Electric Class 8 truck and tractor manufacturing start-up, Nikola Corporation, has started construction of a one million square foot manufacturing facility on a 430-acre site in Coolidge.

Nikola Corporation early last month completed its previously announced business combination with VectoIQ Acquisition Corporation, a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, and Nikola’s listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the new ticker symbol NKLA.

Battery-powered and fuel cell heavy-duty truck builder, Nikola Corporation, has announced plans to join together with a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, VectoIQ Acquisition Corporation, to create a company focused on the development of next generation smart transportation.

Nikola is now the new brand name for heavy-duty battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell tractor units from Iveco in Europe.

Nikola Corporation has released details of its new battery technology, which is claimed to have a record energy density of 1,100 watt-hours per kg on the material level and 500 watt-hours per kg on the production cell level.

Nikola Corporation, a technology start-up company focused on the production zero emission transportation solutions, at the European launch of Nikola Tre – a BEV and FCEV tractor unit – together with its industrial partner, CNH Industrial at the industrial village of subsidiary, Iveco SpA, announced its strategy to develop a hydrogen fuelling and BEV charging network in Europe suitable for the operation of battery electric and hydrogen-fuelled long haul tractor units.

Trevor Milton, Nikola CEO and founder of electric truck concern, Nikola Motor Company, at an event held at its WestWorld facility in Scottsdale, said the company was actively pursuing hydrogen as a ubiquitous fuel for its electric vehicles and that it had just committed to making an initial investment of USD16m to build Nikola's new fuel cell development laboratory and that staged investments in the new facility was expected to exceed several hundred million dollars.

After announcing development of a hydrogen-electric truck for European markets back in November, the electric vehicle pioneer, Nikola Motor Company unveiled Nikola Tre at a major event held at its WestWorld facility in Scottsdale.