Nikola Corp (NKLA) 2022 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to Nikola Corporation's Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

早上好，歡迎參加 Nikola Corporation 的 2022 年第二季度財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）作為提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

It is my pleasure to introduce Nikola's Director of Investor Relations, Henry Kwon. Thank you. Henry, you may begin.

我很高興向大家介紹 Nikola 的投資者關係總監 Henry Kwon。謝謝你。亨利，你可以開始了。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Nikola Corporation's Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. With me today are Mark Russell, Chief Executive Officer of Nikola; and Kim Brady, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝接線員，大家早上好。歡迎來到 Nikola Corporation 的 2022 年第二季度財報電話會議。今天和我在一起的是 Nikola 的首席執行官 Mark Russell；和首席財務官金布雷迪。

The press release detailing our financial results was distributed shortly after 6:00 a.m. Pacific Time this morning. The release can be found on the Investor Relations section of the company's website, along with presentation slides accompanying today's call.

詳細說明我們財務業績的新聞稿於太平洋時間今天早上 6:00 後不久發布。該新聞稿可在公司網站的投資者關係部分以及今天電話會議隨附的演示幻燈片中找到。

Today's discussions include references to non-GAAP measures. These measures are reconciled to the most comparable U.S. GAAP measures and can be found at the end of the Q2 earnings press release we issued today.

今天的討論包括對非公認會計原則措施的引用。這些措施與最具可比性的美國公認會計原則措施相一致，可以在我們今天發布的第二季度收益新聞稿末尾找到。

Today's discussions also include forward-looking statements about our expectations. Actual results may differ materially from those stated, and factors that could cause actual results to differ are also explained at the end of the Q2 earnings press release and on Page 2 of our earnings presentation. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

今天的討論還包括關於我們預期的前瞻性陳述。實際結果可能與所述結果存在重大差異，並且可能導致實際結果不同的因素也在第二季度收益新聞稿末尾和我們的收益報告的第 2 頁中進行了解釋。前瞻性陳述僅在發表之日發表。告誡讀者不要過分依賴前瞻性陳述。

We will now begin a brief video presentation, followed by prepared remarks from Mark Russell and Kim Brady.

我們現在將開始一個簡短的視頻演示，然後是 Mark Russell 和 Kim Brady 準備好的評論。

(presentation)

（介紹）

Thanks for joining us. Q2 was important for Nikola, our first quarter of generating revenue from Nikola Tre BEV. We couldn't have achieved this milestone without the extraordinary hard work and dedication of our outstanding team of people. We're proud of what we accomplished so far. We're so excited about continuing this drive to decarbonize heavy transport.

感謝您加入我們。第二季度對 Nikola 很重要，我們第一季度從 Nikola Tre BEV 獲得收入。沒有我們優秀團隊的非凡努力和奉獻精神，我們不可能實現這一里程碑。我們為迄今為止所取得的成就感到自豪。我們對繼續推動重型運輸脫碳的努力感到非常興奮。

Let's start with things on the vehicle front. We produced a total of 50 Nikola Tre BEV's in Coolidge Arizona during the quarter, and we delivered 48 of those to our dealers around the country. Two were delivered just after the quarter end, and they'll be reported with Q3 shipments.

讓我們從車輛前面的事情開始。本季度，我們在亞利桑那州柯立芝共生產了 50 輛 Nikola Tre BEV，其中 48 輛交付給了全國各地的經銷商。兩個是在季度末之後交付的，它們將與第三季度的出貨量一起報告。

Our battery pack supply, Romeo continued to experience manufacturing challenges during the quarter. We lost a total of 2 weeks of production at Coolidge due to delayed pack deliveries.

我們的電池組供應商羅密歐在本季度繼續面臨製造挑戰。由於延遲包裝交付，我們在柯立芝總共損失了 2 週的生產時間。

On the customer front, we completed and we are continuing numerous successful pilot and demo programs, including several that have not been publicly announced. Notable among the public programs are TTSI, the Aje Brothers Anheuser-Busch, Univar, Rod One IKEA, Manor Logistics Systems and Covenant with Saia starting this month and Walmart in September. Average for all Tre BEVs in the field is an extraordinary 94% to date.

在客戶方面，我們完成並繼續進行許多成功的試點和演示計劃，其中包括一些尚未公開宣布的計劃。公共項目中值得注意的是 TTSI、Aje Brothers Anheuser-Busch、Univar、Rod One IKEA、Manor Logistics Systems 和本月開始與 Saia 的 Covenant 以及 9 月開始的 Walmart。迄今為止，該領域所有 Tre BEV 的平均值是驚人的 94%。

I'd like to highlight right now what it takes to actually get 0 emission trucks into commercial service and hauling freight every day. I think this further validates Nikola's long-standing focus and strategy of providing a total solution, including service, support and most importantly, in this case, charging and fueling infrastructure. When you commit to using a zero-emission truck, you're also committing to the infrastructure that it needs to operate.

我現在想強調一下，實際上將 0 排放卡車投入商業服務和每天運輸貨物需要什麼。我認為這進一步驗證了 Nikola 長期以來提供整體解決方案的重點和戰略，包括服務、支持，最重要的是，在這種情況下，充電和加油基礎設施。當您承諾使用零排放卡車時，您也承諾使用它需要運行的基礎設施。

Let's use our launch customer, TTSI as an example. They've committed to a 100-truck fleet of 30 tray BEVs and 70 tray FCEVs. They are up and running with the TRAB EV and SCED prototype by using mobile electric charging and mobile hydrogen fueling equipment that Nikola has helped provide. Nikola's mobile charging trailers and a temporary to permanent version that we call an [e-skid] as well as mobile hydrogen fueling systems we've helped develop can get a customer started. But continuing to scale up to fleet level infrastructure can require additional significant and permanent electric power charging and permanent heavy-duty infrastructure for hydrogen fueling, all located so that they'll work with existing operations. Here again, Nikola is helping to provide this critical and necessary infrastructure, as you saw in our announcement this morning, of 3 commercial hydrogen dispensing stations in Southern California.

讓我們以我們的啟動客戶 TTSI 為例。他們已承諾建立一個由 30 輛托盤 BEV 和 70 輛托盤 FCEV 組成的 100 輛卡車車隊。他們使用 Nikola 幫助提供的移動充電和移動氫燃料設備啟動並運行了 TRAB EV 和 SCED 原型。 Nikola 的移動充電拖車和我們稱之為 [e-skid] 的臨時到永久版本以及我們幫助開發的移動氫燃料系統可以讓客戶開始使用。但是，繼續擴大到車隊級別的基礎設施可能需要額外的重要和永久的電力充電和用於氫燃料的永久重型基礎設施，所有這些都位於以便它們可以與現有業務一起使用。正如您在今天上午的公告中所見，Nikola 正在幫助提供這一關鍵和必要的基礎設施，為南加州的 3 個商業加氫站提供幫助。

Lead time for this infrastructure varies by location, but it can be significant. For example, and in addition to normal permitting and local approvals, if charging infrastructure at a given location requires an upgrade to power capacity, utility switch gear or substation infrastructure, the lead time can be up to a year or even longer. Lead times for hydrogen dispensing locations similarly vary by location, but generally, they are more than a year. In some cases, this infrastructure lead time, along with any hesitancy or delay in committing to or commencing construction could be a limiting factor in the growth of zero-emission customer fleets.

該基礎設施的交付時間因地點而異，但可能很重要。例如，除了正常的許可和當地批准外，如果給定地點的充電基礎設施需要升級電力容量、公用開關設備或變電站基礎設施，則交貨時間可能長達一年甚至更長。氫氣分配地點的交貨時間同樣因地點而異，但通常超過一年。在某些情況下，這種基礎設施的交付時間以及承諾或開始建設的任何猶豫或延遲都可能成為零排放客戶車隊增長的限制因素。

We began building the first batch of 6 Nikola Tre FCEV beta prototypes during Q2, which we expect to complete in August. The second batch of 6 Tre FCEV betas will start later this month and should finish by the end of Q3. The third batch will begin in Q3 and be completed by Q4 of this year according to plan.

我們在第二季度開始建造第一批 6 輛 Nikola Tre FCEV 測試版原型，我們預計將在 8 月完成。第二批 6 輛 Tre FCEV 測試版將於本月晚些時候開始，並應在第三季度末完成。第三批將於第三季度開始，按計劃在今年第四季度完成。

Specific changes from the alphas to betas include increased hydrogen storage capacity and improved efficiency of the fuel cell power module. These beta trucks will enable further engineering development and performance validation testing.

從 alpha 到 beta 的具體變化包括增加儲氫容量和提高燃料電池功率模塊的效率。這些測試版卡車將支持進一步的工程開發和性能驗證測試。

We'll build the gamma variance next year in Q1 and for our own captive fleet and additional customer pilots, we still expect to begin North American serial production of the tray FCEV in the second half of 2023.

我們將在明年第一季度建立伽馬方差，對於我們自己的專屬車隊和其他客戶飛行員，我們仍預計將在 2023 年下半年開始在北美批量生產托盤 FCEV。

Moving on to energy. The land for our Arizona hub is now under contract. We'll announce that location after the closing. And then along with our partner, TC Energy, we'll break ground on Arizona's first hydrogen production hub by the end of the quarter. Other hub locations we've announced so far, including another partner project with TC Energy located in Crossfield, Alberta and our project in partnership with Wabash Valley Resources in Indiana.

繼續能源。我們亞利桑那州樞紐的土地現已簽訂合同。我們將在關閉後宣布該位置。然後與我們的合作夥伴 TC Energy 一起，我們將在本季度末在亞利桑那州的第一個氫氣生產中心破土動工。到目前為止，我們已宣布的其他樞紐位置，包括與位於艾伯塔省克羅斯菲爾德的 TC Energy 的另一個合作項目以及我們與印第安納州的 Wabash Valley Resources 合作的項目。

On the station and dispensing front, this morning, we announced the progress we made on the 3 station locations in Ontario, Colton and Carson, California. We've begun the permitting process and ordered the long lead time equipment for these stations, and we expect they'll be complete in Q4 of 2023. In addition to what we publicly announced, there are numerous other production and dispensing projects in our development funnel, and we'll update you on those when it's appropriate.

在加油站和配送方面，今天早上，我們宣布了我們在安大略省、科爾頓和卡森、加利福尼亞州的 3 個加油站所取得的進展。我們已經開始了許可程序，並為這些站點訂購了較長交貨期的設備，我們預計它們將在 2023 年第四季度完成。除了我們公開宣布的內容之外，我們的開發中還有許多其他生產和分配項目漏斗，我們會在適當的時候向您更新這些信息。

We're on track to complete Phase 2 of our Coolidge, Arizona manufacturing facility by the end of Q1 2023, which will give us up to 20,000 units a year of nameplate capacity. The facility is capable of assembling both BEVs and FCEVs on the same line. We'll also establish a line for assembly of our Bosch fuel cell power modules. Timing for Phase 3 of Coolidge will be announced at a future date, and that expansion will allow us to ramp production up to 45,000 units a year or more.

我們有望在 2023 年第一季度末完成亞利桑那州柯立芝製造工廠的第二階段，這將為我們提供每年高達 20,000 台的銘牌產能。該設施能夠在同一條生產線上組裝 BEV 和 FCEV。我們還將建立一條用於組裝博世燃料電池電源模塊的生產線。柯立芝第三階段的時間安排將在未來公佈，此次擴建將使我們能夠將產量提高到每年 45,000 台或更多。

In June, our expanded European joint venture with Iveco began building the first EU spec Tre BEVs. These are 4 x 2 variants that are targeted to the European market. The first 3 alpha builds are expected to be complete by Q3. We'll then build 7 beta trucks starting in the third quarter for fourth quarter completion. Pre-series builds will take place during the second quarter of 2023, and we anticipate shipping the first production of EU trade BEVs to customers in the second half of 2023.

6 月，我們與依維柯擴大的歐洲合資企業開始建造第一款符合歐盟標準的 Tre BEV。這些是針對歐洲市場的 4 x 2 變體。前 3 個 alpha 版本預計將在第三季度完成。然後，我們將從第三季度開始建造 7 輛測試版卡車，並在第四季度完成。量產前的生產將在 2023 年第二季度進行，我們預計將在 2023 年下半年向客戶交付首批生產的歐盟貿易 BEV。

During the second quarter, the JV also began building EU spec Tre FCEV betas, the build of the first batch of the 3 trucks started in March and should be complete by the end of Q3. In July, we began building the second batch of 10 trucks, which should be complete by Q1 next year, and EU-spectra FCEV production is expected to begin in the first half of 2024.

在第二季度，合資公司還開始建造歐盟規格的 Tre FCEV 測試版，第一批 3 輛卡車的建造於 3 月開始，應該在第三季度末完成。 7月，我們開始建造第二批10輛卡車，預計明年Q1完成，預計2024年上半年開始生產EU-spectra FCEV。

The joint venture with Iveco was originally a contract manufacturing entity only. However, Nikola and Iveco have now agreed to strategically expand the JV to include product development and vehicle engineering. This represents the maturing of our relationship with Iveco and the right next step for the JV to become more of an independent entity.

與依維柯的合資企業最初只是一個合同製造實體。然而，尼古拉和依維柯現在已經同意戰略性地擴大合資企業，包括產品開發和車輛工程。這代表了我們與依維柯關係的成熟，以及合資企業成為一個更加獨立的實體的正確下一步。

Over to Kim now to take you through the numbers.

現在交給金，帶您了解這些數字。

Thanks, Mark, and Good morning, everyone. There is a lot to cover today. So let's begin with the financial overview for the second quarter.

謝謝，馬克，大家早上好。今天有很多東西要講。因此，讓我們從第二季度的財務概覽開始。

In Q2, we reported revenues of $18.1 million on deliveries of 48 Tre BEVs and 4 MCTs. As Mark mentioned, we produced 50 Tre BEV's during the quarter at the low end of our guidance and 2 were delivered in the first week of July. The primary reason for our deliveries coming in at the low end of our guidance range was caused by 2 weeks of production losses in Q2 related to battery pack delivery delays from Romeo. Let's go through the numbers, and I will outline what drove them and what we expect in the second half.

在第二季度，我們報告了 48 輛 Tre BEV 和 4 輛 MCT 的交付收入為 1810 萬美元。正如馬克所提到的，我們在本季度的指導低端生產了 50 輛 Tre BEV，並且在 7 月的第一周交付了 2 輛。我們的交付量處於我們指導範圍的低端的主要原因是由於羅密歐的電池組交付延遲導致第二季度的兩週生產損失。讓我們來看看這些數字，我將概述是什麼推動了他們以及我們在下半年的預期。

First, regarding gross margin, the trade bet trucks we produced and delivered in Q2 are the most expensive battery trucks we'll ever build. The objective was to do whatever it took to ensure the components were available at the assembly line to start the build of Tre BEV trucks. Nonetheless, there are a few items that we could have better foreseen in Q2, that we ultimately did not.

首先，關於毛利率，我們在第二季度生產和交付的貿易投注卡車是我們製造的最昂貴的電池卡車。目標是盡一切努力確保組件在裝配線上可用，以開始製造 Tre BEV 卡車。儘管如此，我們可以在第二季度更好地預見到一些項目，但我們最終沒有。

There were 2 contributing factors to our gross margin guidance coming in lower than expected, the first being shipping and freight cost. We recorded $13.7 million in inbound shipping, freight and duty expenses for the quarter, representing approximately 29% of our cost of revenue. Of this $13.7 million, $3.3 million represented duties and taxes, while $10.4 million came from freight expenses. Of the $10.4 million, roughly 80% of expenditures were expedited air freight.

我們的毛利率指引低於預期有兩個因素，第一個是運輸和運費成本。本季度我們記錄了 1370 萬美元的入境運輸、運費和關稅費用，約占我們收入成本的 29%。在這 1370 萬美元中，330 萬美元是關稅和稅收，而 1040 萬美元來自運費。在 1040 萬美元中，大約 80% 的支出用於加急空運。

The impact on the cost of revenue was magnified because we purchased and received more components than we used in production, due to the delays that we referenced earlier. Thus, the impact of these 2 factors on our gross margin at our current revenue level was more pronounced than if we had already scaled. We had not budgeted this level of impact in our guidance, and it is something we will be better prepared for in future quarters.

對收入成本的影響被放大了，因為我們購買和收到了比我們在生產中使用的更多的組件，由於我們之前提到的延遲。因此，這兩個因素對我們當前收入水平的毛利率的影響比我們已經擴大規模時更為明顯。我們沒有在我們的指導中預算這種程度的影響，這是我們將在未來幾個季度更好地準備的事情。

To reduce our freight cost burdens going forward, we have started shifting the shipment of most of our components ocean freight. We are also accelerating our localization efforts of certain components from the EU to North America. From these 2 actions, we expect a meaningful decrease in per unit inbound shipping and freight costs and a gradual easing of inbound freight cost pressure on our gross margin.

為了減少我們未來的貨運成本負擔，我們已經開始將大部分組件的海運轉移到海運。我們還在加快從歐盟到北美的某些組件的本地化工作。從這兩項行動中，我們預計每單位入境運輸和貨運成本將顯著下降，並且對我們毛利率的入境貨運成本壓力將逐漸緩解。

Next, let me provide some perspective on the quarterly inventory write-down of $7.5 million, representing a $4.1 million sequential increase. In second quarter, the net realizable value or NRV adjustment represented 96% of the write-downs. As you may be aware, our inventory costs have risen in line with inflation and significantly more for battery cell and Q2 was no exception. Under U.S. GAAP, when our inventory value rises above a truck's expected selling price or NRV, a reserve adjustment is required. This situation was compounded by holding more inventory than we would have held if no production delays occurred.

接下來，讓我對 750 萬美元的季度庫存減記提供一些看法，即連續增加 410 萬美元。在第二季度，可變現淨值或 NRV 調整佔減記的 96%。如您所知，我們的庫存成本隨著通貨膨脹而上升，電池成本明顯上升，第二季度也不例外。根據美國公認會計原則，當我們的庫存價值高於卡車的預期售價或 NRV 時，需要進行準備金調整。如果沒有發生生產延遲，我們持有的庫存比我們持有的更多，這種情況更加複雜。

If you notice on the financial summary table in the deck, R&D expenses decreased by $11.5 million from Q1 to Q2. This is because prior to our commercial deliveries in Q2, manufacturing expense items, typically part of the cost of revenue, were recognized as R&D expenses under U.S. GAAP, including inbound shipping and freight inventory write-downs and G&A expenses.

如果你注意到甲板上的財務匯總表，研發費用從第一季度到第二季度減少了 1150 萬美元。這是因為在我們第二季度的商業交付之前，製造費用項目（通常是收入成本的一部分）在美國公認會計原則下被確認為研發費用，包括入境運輸和貨運庫存減記以及 G&A 費用。

Q2 EBITDA sequentially fell by $14 million to negative $163.6 million. We think it makes better sense to look at our results at the EBITDA level because of the reclassification items in Q2 regarding cost. We believe it is a better quarter-over-quarter comparison to focus on cost before interest and taxes this quarter, given what they imply about our cash burn rate.

第二季度 EBITDA 環比下降 1400 萬美元至負 1.636 億美元。我們認為，由於第二季度有關成本的重新分類項目，在 EBITDA 水平上查看我們的結果更有意義。我們認為，鑑於本季度對我們的現金消耗率的暗示，關注本季度的息稅前成本是一個更好的季度比較。

Equity in a net loss of affiliates decreased by $1.5 million in the second quarter to $1.3 million, driven by $1.2 million equity and net loss of Nikola Iveco Europe. As we shared in our Q1 earnings call, our European joint venture with Iveco now engages in product development and vehicle engineering, in addition to its contract manufacturing role. We recorded a $173 million net loss for the quarter, and basic and diluted net loss per share came to $0.41. Basic and diluted non-GAAP net loss per share came to $0.25, beating consensus estimates.

第二季度，子公司淨虧損中的權益減少了 150 萬美元，至 130 萬美元，這主要得益於 Nikola Iveco Europe 的 120 萬美元權益和淨虧損。正如我們在第一季度財報電話會議中所分享的，我們與依維柯的歐洲合資企業現在除了從事合同製造之外，還從事產品開發和車輛工程。我們本季度錄得 1.73 億美元的淨虧損，每股基本和攤薄淨虧損為 0.41 美元。每股基本和攤薄的非公認會計原則淨虧損為 0.25 美元，超出市場普遍預期。

On a non-GAAP basis, adjusted EBITDA came to a negative $94.3 million. Adjusted EBITDA excludes, one, $54.8 million in stock-based compensation; two, $13.0 million for legal expenses to pay Mr. Milton's attorney's fees under his indemnification agreement; three, $1.3 million for equity and net loss of affiliates, mainly from our Iveco JV in Europe; and four, a net $0.2 million loss for the revaluation of financial instruments, including warrant liabilities and derivatives.

在非公認會計原則基礎上，調整後的 EBITDA 為負 9430 萬美元。調整後的 EBITDA 不包括一項 5480 萬美元的股票薪酬；二，1300 萬美元的法律費用，用於支付 Milton 先生根據賠償協議支付的律師費；三、130 萬美元用於關聯公司的股權和淨虧損，主要來自我們在歐洲的依維柯合資企業；第四，金融工具重估淨損失 20 萬美元，包括認股權證負債和衍生工具。

On the balance sheet, we ended the second quarter with $529.2 million in cash and equivalents, including restricted cash, up from $385.1 million at the end of Q1. The $144.1 million increase came from, one, the $200 million private placement of convertible notes we placed in June with Antara Capital; and two, $50 million proceeds from the issuance of a promissory note collateralized by Nikola on equipment and restricted cash.

在資產負債表上，我們在第二季度末擁有 5.292 億美元的現金和等價物，包括限制性現金，高於第一季度末的 3.851 億美元。 1.441 億美元的增長來自於我們在 6 月份與 Antara Capital 進行的 2 億美元的可轉換票據私募；二是發行由 Nikola 以設備和受限現金作抵押的期票的 5000 萬美元收益。

In addition, to the $529.2 million in cash and equivalents, we still have $312.5 million available liquidity through our 2 equity lines with Tumi Capital. At the end of June, we have total liquidity of approximately $841.8 million up from $794 million at the end of Q1.

此外，除了 5.292 億美元的現金和等價物外，我們還擁有 3.125 億美元的可用流動資金，通過我們與 Tumi Capital 的兩條股權線。截至 6 月底，我們的總流動資金約為 8.418 億美元，高於第一季度末的 7.94 億美元。

As of the end of June, we have sufficient capital to fund our business for the next 12 months of operations. Given our target of keeping 12 months of liquidity on hand at the end of each quarter, we will continue to seek the right opportunities to replenish our liquidity on an ongoing basis while trying to minimize dilution to our shareholders. We are carefully considering how we can potentially spend less without compromising our critical programs and reduce cash requirements for 2023.

截至 6 月底，我們有足夠的資金為未來 12 個月的運營提供資金。鑑於我們的目標是在每個季度末保持 12 個月的流動性，我們將繼續尋找合適的機會來持續補充我們的流動性，同時盡量減少對股東的稀釋。我們正在仔細考慮如何在不影響關鍵項目和減少 2023 年現金需求的情況下減少支出。

We will provide you with detailed guidance for 2023 on our Q4 2022 earnings call. But for now, a good way to think about how we can achieve our goal is to consider it in the context of our ongoing CapEx requirements at the Coolidge Plant. For example, with the completion of Phase 2 by the end of Q1 2023, our Coolidge plan will achieve a design capacity of 20,000 units. While we have not made our 2023 production plan public, the 20,000 units in annual capacity will be sufficient to allow us to achieve our 2023 and 2024 production targets. 2023 Coolidge manufacturing facility related CapEx for Phase 3 is approximately $345 million, including a pain line. Delaying this phase of our expansion to 2024 allows us to reduce our 2023 cash needs and fundraising targets in 2022. We will continue to monitor market conditions and remain opportunistic about raising capital.

我們將在 2022 年第四季度財報電話會議上為您提供 2023 年的詳細指導。但就目前而言，思考如何實現目標的一個好方法是在柯立芝工廠持續的資本支出要求的背景下考慮它。例如，隨著第二階段在 2023 年第一季度末完成，我們的柯立芝計劃將實現 20,000 台的設計產能。雖然我們尚未公佈 2023 年的生產計劃，但 20,000 台的年產能足以讓我們實現 2023 年和 2024 年的生產目標。 2023 年柯立芝製造設施相關的第 3 階段資本支出約為 3.45 億美元，包括一條痛線。將我們擴張的這一階段推遲到 2024 年使我們能夠減少 2023 年的現金需求和 2022 年的籌款目標。我們將繼續監測市場狀況，並在籌集資金方面保持機會主義。

Moving on to our Q3 guidance. We expect to deliver 65 to 75 Nikola Tre BEV's for $21.1 million to $24.4 million in revenues in Q3. We anticipate our gross margin to be between negative 240% and negative 250%. As we explained in the Romeo merger call, we've agreed to provide Romeo with interim funding to ensure continued operations. The funding comes in 2 parts: one, up to $20 million in a temporary price increase for each pack delivered through transaction close; plus two, $15 million in a senior secured note.

繼續我們的第三季度指導。我們預計第三季度將交付 65 至 75 輛 Nikola Tre BEV，收入為 2110 萬至 2440 萬美元。我們預計我們的毛利率在負 240% 和負 250% 之間。正如我們在羅密歐合併電話會議中解釋的那樣，我們已同意向羅密歐提供臨時資金，以確保繼續運營。資金分為兩部分：一是通過交易完成交付的每包臨時漲價高達 2000 萬美元；加上兩個，1500萬美元的高級擔保票據。

The temporary price increase for the packs will weigh down our Q3 and Q4 gross margin. We expect, however, to make notable improvements in inbound shipping and freight costs and benefit from the operating leverage effects of delivering more vehicles on labor cost. With that Romeo merger impact, the gross margin would approximate negative 150% to negative 160%. We anticipate a range of $80 million to $85 million in R&D expenses and $80 million to $85 million in SG&A, including roughly $58 million in stock-based compensation. CapEx for Q3 should be $85 million to $90 million as we expect station CapEx, FCEV [tooling] and hydrogen hub spending to catch up.

包裝的臨時漲價將拖累我們第三季度和第四季度的毛利率。然而，我們預計入境運輸和貨運成本將顯著改善，並受益於交付更多車輛對勞動力成本的運營槓桿效應。隨著羅密歐合併的影響，毛利率將接近負 150% 至負 160%。我們預計研發費用為 8000 萬美元至 8500 萬美元，SG&A 為 8000 萬美元至 8500 萬美元，其中包括大約 5800 萬美元的股票薪酬。第三季度的資本支出應為 8500 萬至 9000 萬美元，因為我們預計車站資本支出、FCEV [工具] 和氫樞紐支出將趕上。

Regarding fiscal 2022 guidance, we have not revised the existing 300 to 500 truck delivery. Still, given the battery-charging infrastructure challenges Mark mentioned, we are more likely to hit the lower end of that guidance range. The merger with Romeo will introduce new elements to our P&L in several ways, especially in the short run, which I will discuss in some detail. We plan to revise our full year financial guidance post transaction close and share it with you in our Q3 earnings release.

關於 2022 財年的指導，我們沒有修改現有的 300 至 500 輛卡車的交付量。儘管如此，鑑於馬克提到的電池充電基礎設施挑戰，我們更有可能達到該指導範圍的下限。與羅密歐的合併將以多種方式為我們的損益表引入新元素，尤其是在短期內，我將對此進行詳細討論。我們計劃在交易完成後修改我們的全年財務指導，並在我們的第三季度收益發布中與您分享。

We are currently working on the merger pro forma, which will serve as the basis for our new full year guidance. As many of you may anticipate the merger with Romeo will cause our full year guidance to change. This is because of one, negative gross margin impact from the temporary pack price increase in Q3 to a lesser extent in Q4; two, negative gross margin impact from existing Romeo customer contract runoff. Three, incremental R&D and SG&A expenses of Romeo post merger; and four, transaction costs and purchase accounting adjustments that may further impact our Q3 and Q4 OpEx. We will come back to you with our revised full year guidance at our Q3 earnings call.

我們目前正在研究合併備考，這將作為我們新的全年指導的基礎。正如你們中的許多人可能預期的那樣，與羅密歐的合併將導致我們的全年指導發生變化。這是因為第 3 季度臨時包裝價格上漲對第 4 季度較小程度的負面毛利率影響；二、現有羅密歐客戶合同流失對毛利率的負面影響。三、羅密歐併購後的增量研發和SG&A費用；第四，交易成本和採購會計調整可能會進一步影響我們的第三季度和第四季度運營支出。我們將在第三季度財報電話會議上向您提供修訂後的全年指導。

While second half will be challenging from a gross margin angle, we expect 30% to 40% cost reduction benefits for the non-battery cell-related pack costs by the end of 2023. Key cost-cutting initiatives will involve switching from machine to casted packing closures and using the combined purchasing power of the merged entity to optimize the supply chain. We believe this is achievable because we have had about 10 manufacturing engineers working on site at Romeo since early 2022 to support Romeo's production. With a good accumulated understanding of Romeo's operations, we have identified several areas of operational improvements that will begin to be implemented immediately following the transaction closing. Longer term, we are targeting up to $350 million in annual battery pack cost savings by 2026.

雖然從毛利率的角度來看下半年將面臨挑戰，但我們預計到 2023 年底，非電池相關的電池組成本將降低 30% 至 40% 的成本。關鍵的成本削減舉措將涉及從機器轉向鑄造包裝關閉並利用合併實體的綜合購買力來優化供應鏈。我們相信這是可以實現的，因為自 2022 年初以來，我們已經有大約 10 名製造工程師在羅密歐的現場工作，以支持羅密歐的生產。憑藉對羅密歐運營的深入了解，我們確定了幾個運營改進領域，將在交易完成後立即開始實施。從長遠來看，我們的目標是到 2026 年每年節省高達 3.5 億美元的電池組成本。

Regarding our supply chain, partner shortage challenges still remain, although the visibility and availability of components have somewhat improved. But we are not out of the woods yet. We previously stated that one of our biggest constraints was a consistent supply of modules and packs from Romeo. Our proposed merger with Romeo takes us a step closer to ensuring a dedicated and consistent supply.

關於我們的供應鏈，儘管組件的可見性和可用性有所改善，但合作夥伴短缺的挑戰仍然存在。但我們還沒有走出困境。我們之前說過，我們最大的限制之一是來自 Romeo 的模塊和包的持續供應。我們提議的與羅密歐的合併使我們更接近於確保專門和一致的供應。

Perhaps a more significant challenge that faces us and the industry is inflation and its impact on margins. We are subject to a commodity pricing increase from LG, which has increased our battery cell price by approximately 30%. The adjustment is calculated every 6 months based on the price movements of certain battery cell chemistry metals for the previous 6 months. We are uncertain when the critical metal prices for battery cells will normalize and come back down to the pre-Ukrainian war prices, and how much of that increase we can successfully pass on to our customers. This is something we are grappling with. And unfortunately, we have little control when it comes to battery cell prices.

也許我們和該行業面臨的一個更重大的挑戰是通貨膨脹及其對利潤率的影響。我們受到 LG 商品價格上漲的影響，這使我們的電池價格上漲了約 30%。調整是根據過去 6 個月某些電池化學金屬的價格變動每 6 個月計算一次。我們不確定電池的關鍵金屬價格何時會正常化並回落到烏克蘭戰爭前的價格，以及我們可以成功地將上漲的多少轉嫁給我們的客戶。這是我們正在努力解決的問題。不幸的是，在電池價格方面，我們幾乎無法控制。

This concludes our prepared remarks. We will use the remainder of the time to address your questions. But before we open the line to analyst questions, we would like to take this opportunity to answer some questions from our retail shareholders. Henry?

我們準備好的評論到此結束。我們將利用剩餘的時間來解決您的問題。但在我們向分析師提問之前，我們想藉此機會回答散戶股東的一些問題。亨利?

Thank you, Kim. The first question from our individual investors is, when can I see Nikola on the road? I have never seen any of your vehicles on the street. Why?

謝謝你，金。我們個人投資者的第一個問題是，我什麼時候可以看到 Nikola 在路上？我從來沒有在街上見過你的任何車輛。為什麼？

It is exciting to see the trucks on the road. More and more are out there hauling freight and being sighted every day and there are pictures and videos that are increasingly showing up online. You have a better chance of seeing one if you're in one of our target launch geographies such as California. Good luck with your Tre spotting.

在路上看到卡車是令人興奮的。越來越多的人每天都在運送貨物並被人看到，並且越來越多的圖片和視頻出現在網上。如果您在我們的目標發射地區之一（例如加利福尼亞），則更有可能看到其中一個。祝你發現 Tre 好運。

The next question from our investors is, considering the number of EVs entering the market in the next several years, how is Nikola planning to differentiate itself to ensure long-term success? Tesla was the first to market, Rivian secured a contract with Amazon and Ford has the capacity to ramp production quickly. And Nikola has...

我們投資者的下一個問題是，考慮到未來幾年進入市場的電動汽車數量，Nikola 計劃如何實現差異化以確保長期成功？特斯拉是第一個上市的公司，里維安與亞馬遜簽訂了合同，福特有能力快速提高產量。尼古拉有...

First, we should clarify that unlike these companies, we build only U.S. Class 8 and European heavy-duty commercial trucks, and we're addressing the short, medium- and long-haul commercial freight segments. So that's an immediate difference between us and them.

首先，我們應該澄清，與這些公司不同，我們只生產美國 8 級和歐洲重型商用卡車，我們正在處理短途、中途和長途商業貨運領域。所以這是我們和他們之間的直接區別。

We're also one of the first truck OEMs in the market for Class 8 BEVs. We're likely to be the first OEM to commercialize Class 8 FCEVs. But in the long run, which we're really going to differentiate Nikola is energy infrastructure. On Slide 3 of the deck, you can see that the total addressable market for just hydrogen is bigger than the entire market for trucks.

我們也是 8 類 BEV 市場上首批卡車 OEM 之一。我們很可能成為第一個將 8 類 FCEV 商業化的 OEM。但從長遠來看，我們真正要區分尼古拉的是能源基礎設施。在幻燈片的第 3 張幻燈片上，您可以看到僅氫的總目標市場大於卡車的整個市場。

Thank you, Mark. The next question coming from our individual investors addresses a similar topic. What plans do you have to excite investors about what your company is bringing to the table? Do you have a plan to become profitable? If so, when?

謝謝你，馬克。來自我們個人投資者的下一個問題涉及一個類似的話題。你有什麼計劃讓投資者對你的公司帶來的東西感到興奮？你有盈利的計劃嗎？如果有，什麼時候？

I think Mark has already discussed Nikola's value proposition. So let me share some thoughts about achieving profitability. During our Analyst Day in March, we stated that we are looking to achieve a positive gross margin for our Tre BEVs by the end of 2023 and the end of 2024 for our fuel cell electric trucks. Under our basic road map, we would like to get to positive EBITDA by the end of 2024. The primary assumption behind this road map has been that as we continue to scale, we should be able to spread our fixed costs over a greater volume and reduce our BOM cost.

我認為馬克已經討論過尼古拉的價值主張。因此，讓我分享一些關於實現盈利的想法。在 3 月的分析師日期間，我們表示我們希望在 2023 年底和 2024 年底為我們的燃料電池電動卡車實現 Tre BEV 的正毛利率。根據我們的基本路線圖，我們希望在 2024 年底之前實現正 EBITDA。該路線圖背後的主要假設是，隨著我們繼續擴大規模，我們應該能夠將固定成本分攤到更大的數量上，並且降低我們的 BOM 成本。

From our current vantage point, inflation remains a great unknown that makes our path to a positive gross margin a challenge, especially the cost of battery cell prices. While OEMs have sought to raise the fees in line with inflation, it remains unclear to what extent we may be able to pass through that increase. So operating leverage will be one of the biggest factors driving our future gross margin, but potential headwinds from the impact of prolonged inflation could extend our existing time line.

從我們目前的角度來看，通貨膨脹仍然是一個很大的未知數，這使得我們實現正毛利率的道路成為一項挑戰，尤其是電池價格的成本。雖然原始設備製造商試圖根據通貨膨脹提高費用，但仍不清楚我們可以在多大程度上通過這種增加。因此，經營槓桿將是推動我們未來毛利率的最大因素之一，但長期通脹影響的潛在不利因素可能會延長我們現有的時間線。

The next question from our individual investors is if Proposition 2 is passed, will you use the extra shares for capital immediately, diluting the stock or on an as-needed basis?

我們個人投資者的下一個問題是，如果提案 2 獲得通過，您會立即將額外的股份用作資本，稀釋股票還是按需使用？

A great question because it allows us to discuss something here on a topic on which many investors had asked us for clarification during the voting process.

一個很好的問題，因為它允許我們在這裡討論許多投資者在投票過程中要求我們澄清的話題。

As you may know, Proposition 2 passed. But we feel that this is still a very relevant question because many people were not aware of what our committed share count was for coming into the end of Q2. While our fully diluted number of shares stood at 495 million on June 30, if we included the committed shares of options, RSUs and warrants as well as reserve share for our e-lock and convertible notes, their share count came very close to 570 million shares.

如您所知，提案 2 通過了。但我們認為這仍然是一個非常相關的問題，因為許多人不知道我們在第二季度末承諾的股份數量是多少。雖然我們在 6 月 30 日完全稀釋的股份數量為 4.95 億股，但如果我們將期權、RSU 和認股權證的承諾股份以及我們的電子鎖和可轉換票據的儲備股份包括在內，它們的股份數量非常接近 5.7 億股分享。

This left us with a sufficient number of shares to acquire Romeo without having to come to market, so the increase in the authorized number of shares that was just approved will not be used to fund our merger with Romeo. Having said that, the 200 million shares increase in the authorized number of shares will leave us with the flexibility to pursue future capital raising opportunities.

這使我們有足夠數量的股份來收購羅密歐而不必上市，因此剛剛批准的授權股份數量的增加將不會用於為我們與羅密歐的合併提供資金。話雖如此，授權股數增加 2 億股將使我們能夠靈活地尋求未來的融資機會。

Thank you, Kim. Operator, let's open the line now for analyst Q&A.

謝謝你，金。接線員，讓我們現在打開分析師問答的線路。

(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from Jeff Kauffman from Vertical Research Partners.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自 Vertical Research Partners 的 Jeff Kauffman。

So I want to take a look at kind of 2 implications of the guidance here. To get to the range of 300 to 500 vehicles, and I know you said the low end, that's implying almost 200 vehicles in the fourth quarter. Does this sound right based on the guidance you're giving? And should this be considered kind of a rolling ramp rate as we enter 2023?

所以我想看看這裡指南的兩種含義。要達到 300 到 500 輛的範圍，我知道你說的是低端，這意味著第四季度有近 200 輛。根據您提供的指導，這聽起來是否正確？當我們進入 2023 年時，這是否應該被視為一種滾動斜坡率？

Jeff, this is Kim. Great question. As you know, we have been consistent that our delivery and production will be skewed towards second half of the year. We talked about in Q2, we had some production hiccups due to delays in battery module and pack delivery. In Q3, as you know, we are trying to get better control over the situation as we're going through the merger. And so when you think about in terms of our guidance for 2022 and the second half and Q3 and then potentially Q4, I think the way you're thinking about that is reasonable. As we get into 2023, we anticipate actually picking that up significantly.

傑夫，這是金。好問題。如您所知，我們一直認為我們的交付和生產將偏向下半年。我們在第二季度談到，由於電池模塊和電池組交付延遲，我們遇到了一些生產問題。如您所知，在第三季度，我們正試圖在合併過程中更好地控制局勢。因此，當您考慮我們對 2022 年和下半年以及第三季度以及可能的第四季度的指導時，我認為您考慮的方式是合理的。隨著我們進入 2023 年，我們預計實際上會顯著提高。

So a fair implication based on the low end of your $300 million to $500 million would be $200 million, give or take for fourth quarter?

因此，基於您的 3 億至 5 億美元的低端，一個公平的含義將是 2 億美元，給或接受第四季度？

Well, I think if you do the math and if you take the low end of our guidance and then subtract Q2 and Q3, then I think that's reasonable in terms of how you're thinking about that.

好吧，我認為如果您進行數學計算，如果您採用我們指導的低端，然後減去 Q2 和 Q3，那麼我認為就您的想法而言這是合理的。

Okay. And then just another question on gross margin. It's pretty clear the guidance you're giving on the $20 million of assistance to Romeo through the gross margin. And I think your commentary was 240% or 250% in 3Q, but without the $20 million, that would be in the 150% to 160% range.

好的。然後是毛利率的另一個問題。很明顯，您通過毛利率向羅密歐提供 2000 萬美元援助的指導。我認為你的評論在第三季度是 240% 或 250%，但如果沒有 2000 萬美元，那將在 150% 到 160% 的範圍內。

Again, as I'm coming down the ramp and we get to the end and you close Romeo, should we assume you're heading back towards that range? Or would some of these other factors such as continued supply chain costs continue to push that gross margin higher until we solve some of these issues sometime next year?

再一次，當我走下坡道時，我們走到盡頭，你關閉了羅密歐，我們是否應該假設你正在回到那個範圍？或者，在我們明年某個時候解決其中一些問題之前，諸如持續的供應鏈成本之類的其他一些因素會繼續推高毛利率嗎？

And Jeff, we plan to do better than that. As you know, we talked about our inbound logistics cost, which is almost 30% of our gross cost of goods sold, which is very high. And as you know, that represented about 80% air freight, and we are looking to shift that, and we're doing shifting actively to Ocean Freight. We know that, that's going to significantly decline as well as duties and taxes. So we are actively working on that, and we are looking to achieve something lower, but we'll be transparent in terms of what the Romeo impact is so that you have a good idea in terms of what kind of progress that we're making in terms of our execution.

傑夫，我們計劃做得更好。如您所知，我們談到了我們的入站物流成本，幾乎占我們銷售商品總成本的 30%，非常高。如您所知，這約佔空運的 80%，我們正在尋求轉變，我們正在積極轉向海運。我們知道，這將顯著下降以及關稅和稅收。所以我們正在積極努力，我們正在尋求實現更低的目標，但我們會在羅密歐的影響方面保持透明，以便您對我們正在取得什麼樣的進展有一個很好的了解就我們的執行而言。

All right. Well, congratulations on the shareholder vote and the news flow continues to be terrific.

好的。好吧，祝賀股東投票，新聞流繼續很棒。

Thanks, Jeff.

謝謝，傑夫。

The next question comes from Mike Shlisky from D.A. Davidson. (Operator Instructions)

下一個問題來自 D.A. 的 Mike Shlisky。戴維森。 （操作員說明）

Average selling price in the quarter of your trucks were a little bit higher than my model. And you've shown some good uptime in the slides today. So I'd be curious to know, what we saw in last quarter's numbers as far as average selling price is that a good run rate for the next couple of quarters? I know the later orders are a little bit higher with the average selling price for possibly next year. And I'm just curious, maybe thirdly, your most recent conversations on price given the uptime and the performance have you -- can you share with us if we have a lot of confidence on even further price increases going forward given what trucks you've been able to deliver thus far?

你們卡車季度的平均售價比我的車型高一點。您在今天的幻燈片中展示了一些良好的正常運行時間。所以我很想知道，就平均售價而言，我們在上個季度的數據中看到的是接下來幾個季度的良好運行率？我知道後來的訂單要高一些，可能明年的平均售價。我只是好奇，也許是第三點，考慮到正常運行時間和性能，你最近關於價格的對話 - 如果我們對未來進一步的價格上漲充滿信心，你能與我們分享你的卡車嗎？到目前為止能夠交付嗎？

That's a great question, Mike. The market is figuring out what the pricing is going to be, of course. And as you point out, at this point, we have the longest range truck that we know about out there, and it's performing extremely well. So the feedback is generally super positive across the board.

這是一個很好的問題，邁克。當然，市場正在弄清楚定價將是多少。正如你所指出的，在這一點上，我們擁有我們所知道的續航里程最長的卡車，而且它的性能非常好。所以反饋通常是非常積極的。

That's why we look confident that we're going to have pricing that's going to be in the upper end of the range once the market gets clearer and settles on pricing. Of course, we started at what's kind of the prevailing pricing for battery electric trucks at this point. There's not that many players in the market. and almost nobody at volume. So the market is still in the early stages and figuring out what the pricing is. But as you said, so far, our pricing is coming in higher than previously expected.

這就是為什麼我們看起來有信心，一旦市場變得更加清晰並確定定價，我們的定價將處於範圍的高端。當然，我們從目前電池電動卡車的現行定價開始。市場上的玩家並不多。幾乎沒有人在音量。因此，市場仍處於早期階段，正在弄清楚定價是什麼。但正如您所說，到目前為止，我們的定價高於之前的預期。

Okay, great. And for my follow-up, I wanted to ask about the hydrogen stations, particularly the one in Colton and the [Puerto] Long Beach. Are those going to be owned and operated? I just want to confirm that. And can we -- is -- and trying to figure out some of the numbers behind it, is it appropriate to go back to those original stack documents in some of those original buildout models and things like that to kind of get a feel for those numbers? Or have things changed due to inflation or any changes in how you plan to address the market.

好，太棒了。對於我的後續行動，我想詢問加氫站，尤其是科爾頓和長灘港的加氫站。那些會被擁有和經營嗎？我只是想確認一下。我們是否可以 - 是 - 並試圖找出它背後的一些數字，是否適合回到一些原始構建模型中的那些原始堆棧文檔以及類似的東西來感受那些數字？或者由於通貨膨脹或您計劃應對市場的方式發生任何變化，情況發生了變化。

Mike, let me address that in 2 parts. First of all, will the stations be wholly owned by Nikola. It's unlikely that we'll do stations that are 100% us. We generally do these things in partnership. The one in Ontario will remain a Travel Centers of America location, and we'll be dispensing in a portion of that existing station. The other 2 that you referenced, those will be ones that we had built some scratch and are more likely to be the headline there. But don't be surprised if we do things in collaboration with other companies at most of our station locations and definitely at our hubs as we have announced so far. All 3 of our announced hub projects involve partnerships. The station projects will often involve partnerships.

邁克，讓我分兩部分來解決這個問題。首先，這些電台將由尼古拉全資擁有。我們不太可能製作 100% 屬於我們自己的電台。我們通常合作完成這些事情。安大略省的一個將仍然是美國旅遊中心的位置，我們將在該現有站點的一部分分配。你提到的另外兩個，那些將是我們已經建立了一些初步的，更有可能成為那裡的標題。但是，如果我們與其他公司在我們的大多數車站位置合作，並且肯定在我們的樞紐中，正如我們迄今為止宣布的那樣，請不要感到驚訝。我們宣布的所有 3 個樞紐項目都涉及合作夥伴關係。車站項目通常會涉及合作夥伴關係。

It's possible we would build 100% our own stand-alone station. That is possible, and actually, I'm sure we'll do some of those. But generally, we like to do these things in partnership with other players.

我們有可能建立 100% 自己的獨立站。這是可能的，實際上，我相信我們會做其中的一些。但總的來說，我們喜歡與其他玩家合作做這些事情。

In terms of the -- what was the second part of the question?

問題的第二部分是什麼？

Just to model -- yes.

只是為了建模——是的。

Right. So we want to make sure that you understand these are dispensing stations only. These are not stations where we will generate hydrogen and dispense. So when we think about CapEx for dispensing stations only, they typically run $6 million to $8 million or so. And as Mark alluded to when it comes to TA, this is a joint venture -- so will both be funding CapEx for dispensing hydrogen only.

正確的。因此，我們希望確保您了解這些只是分配站。這些不是我們生產氫氣和分配氫氣的站點。因此，當我們僅考慮配藥站的資本支出時，它們通常運行 600 萬至 800 萬美元左右。正如馬克在談到 TA 時所暗示的那樣，這是一家合資企業——因此雙方都將為僅分配氫氣的資本支出提供資金。

Yes. So don't -- the spec level documents are more than 2 years old now, those -- our technology approach has changed slightly. Most of our production, if not all, will be in hub locations at this point. And what we have at the dispensing stations is dispensing equipment only. So you're just going to have static storage and dispensing equipment.

是的。所以不要——規範級別的文檔現在已經有 2 年多了，那些——我們的技術方法已經發生了輕微的變化。目前，我們的大部分產品（如果不是全部）都將位於中心位置。我們在點膠站擁有的只是點膠設備。所以你只需要靜態存儲和分配設備。

The other difference is we're more likely to not have on-site compression because we're leaning very strongly towards distribution of hydrogen and liquid form.

另一個區別是我們更有可能沒有現場壓縮，因為我們非常傾向於氫氣和液體形式的分佈。

The next question comes from Greg Lewis from BTIG.

下一個問題來自 BTIG 的 Greg Lewis。

Just following up on Mike's question around hydrogen. I guess, last week, it looks like there's been -- it looks like there's finally going to be some progress in the production tax credit for hydrogen. I guess what I'm wondering is as you think about not the station level but the hub level strategy, how should we think about that impacting or maybe potentially this -- realizing there's still a long way to go for this tax benefit for hydrogen production? Is there any way to think about how this could potentially pull forward your decisions around those hydrogen hubs that seem to be part of the longer-term story for the company?

只是跟進邁克關於氫的問題。我想，上週，看起來已經 - 看起來氫的生產稅收抵免最終會取得一些進展。我想我想知道的是，當您考慮的不是站級而是樞紐級戰略時，我們應該如何考慮這種影響或可能會產生這種影響-意識到氫生產的稅收優惠還有很長的路要走?有什麼方法可以考慮這可能如何推動您圍繞那些似乎是公司長期故事的一部分的氫樞紐做出決定？

Yes. Great question, Greg. The PTC, the production tax credit, if it is included in legislation that passes and as you said, it looks more likely now that Mention has got on board and our own Senator Sinema, our headquarter State Arizona has previously seemed supportive of that. So we'll see if she still is. And assuming it goes through a reconciliation and get signed by the President, that's $3 Nationwide incentive depending on the amount of carbon intensity of the hydrogen that you're producing.

是的。好問題，格雷格。 PTC，生產稅收抵免，如果它包含在通過的立法中，正如你所說，現在看起來更有可能提及已經加入，我們自己的參議員 Sinema，我們的總部亞利桑那州以前似乎支持這一點。所以我們會看看她是否還在。假設它經過和解並得到總統的簽署，這將是 3 美元的全國性激勵措施，具體取決於您生產的氫氣的碳強度。

Of course, we're targeting very low carbon intensity hydrogen at our hubs, whether they are electrolysis-based as will be the case in Arizona or whether they are carbon capture based from petroleum sources like they are in Indiana. We think we're going to have very low carbon intensity pretty green hydrogen for these hub locations, and we think we'll qualify for a good portion of that incentive, which will be currently being tagged at up to $3 per kilo, depending on the intensity.

當然，我們的中心目標是碳強度非常低的氫，無論它們是像亞利桑那州那樣是基於電解的，還是像印第安納州那樣是基於石油來源的碳捕獲。我們認為，對於這些樞紐位置，我們將擁有非常低的碳強度、相當綠色的氫，我們認為我們將有資格獲得該激勵的很大一部分，目前該激勵的標價最高為每公斤 3 美元，具體取決於強度。

When that hydrogen is dispensed in a state where there is an additional incentive like California where you have the LCFS credit, that's up to an additional $3 per kilo for dispensing there. And of course, that's our launch geography for both battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell trucks. So we're looking forward to that. That would be a powerful incentive. We would have up to $6 per kilo incentive for dispensing in California. And as you've seen, we're targeting -- cost of production for the hydrogen that's less than half of that. So even with distribution and station costs, that would be pretty much off the hook in terms of economics for hydrogen getting started here. And we're -- of course, we're ahead of the game here with strong progress on hubs and stations.

當氫氣在有額外激勵措施的州分配時，例如您擁有 LCFS 信用的加利福尼亞州，在那里分配的額外費用高達每公斤 3 美元。當然，這就是我們的電池電動和氫燃料電池卡車的發布地理位置。所以我們很期待。這將是一個強大的激勵。我們將有高達每公斤 6 美元的獎勵在加利福尼亞分配。正如你所看到的，我們的目標是——氫氣的生產成本不到一半。因此，即使有分配和站點成本，從氫氣的經濟性來看，這幾乎是不可能的。而且我們——當然，我們在這裡的比賽中處於領先地位，在樞紐和車站方面取得了長足的進步。

Just one more comment. Obviously, we are still somewhat in early stage. We'll know ultimately whether this is going to pass. We are cautiously optimistic. As Mark talked about, potential economics is pretty compelling. We have not factored in any of those incentives in any of our projections and our forecast. And as we get closer and once the deal passes, we will communicate as to ultimately what the impact might be from our perspective.

再評論一條。顯然，我們仍處於早期階段。我們最終會知道這是否會過去。我們持謹慎樂觀的態度。正如馬克所說，潛在經濟學非常引人注目。在我們的任何預測和預測中，我們都沒有考慮到任何這些激勵措施。隨著我們越來越接近，一旦交易通過，我們將就我們的觀點最終可能產生的影響進行溝通。

Great. Super helpful. And then just, I guess, congratulations on the acquisition of Romeo Power as you kind of look to get vertically integrated. That being said, your other battery supply Proterra on their quarterly call, talked about delivering the prototype batteries to DPU. I guess what I'm wondering is, what is the process there where those prototypes become operational?

偉大的。超級有幫助。然後，我想，祝賀您收購了 Romeo Power，因為您希望獲得垂直整合。話雖如此，您的其他電池供應商 Proterra 在他們的季度電話會議上談到了將原型電池交付給 DPU。我想我想知道的是，這些原型投入使用的過程是什麼？

And I guess, bigger picture, as I think about those -- could those actually be on vehicles later this year, potentially moving the needle from the low end of guidance, maybe a little bit higher? Or any way to kind of connect the dots there with those Proterra batteries now being a source of batteries for the Tre?

而且我想，更大的圖景，當我想到那些 - 這些實際上會在今年晚些時候出現在車輛上，可能會從指導的低端移動指針，也許會更高一點？或者有什麼方法可以將那裡的點與現在成為 Tre 電池來源的 Proterra 電池聯繫起來？

Well, first of all, Greg, the Proterra is a valuable supplier to us, and will remain a valuable partner and supplier to us on batteries. And we are working very hard with them, and they're doing a great job as we go through the testing and validation process. That should be complete this year. So we should have them available to us to add to production by the end of the year, if not the first quarter of next year. So next year, we'll definitely have Proterra batteries available to us based on current projections.

好吧，首先，格雷格，Proterra 對我們來說是一個有價值的供應商，並且將繼續是我們在電池方面的一個有價值的合作夥伴和供應商。我們正在與他們一起努力工作，在我們完成測試和驗證過程時，他們做得很好。這應該在今年完成。因此，如果不是明年第一季度，我們應該在今年年底之前將它們提供給我們以增加產量。所以明年，根據目前的預測，我們肯定會為我們提供 Proterra 電池。

Without commenting on the impact that may or may not have in terms of our capacity to produce, we're really excited about having that second source, particularly in Europe, where we don't have any Romeo production assets. And as Kim mentioned several times, we're getting real tired of moving stuff around the world. We want to localize production wherever we can and batteries are heavy and expensive to move from the U.S. to Europe. So we're looking forward to Proper's help to get us localized production in Europe going forward.

在不評論對我們的生產能力可能產生或不可能產生的影響的情況下，我們對擁有第二個來源感到非常興奮，特別是在我們沒有任何羅密歐生產資產的歐洲。正如金多次提到的，我們已經厭倦了在世界各地移動東西。我們希望盡可能將生產本地化，而從美國轉移到歐洲的電池又重又貴。因此，我們期待 Proper 的幫助，讓我們在歐洲進行本地化生產。

(Operator Instructions) The next question comes from Bill Peterson from JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自摩根大通的比爾彼得森。

I wanted to try to also understand just the revenue guidance, stand-alone for Nikola and why it would be different or maybe even higher than the prior one, and it relates to pricing.

我還想嘗試僅了解獨立於 Nikola 的收入指導，以及為什麼它會與之前的不同甚至更高，並且它與定價有關。

And I guess my question is, all these deliveries seem to be to dealers at first, but what about the actual end customers? Is it -- are all these going to be through the dealers? And if so, I guess, how is the pricing mechanism set? I'm just confused, I clearly it's higher than what you put in your prior quarter guidance, but just trying to understand how to think about the price in the back half of the year.

我想我的問題是，所有這些交付似乎一開始都是給經銷商的，但實際的最終客戶呢？是不是——所有這些都將通過經銷商進行？如果是這樣，我想，定價機制是如何設置的？我只是很困惑，我顯然高於你在上一季度的指導中給出的值，但只是想了解如何考慮下半年的價格。

Bill, great question. As you know, the pricing is the same. Ultimately, when we sell to dealers and dealers sell to end customers. We are carefully coordinated and joined at the hip and so we are jointly marketing and working with customers. We understand, especially at this early stage, we are going to be heavily involved in facilitating sales with customers even though we are going through with dealers.

比爾，好問題。如您所知，定價是相同的。最終，當我們向經銷商銷售時，經銷商向最終客戶銷售。我們經過精心協調並積極參與，因此我們共同營銷並與客戶合作。我們知道，特別是在這個早期階段，我們將大力參與促進與客戶的銷售，即使我們正在與經銷商合作。

While we are having pricing discussions, we are talking to our customers, ultimately, even when it comes to what can we pass through with respect to increase in battery sales. It's very fluid, as you know. And if there's a large orders, we may need to potentially consider some discount, but those are fluid discussions, and ultimately, we'll have a better idea.

在我們進行定價討論的同時，我們最終也在與我們的客戶交談，即使涉及到我們可以通過什麼來增加電池銷售。如您所知，它非常流暢。如果有大訂單，我們可能需要考慮一些折扣，但這些都是流動的討論，最終，我們會有一個更好的主意。

At this point, when you think about our guidance for Q3, we try to be a little bit conservative and we have now been $325,000 per average sell price -- but once again, we are looking to do better than that.

在這一點上，當你考慮我們對第三季度的指導時，我們會盡量保守一點，現在我們的平均售價為 325,000 美元——但再一次，我們希望做得更好。

We're really pleased to have our dealer partners in place. I think the wisdom of that is being shown currently as they help us manage the complexity of getting charging and then fueling infrastructure in place at customer locations, or near customer locations where it's needed. Our dealers are a very experienced and substantial operations in the geographies where they service. They have existing usually off-road and heavy-duty equipment that they service and support and sell.

我們真的很高興我們的經銷商合作夥伴到位。我認為目前正在展示這種智慧，因為它們可以幫助我們管理充電的複雜性，然後在客戶位置或需要的客戶位置附近為基礎設施提供燃料。我們的經銷商在他們服務的地區是一個非常有經驗和實質性的業務。他們擁有現有的通常是越野和重型設備，他們提供服務、支持和銷售。

So they really -- and they are also generally -- a number of them are experts in distributed power and local power. So that's -- they're just perfect for what we're trying to accomplish here. They're great partners. And as you mentioned, it's -- this quarter, we've been filling the dealer pipeline, getting inventory, making sure they have inventory to sell. They have plenty of vehicles to demonstrate for pilot programs.

所以他們確實——而且他們通常也是——他們中的一些人是分佈式電力和本地電力方面的專家。所以這就是——它們非常適合我們在這裡想要完成的工作。他們是很好的合作夥伴。正如你所提到的，這是 - 本季度，我們一直在填補經銷商渠道，獲取庫存，確保他們有庫存可以出售。他們有很多車輛可以為試點項目展示。

Okay. My second one is related to cash. It sounds like you no longer expect to need to raise capital in the second half. But I'm just trying to understand cash burn. You have a big jump in receivables, inventories. So working capital trends seem to be pretty negative. We're going to have worse gross margin trends here in the second half. You didn't reiterate CapEx, but maybe that's a sort of second question. Is CapEx is going to still be in the $300 million range? Just trying to understand how we should think about the cash burn over the next several quarters into next year.

好的。我的第二個與現金有關。聽起來您不再期望在下半年需要籌集資金。但我只是想了解燒錢。您的應收賬款和庫存大幅增加。因此，營運資金趨勢似乎相當消極。下半年我們的毛利率趨勢會更差。您沒有重申資本支出，但也許這是第二個問題。資本支出是否仍將保持在 3 億美元的範圍內？只是想了解我們應該如何考慮到明年接下來幾個季度的現金消耗。

And Bill, we've been pretty consistent in terms of how we think about cash, and we are always looking to have enough cash for the next 12 months of operations. What we have said was the end of June, we have sufficient cash for the following 12 months of operations. Having said that, as you know, our current cash burn rate based on financial statements is running around $55 million per month. And so it really depends on how much cash and liquidity we want to end up at the end of this year.

比爾，我們對現金的看法一直非常一致，我們一直希望有足夠的現金用於未來 12 個月的運營。我們所說的是 6 月底，我們有足夠的現金用於接下來的 12 個月的運營。話雖如此，如您所知，我們目前基於財務報表的現金消耗率約為每月 5500 萬美元。因此，這實際上取決於我們希望在今年年底最終獲得多少現金和流動性。

Having said that, once again, it's important for us to make sure that we have adequate cash for 2023. And so what we have stated is that we are going to be opportunistic in terms of when we raise cash, but you should be assured that at any given time, end of each quarter, we're managing our liquidity in a way that we have ample cash and liquidity for the following 12 months of operations.

話雖如此，確保我們在 2023 年有足夠的現金對我們來說很重要。所以我們所說的是，我們將在籌集現金方面採取機會主義態度，但你應該放心，在任何給定時間，每個季度末，我們都在管理我們的流動性，以便我們在接下來的 12 個月的運營中擁有充足的現金和流動性。

When it comes to CapEx, I know we've talked about, especially when it comes to hydrogen ecosystem and infrastructure, we are going to be asset-light and capital efficient. So as we announce hydrogen hubs, we will be looking for partners. And we've also stated that TCE is already our partner when it comes to Arizona hub. And so when we articulate and talk about how we plan to move forward, then you will have a much better idea, but our CapEx requirements for those hubs will be very, very low.

談到資本支出，我知道我們已經討論過，特別是在氫生態系統和基礎設施方面，我們將實現輕資產和資本效率。因此，當我們宣布氫樞紐時，我們將尋找合作夥伴。我們還表示，就亞利桑那中心而言，TCE 已經是我們的合作夥伴。因此，當我們闡明並談論我們計劃如何前進時，您會有一個更好的主意，但我們對這些中心的資本支出要求將非常非常低。

And sorry, $300 million for the full year or should it be considered lower than that?

抱歉，全年 3 億美元，還是應該被認為低於這個數字？

Pardon me, Bill?

對不起，比爾？

In the last quarter -- in the last quarter -- and I guess you're withdrawing guidance, but you had -- in the last quarter, you had put a $300 million as kind of the midpoint for CapEx. And I'm just wondering how to think about that. I realize you don't have that for the full year maybe related to Romeo; but just standalone Nikola how to think about CapEx.

在上個季度 - 在上個季度 - 我猜你正在撤回指導，但你已經 - 在上個季度，你投入了 3 億美元作為資本支出的中點。我只是想知道如何考慮這一點。我意識到你全年都沒有這個可能與羅密歐有關；但只是獨立的 Nikola 如何考慮資本支出。

Sure. As you know, for first 6 months, we were pretty efficient in terms of CapEx. Most of the CapEx were related to our Phase 2 expansion and equipment and investment affiliates. And so it came out to approximately $80 million or so, year-to-date. I think we've talked about for Q3, around $90 million would be a good estimate. And so we are running favorably in terms of full year CapEx guidance. However, we do anticipate that we'll be catching up in Q3 and Q4, and so you should work with what we have originally guided for the full year in terms of CapEx.

當然。如您所知，在前 6 個月，我們的資本支出非常有效。大部分資本支出與我們的第二階段擴張以及設備和投資附屬公司有關。年初至今，它的收入約為 8000 萬美元。我認為我們已經討論了第三季度，大約 9000 萬美元將是一個不錯的估計。因此，我們在全年資本支出指導方面表現良好。但是，我們確實預計我們將在第三季度和第四季度迎頭趕上，因此您應該按照我們最初在資本支出方面全年指導的內容進行工作。

(Operator Instructions) Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. And I would like to turn the call back to management for closing remarks. Thank you.

（操作員說明）女士們，先生們，我們已經到了問答環節的結尾。我想將電話轉回給管理層以結束髮言。謝謝你。

Thanks, everybody, for dialing in, and we'll talk to you next quarter. Thanks.

謝謝大家撥入，我們將在下個季度與您交談。謝謝。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you very much for your participation.

謝謝你。今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路，非常感謝您的參與。