In 2014, Trevor Milton was the man who promised to revolutionize the $1 trillion trucking industry.
By 2020, he was celebrated as a visionary, making it onto Forbes' 30 Under 30 list, with his hydrogen-powered truck company, Nikola, valued at a staggering $34 billion.
But fast forward to 2024, and Trevor Milton sits behind bars, his dream in ruins, his reputation shattered.
Milton's journey started with bold claims about Nikola's breakthrough in hydrogen-powered trucks. He proudly showcased the Nikola One truck as the future of clean transportation, boasting that it was ready to hit the roads. Major players in the industry were hooked on his vision.
BP pledged $750 million, Bosch threw in $2.8 billion, and General Motors inked a $2 billion partnership. These high-profile deals gave Nikola the credibility it needed, catapulting its valuation to $34 billion by mid-2020. Milton’s charisma and unrelenting optimism seemed unstoppable.
But beneath the hype, something darker was brewing.
In September 2020, the illusion began to crumble when Hindenburg Research dropped a bombshell. Their scathing report, titled "Nikola: How to Parlay An Ocean of Lies Into a Partnership With the Largest Auto OEM in America," exposed the company for what it really was—built on deception.
The investigation revealed that Nikola had no functioning prototypes. Milton had staged videos showing the truck rolling downhill, misleading investors and the public. Even the so-called battery advancements were sourced from a fraudulent company.
The once-glorified CEO stepped down amidst the backlash, but that wasn’t enough to save him.
By July 2021, Milton faced serious charges—wire fraud and securities fraud. The authorities had caught up with him. And in October 2022, a jury found him guilty of three counts of fraud. By December 2023, he was sentenced to four years in prison, fined $1 million, and left to watch his once-thriving company struggle without him.
Nikola Motors, meanwhile, limps forward.
In the first half of 2024, they managed to wholesale 112 hydrogen fuel cell trucks and announced plans to open 14 new HYLA hydrogen refueling stations by year’s end. But despite these efforts, the damage was done. Nikola’s stock price has plummeted by 84.39% since its 2016 highs.
Trevor Milton’s fall from grace serves as a cautionary tale in the business world—a once-celebrated visionary who let ambition and deception blind him. While Nikola Motors continues to fight for relevance, the industry will never forget the man who nearly brought it crashing down with lies and false promises. Milton may have believed in the power of vision, but in the end, he proved that no amount of hype can cover up the truth.