering boil-off losses to the high cost of keeping stations running.
When Nikola set out to develop its hydrogen fuelling network to support its Class 8 Tre FCEV trucks, it was betting on its ability to build a hydrogen supply chain from scratch.
With no third-party developer willing to take the risk on hydrogen refuelling for heavy-duty trucks, Nikola bet on building its own stations from the ground up. And the company’s “station czar,” David Leese, quickly found himself overseeing a crew of 70 field technicians and commissioning mobile refuellers, built largely in-house.
