Tesla Accuses Nikola of Copying Its Truck

Tesla and Nikola have always had a rather strange relationship. In the past few days, most of the hype fo Nikola has died down after it admitted that a promo video of its truck was actually a fake since the truck was not driven under its own power, that is to say, it was rolling downhill.

Nikola had previously gone on the offensive with Tesla, filing a lawsuit against them for allegedly copying the Nikola One truck to make the Semi.

Nikola Copied Rimac
In an unforeseen turn of events, Tesla has countered this by claiming that, in fact, it was Nikola who copied a truck design and not the other way around.

According to Tesla, Nikola had failed to mention in the patent for their truck was designed by Ariano Mudri, the same designer of the Rimac Road Runner truck. According to the documents filed by Tesla, Trevor Milton the CEO of Nikola had met with Mudri in 2015 meaning that he was aware of the design of Road Runner.

A Tesla Semi that was spotted earlier this month.

Some similar design features were also quoted to be the same as the Rimac. This was qualified as "deceptive intent" by the Tesla representatives.

Tesla Statement

This is what Tesla wrote:
“Adriano Mudri is the designer of the Road Runner concept truck. The Road Runner truck is a hydrogen-powered concept truck. The Road Runner concept truck was entered into the 2010 Michelin Design Challenge and was selected for display at the 2010 North American International Auto Show. Several images of the Road Runner concept truck are reproduced below.”

Nikola can do better
It is nothing short of hypocritical if these statements are proven to be true. Nikola knows full well that many of the statements they have made in the past have turned out to be made up. Instead of spending their time trying to advertise a product, they should focus on making it viable and unique.

There is space for everyone in the new vehicle market, whether it is hydrogen fueled or electric.

I hope that these issues can be solved without too much hostility. It is a shame for a company to throw away the chance it has to do good. What do you think both companies could have done better? Is Nikola a trustworthy company? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

This week Tesla announced some new battery improvements if you want more info click here.

This article is based on this news piece from Electrek.

Guillaume Humbert a Torque News automotive journalist covering Tesla news. "The way he first heard about Tesla was when he accidentally found a livestream of one of Tesla's cars back in 2018. It may sound boring, except this car was cruising in space. Since then Humbert has been following the EV automaker closely. Any of Tesla's innovations make the future look environmentally more friendly. "I am now trying to share the hope Tesla spread and inspire others through my articles," says Humbert whom you can follow on Twitter at Thinking Enthusiast.