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Nikola

stock was soaring like it’s 2020. A hydrogen-powered truck sale is the reason.

Electric heavy-duty truck maker

Nikola

(ticker: NKLA) announced that BayoTech, a producer of hydrogen gas, will purchase up to 50 Nikola hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles for the transport of hydrogen gas.

“Nikola and BayoTech are united by a common goal of providing reliable access to hydrogen throughout the United States,” said Nikola CEO Michael Lohscheller in a news release. “BayoTech’s low-carbon hydrogen fuel and transport equipment will play an important part in supporting the adoption of Nikola’s [heavy-duty] fuel cell electric zero-emission trucks.”

Demand for Nikola trucks and more hydrogen gas infrastructure to power them is good news. Investors appeared thrilled. Shares were up 34% to $1.84. The

S&P 500
and

Nasdaq Composite
are up 0.6% and 1.2%, respectively.

The huge one-day gain might remind investors of mid-2020 when Nikola stock doubled on June 8, around the time it closed its merger with a special purpose acquisition company. The deal provided Nikola with $700 million in cash and essentially turned Nikola into a publicly traded company.

Nikola stock closed that day at $73.27. That’s a long way away from below $2 a share. Things have gotten much harder for electric-vehicle start-ups since then.

Higher interest rates and the need for more capital are reasons for that. Wall Street estimates Nikola will use more than $1.1 billion building its business between now and the end of 2025. Nikola ended the first quarter with about $200 million on its books.

Write to Al Root at [email protected]