(Bloomberg) -- Move over, Tesla Inc., another environmentally friendly vehicle maker is stealing your sunshine. Shares of Nikola Corp. leapt as much as 71% to a record in its third day of trading on the Nasdaq after a reverse merger with VectoIQ Acquisition Corp.
Trevor Milton, the chairman and founder of the hydrogen truck maker, has already set lofty goals. The company said last week that preorders for its vehicles topped $10 billion and it expects to start generating revenue in 2021.
The stock spiked higher on Monday after Milton tweeted that reservations for its zero emission truck, dubbed the Badger, would kick off later this month.
Investor interest in Nikola is growing. The Phoenix-based company added another $6 billion to its valuation after last week’s $12 billion market debut.
Nikola may face an uphill battle to create infrastructure, such as charging stations, for its fuelcell vehicles.
And like its other alternative fuel peer named after the same inventor, another unwanted similarity comes from an abundance of short-sellers. Bearish bets against Nikola reached a new peak of more than 20% of the public float this month, according to data from financial analytics firm S3 Partners.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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