You have heard of Tesla but have you heard of Nikola motor corporation? Don’t worry you soon will.   

Nikola motor corporation is an American zero emissions vehicle production company based in Phoenix, Arizona, where it has its research and development operations, and corporate offices. 

Nikola started trading on the Nasdaq in June and is now worth US$10.5 billion (NZ$15.8b), having reached a peak of US$30 billion. The company is named after inventor Nikola Tesla, where Elon Musk also got the moniker for his electric vehicle giant.

Nikola was founded by 38-year-old college drop out, Trevor Milton, who has been backed by a number of European giants and not only produces electric vehicles but off-road machines and heavy duty fuel cell vehicles.

Milton was the CEO and founder of dHybrid Systems LLC, a natural gas storage technology company which was acquired by America's largest steel providers, Worthington Industries.

Nikola motor corporation will focus on heavy duty trucks, but also plans the “Badger” which will rival the Cybertruck.

Bosch is helping develop the electric powertrain for Nikola and the first vehicles will be built in Germany in a factory owned by Italy’s Iveco. Bosch and Iveco each own 6 per cent of Nikola. 

While many could label Nikola as “just another electric start-up”, it has a very driven founder in Milton, who is even more vocal on Twitter than Musk.

Milton, unlike Musk, backs hydrogen while the Tesla boss is antihydrogen.  Milton, also unlike Musk, backs outsourcing, which has resulted in intellectual property being owned jointly with suppliers or in some cases Nikola solely. Tesla tends to try to do everything in-house.

Nikola broke ground on a US$600 million manufacturing facility in Arizona this week, where it will handle its own manufacturing for the domestic market with assistance from Iveco.