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Nikola Badger: Hydrogen-electric ute revealed with 965km range

It's only a render at this point, but Nikola is making some big promises about its first ute.


Nikola Motors has revealed its hydrogen and battery-powered rival to the Tesla Cybertruck and Rivian R1-T, with up to 675kW and 965km of range.

There's no battery magic going on to extract that incredible range. Unlike the battery-only R1-T and Cybertruck, the Badger blends a lithium-ion battery pack with a hydrogen fuel cell.

Battery-only range is a claimed 483km, while the 120kW fuel-cell adds another 483km.

Tesla says the range-topping Cybertruck will offer 800km of range, although the mid-spec model offers a more pedestrian 482km.

Rivian, which has laid out plans to bring the R1-T dual-cab ute to Australia by 2022, claims a maximum driving range of 643km.

Power in the Badger comes from an "independent wheel drive" powertrain, suggesting there will be four motors. Claimed peak power is 675kW on a sort of over boost, and 339kW under constant running. Peak torque is pegged at 1330Nm.

The upshot is a claimed towing capacity of 3629kg, and a 60mph (97km/h) sprint time of just 2.9 seconds.

It's worth taking these numbers with a grain of salt, however. Nikola Motors first sprung onto the scene with a semi truck powered by turbine-backed range-extender electric powertrain, but changed course and opted for a hydrogen fuel-cell setup instead.

It has since expanded its range of semi trucks to three, including a pure-electric model, but is yet to produce a truck for customers.

The Badger is only a set of renders for the moment, and even the artist's impressions you see here contain some odd details – like the gear selector, which appears to have a manual mode and the ability to lock the vehicle's pure-electric powertrain in a low gear.

Nikola says the Badger is coming in September 2020. Stay tuned for more in the lead-up to its launch.

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