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SEOUL (Reuters) – US electric advertising truck manufacturer Nikola said he is open to working with Hyundai Motor on hydrogen technology, following a media report that he had contacted the Korean automaker.
In an interview with South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo published Sunday, Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Corp, said he was looking to cooperate with Hyundai. He said he had made proposals to Hyundai twice that were rejected.
Hyundai and Toyota Motor Corp are among the few automakers using hydrogen technology.
“Trevor has great respect for Hyundai and sees Hyundai as one of the world leaders in hydrogen,” Nikola Nicole Rose’s spokeswoman said in an envoy to Reuters.
“Trevor has been, and will remain, open to running in combination if they do, ” said Rose. He did not answer the question of whether Nikola had made any proposals to Hyundai.
A user close to Hyundai said there were no ongoing cooperation talks between the two companies. “If Nikola makes an official offer, Hyundai can make the proposal,” the user said.
He said Hyundai sought to sell its hydrogen systems to other automakers, but at the same time, Nikola could be a potential competitor to Hyundai’s advertising truck business.
“It would be a confusing relationship,” he said, refusing to be known because he is allowed to talk to the media.
In July, Hyundai Motor shipped the first 10 games of the Hyundai XCIENT Fuel Cell, the world’s first mass-produced heavy-fuel mobile truck, to Switzerland with the aim of deploying a total of 1,600 games through 2025.
Hyundai has partnered with Audi in hydrogen technology.
Nikola has announced plans to start generating its battery electric trucks in 2021, followed by its mobile fuel electric trucks in 2023.
(Report through Hyunjoo Jin; Additional report by Heekyong Yang; Edited through Jacqueline Wong)