What follows is your irregular test in on the state of Nikola, an EV semi startup whose founder acquired in various hassle with the authorities however whose firm continues to be someway 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 stated 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 notice in Nikola’s press launch:

“It isn’t straightforward being a pioneer within the zero-emission Class 8 truck house, however we’re witnessing a exceptional surge in momentum,” stated Nikola CEO Michael Lohscheller. “We take nice delight in our present achievements and the inflow of orders coming in for our soon-to-be-produced hydrogen gasoline cell electrical truck. I consider 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 optimistic 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 referred to as Romeo Energy wherein Nikola had introduced final yr it was investing tens of hundreds of thousands 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 on paper. Regular issues for a standard firm that can definitely be round for a lot of many years to return.