This pickup is a hydrogen/EV hybrid with 906bhp

Anyone remember Nikola? We first brought you news of the Phoenix-based company in December last year as it unveiled an Iveco S-WAY lorry that had been converted into a full-EV. 

Now though, it’s done something properly exciting. Welcome everyone… to the Badger. Yep, the potentially game-changing pickup you see above is genuinely called the Nikola Badger. Respect. 

We say game-changing because the Badger will apparently be a hydrogen fuel cell/electric hybrid which can manage 300 miles on EV power alone and a further 300 when topped up from the H pump. Nikola plans to install an American network of hydrogen fuel stations for its lorries too, so there’s that problem sorted. 

Plus, there’s even more interesting news from that hybrid powertrain. Whereas Nikola’s EV-only lorry had just 644bhp, the Badger puts out a mighty 906bhp and 980lb ft of torque. Crikey – should have called it the Honey Badger. 

Said power is split between all four wheels and propels the near-six-metre-long pickup from 0-60mph in just 2.9 seconds. It also means a towing capacity of over 3.6 tonnes, and the ability to export 15kW of power to enable the use of power tools on a construction site. Clever. 

That’s about all we know for now. Nikola’s website says ‘coming September 2020’ – although whether that refers to a single development mule or the start of a whole production run isn’t clear. 

What is clear is that the alternatively-fuelled pickup truck market is seriously hotting up. Ford is building an electric F-150, Rivian is soon to release the R1T and General Motors is building an EV Hummer with 1,000bhp. Oh, and there’s the small matter of that Tesla Cybertruck thing. Who'll win, Internet?