Nikola revokes accusations of foul play, cites battery defect as cause of truck fire at headquarters

Nikola has determined that a battery defect was the cause of a fire that ignited multiple vehicles at their headquarters in Arizona earlier this summer. 

The fire occurred on June 23rd at Nikola’s company headquarters at 40th Street and Broadway Road in Phoenix, Arizona, at around 5 a.m. There were four electric semi truck consumed by the flames, along with video footage of another vehicle pulling away from the trucks just prior to the fire. Now, however, the company says they have ruled out foul play and believe a battery defect is the reason behind the blaze. 

According to Arizona Family News, independent investigators located a coolant leak in a battery pack, and a second leak causing a fire was recorded at the company’s Coolidge plant. The two instances have led Nikola to believe that a coolant leak is what started the Phoenix fire. 

As a result of the findings, Nikola has issued a recall of 209 semi trucks and halted all further sales until a fix can be put into place. In the meantime, Nikola electric trucks out on the road can stay out, but the company advises that the Main Battery Disconnect should be switched to “ON” at all times and that the trucks should remain parked outside. 

“Thus far, only two battery packs have experienced a thermal event, out of more than 3,100 packs on trucks produced to date,” Nikola said in a news release.

“At Nikola, we take safety very seriously,” said Steve Girsky, Nikola’s CEO. “We stated from the beginning that as soon as our investigations were concluded, we would provide an update, and we will continue our transparency as we learn more.”