Electric Car News: Nikola Beats With Delivery Of First EV Truck

EV truck maker Nikola (NKLA) saw its shares jump as high as 20% on Thursday after it announced that it had delivered its electric semi-truck.

Nikola made the first customer delivery on Wednesday, announcing on Twitter that the initial delivery was “done,” adding that there was “more to come.”

The news of the truck delivery comes just days after Nikola confirmed that it had agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $125 million in a settlement agreement as a civil penalty where it was accused of defrauding and misleading investors about technological advancements of its products, technologies and commercial prospects.

The SEC said in a statement that Nikola’s founder and former CEO Trevor Milton had “embarked on a public relations campaign aimed at inflating and maintaining Nikola’s stock price” before a single commercial product had been produced by the company, which gave investors false impressions that the truck maker had reached certain milestones.

Milton stepped down as CEO shortly after a short-seller report in September 2020 from Hindenberg Research called out the company as an “intricate fraud,” spurring the investigation by the SEC.

Milton has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges brought against him by the Department of Justice in July. The SEC, however, has said that Nikola is responsible for the claims that Milton made.

Nikola will pay the penalty in five installments over two years and said it “neither admits nor denies the SEC’s findings.”

As of Thursday at 12:57 p.m. ET, shares of Nikola were trading at $10.97, up $1.57, or 16.7%.