Breaking News: GM invests in Nikola; to build Badger pickup

Automaker will fit its Hydrotec fuel cells in startup's trucks

General Motors is taking an 11% stake in startup Nikola Corp. and will build the Badger pickup as well as provide fuel cells for Nikola's Class 7 and 8 trucks.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) will become an 11% owner of electric truck startup Nikola Motors Corp. (NASDAQ: NKLA) and build the battery-electric Badger pickup as well as providing the fuel cells for Nikola’s Class 7 and 8 full-size trucks, the companies said Tuesday.

GM, which plans its own electric pickup truck, also recently invested in startup Lordstown Motors, which is planning a commercially focused pickup.

As CEO of VectoIQ, former GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky led the reverse merger that brought Nikola public in June.

GM will engineer, validate, homologate and build the Nikola Badger pickup in both battery and fuel cell electric variants. It is part of $2 billion worth of in-kind services the automaker will provide. GM also will provide its Hydrotec fuel cells for use in Nikola’s Class 7 and 8 tractors. Production begins in 2023.

Nikola expects to save more than $4 billion in battery and powertrain costs over 10 years and more than $1 billion in engineering and validation costs.

This is a developing story.

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Alan Adler

Alan Adler is an award-winning journalist who worked for The Associated Press and the Detroit Free Press. He also spent two decades in domestic and international media relations and executive communications with General Motors.