As the biggest manufacturer in the electric semi-truck market, Nikola has taken the lead on how to manufacture and design these massive trucks. Now they are recalling all of them over a battery component that could involuntarily catch fire.
First reported by The Wall Street Journal, the recall comes as a result of a June 23rd incident, where a truck parked at their Phoenix HQ caught fire. Through an external investigation, it was determined a “defective battery part likely caused a fire in one of the trucks.” On August 11th, the company released information about the fire along with the recall.
In that release, the company discovered that the defective battery part caused a catastrophic coolant leak. A leak that ultimately caused the battery to overheat and cause the fire. This release indicated that approximately 60% of their previously produced trucks are a part of this recall.
Along with voluntarily notifying the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the recall, they would be temporarily stopping the sale of these vehicles. Those who could stop their rigs and leave them parked outside were advised to do so. Meanwhile, anyone still needing to use their rig was instructed to enable real-time monitoring of their vehicle and keep a close eye on the status of the battery packs.
This Tre BEV line of trucks was a new addition to their lineup, having just come out just last year. Hydrogen-operated trucks had previously been the main focus of Nikola since the company’s inception in 2015.
