What follows is your irregular test in on the state of Nikola, an EV semi startup whose founder received in various hassle with the authorities however whose firm remains to be one way or the other alive and kicking, and nonetheless publicly traded. Nikola, the firm reported on Wednesday, bought 66 vehicles within the second quarter of 2023, which is double the variety of vehicles that it bought within the first quarter of 2023, which was 33. The corporate additionally mentioned it produced 33 vehicles within the second quarter of 2023, which was down from the 63 vehicles it produced within the first quarter of 2023.

Its CEO sounded an optimistic word in Nikola’s press launch:

“It’s not simple being a pioneer within the zero-emission Class 8 truck area, however we’re witnessing a exceptional surge in momentum,” mentioned Nikola CEO Michael Lohscheller. “We take nice satisfaction in our present achievements and the inflow of orders coming in for our soon-to-be-produced hydrogen gasoline cell electrical truck. I imagine there has not been a greater time to be at Nikola as we transfer ahead, collectively.”

Reuters, which is a enterprise information service that’s usually extremely sober, interpreted the numbers as, “a constructive signal for the startup that has been grappling with a money crunch and stiff competitors.” Reuters additionally famous that Nikola’s inventory had fallen earlier than the market opened, after Nikola disclosed that it was liquidating investments in an organization known as Romeo Energy wherein Nikola had introduced final 12 months it was investing tens of tens of millions of {dollars}.

Nikola’s inventory rose in value when the market opened on Wednesday, and it presently has a market capitalization of round $1 billion, or a small fraction of what it was once on paper. Regular issues for a traditional firm that can definitely be round for a lot of a long time to return.