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Comment by new_realist | Hacker News Reader

It’s amazing how many people believe Tesla and Nikola are different beasts, when they execute in an almost identical manner, and have the same set of short sellers.

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Except, you know, building and selling the car that brought the EV market back from the dead, building a high end brand with the Model S, then building the most popular EV in the world, which is more then holding it's own against the rest of the established automotive world.

Tesla is 17 years old, Nikola is much younger.

So... they are different beasts? Which is it?

Or, even if you want to accept that time frame, Tesla built their own cars. This is the detail of the contract Nikola signed with GM.

It's pretty obvious that there isn't anything here at this point.

The main difference is that I can drive around in a Tesla and it seems like a pretty nice car. I don’t own one but it can’t really be a hoax at this point.

You can do that on a Nikola too. You need to start in a hilly area and ensure that you are going downhill. Nikola leverages gravity to deliver a form of transportation that uses the cleanest possible energy - gravity.

And using its super advanced HTML5 machine learning and Nikola's patented "3rd Law 2.0", it takes that gravity and stores it in a regenerative fuel cell in the battery for energy. It does this by redirecting existing inertia into the forward dampeners!

So cool.

no Nikolas have been delivered to customers, so no you cannot do that.

Please use imagination till delivery.

Technically, from their SEC financial statements, they recorded $36,000 in revenue from installing solar panels at Trevor Milton's house. He couldn't let it be zero!

I thought you were joking, but holy shit it's true!

Made me curious if there are any "pre-revenue" startups (let's say revenue < .5% of expenses) that IPOed and didn't eventually collapse. After all, it is a particularly ballsy move to IPO without any actual revenue, never mind profits.

Tesla has several different cars I can buy and drive right now. Nikola as far as I can tell has absolutely nothing I can buy and drive right now. One of these things is most definitely not like the other.

Tesla actually has working products in production with waitlists to buy them, I'd say they are very different...

Like any interview, all it takes is a little dip into technical details to separate a Nikola from a Tesla. One focused on the physics and another on the facade. The leadship also sets the template for who works there. An LDS member with no serious technical background will attract a house of hacks, not hackers.

Different kinds of fraud. Elon lies because his lies sell cars (I.e. FSD perpetually 1 quarter away). The purchasers are the aggrieved.

The effect his lies have on the stock market is secondary.

Yet one has sold a million vehicles

If you have spent more then 5min to research that topic and you actually believe that I'm sorry for you.

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