Two More Nikola Trucks Catch Fire In A Week, Capping Off Bad Summer For The Startup

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Things are starting to look grim for electric vehicle startup, Nikola, two more of whose vehicles caught fire last week. The incidents took place at two separate locations and, fortunately, no injuries were reported in either case.

The first fire took place early last week, and occurred at its facility in Tempe, Arizona. Then, on Friday, September 8, another incident occurred early in the morning at Nikola’s headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona.

“On Friday September 8 at approximately 8:30 am, there was a thermal incident with one engineering validation battery-electric truck near Nikola’s Phoenix headquarters. No one was injured,” Nikola told InsideEVs. “This pre-production truck was outside and undergoing battery fire investigation and testing. We thank the Phoenix first responders for their quick action. We will share more information as we learn more.”

Read: Nikola Recalls And Halts Sales Of Electric Tre Truck After Fire Investigation

The third and fourth fires to affect its vehicles this summer, Nikola’s image has taken a beating this summer. Following the first reported fire in June, the company blamed foul play, but an investigation did not bear that explanation out.

The company then disclosed another fire, and in August announced a coolant leak was likely behind the first fire. It admitted that it would have to pause sales and initiated a recall of the Tre transport truck as a result of the defect.

Following the most recent reported fires, Nikola’s stock fell by about 15 percent to 88 cents per share last week, reports Reuters. Since announcing the recall in August, the company’s shares are down a total of 55 percent.

That has made things difficult for the EV startup, which is struggling to emerge from the shadow of its former CEO, who left the company in disgrace and was convicted of fraud after releasing doctored videos and making false claims.