Nikola Motors claimed it would revolutionize heavy trucking with hydrogen fuel-cell technology and reached a peak market capitalization of $34 billion in June 2020 — briefly surpassing Ford — despite having generated precisely zero dollars in revenue. Short-seller Hindenburg Research then published a devastating report revealing that a promotional video of a Nikola truck apparently driving under its own power had actually been filmed with the truck rolling downhill on a slope. Founder Trevor Milton was convicted of securities fraud in 2022, the stock collapsed by over 90%, and the company — once a symbol of clean energy hype — lurched toward insolvency.
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