Nikola Corp (NKLA) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to Nikola Corporation's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings and Business Update Call. We'll begin today's call with a short video presentation followed by management's prepared remarks. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the prepared remarks. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star 0 on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is my pleasure to introduce Dylan Sandhu from Investor Relations.

早上好，歡迎參加尼古拉公司 2023 年第二季度收益和業務更新電話會議。我們將以簡短的視頻演示開始今天的電話會議，然後是管理層準備好的講話。在準備好的發言之後將舉行簡短的問答環節。如果有人在會議期間需要接線員協助，請按電話鍵盤上的星號 0。提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。我很高興向您介紹投資者關係部門的 Dylan Sandhu。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Nikola Corporation's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings and Business Update Call. Joining me today are Michael Lohscheller, Steve Girsky, Anastasiya Pasterick and Carey Mendes. A press release detailing our financial and business results was distributed earlier this morning. The release can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website, along with presentation slides accompanying today's call. 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. Today's discussion also includes forward-looking statements about our future expectations and plans. Actual results may differ materially from those stated, and some factors that could cause actual results to differ are also explained at the end of today's earnings press release and on Page 2 of our earnings call deck and also in our filings with the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. You are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

謝謝接線員，大家早上好。歡迎參加 Nikola Corporation 的 2023 年第二季度收益和業務更新電話會議。今天加入我的有邁克爾·洛謝勒(Michael Lohscheller)、史蒂夫·吉爾斯基(Steve Girsky)、阿納斯塔西婭·帕斯特里克(Anastasiya Pasterick) 和凱里·門德斯(Carey Mendes)。今天早上早些時候發布了一份詳細介紹我們的財務和業務業績的新聞稿。該新聞稿以及今天電話會議附帶的演示幻燈片可以在我們網站的投資者關係部分找到。今天的討論涉及非公認會計原則措施。這些指標與最具可比性的美國公認會計原則指標一致，可以在我們今天發布的第二季度收益新聞稿末尾找到。今天的討論還包括有關我們未來期望和計劃的前瞻性陳述。實際結果可能與所述結果存在重大差異，並且在今天的收益新聞稿末尾、我們的收益電話會議第二頁以及我們向 SEC 提交的文件中也解釋了一些可能導致實際結果不同的因素。前瞻性陳述僅代表其作出之日的情況。請您注意不要過分依賴前瞻性陳述。

After the video presentation, Michael and Stacy will give their prepared remarks followed by analyst Q&A. Then we will conclude with questions from our shareholders. Please begin the video presentation. Thank you. Talend Logistics Zinc is the asset-based division of Talend Group. We are a trucking logistics company. We focus on a lot of ocean freight, drayage intermodal. We want to be transcends Nikola was the transitory for commercial vehicles. Obviously, you have competitors in the market, but you don't see those type of trucks out there and now you see net... The difference between us partnering with nickel and other company is that they offer an all-inclusive charging infrastructure and is literally just plug and play, which is perfect. What I love about this drug, is it's safe for the driver, you like to have a lot of visibility within your mirrors and as you're driving and do you see everything efficiencies to take over -- the biggest thing when your truck is not -- not going forward with backwards, conversing with this drug. It's fairly easy to see everything. Once you drive this thing, I'm telling you, you're not going to want to go back to giving... Obviously, on Pioneer. So... A great way to partner with someone that's already ahead of...

視頻演示結束後，邁克爾和史黛西將發表他們準備好的講話，然後是分析師問答。然後我們將以股東的提問作為結束。請開始視頻演示。謝謝。 Talend Logistics Zinc 是 Talend Group 的資產部門。我們是一家貨運物流公司。我們專注於大量的海運、拖運多式聯運。我們希望超越尼古拉是商用車的過渡者。顯然，市場上有競爭對手，但你看不到那些類型的卡車，現在你看到了網絡……我們與鎳和其他公司合作的區別在於，他們提供了全包的充電基礎設施，並且實際上就是即插即用，這是完美的。我喜歡這種藥物的原因是它對駕駛員來說是安全的，您希望在後視鏡中擁有足夠的視野，當您駕駛時，您是否能看到接管的一切效率——當您的卡車不工作時最重要的事情——不前進與後退，與這種藥物對話。很容易看到一切。我告訴你，一旦你駕駛了這輛車，你就不會想再回去給予……顯然，在先鋒。所以...與已經領先的人合作的好方法...

Thank you, Dhillon, and good morning, everyone. Again, welcome to our second quarter earnings call. Before we get into earnings, I would like to first address the leadership transition plan announced earlier this morning. Stephen Girsky, Chairman of Nikola's Board of Directors will succeed me as CEO effective immediately. I have decided to step down due to a family health matter and will be returning to Europe. To ensure a seamless transition, I will remain at Nikola in an advisory capacity through the end of September to support Steve and the team. The Board and I are confident in appointing Steve as my successor. Steve was an early believer and investor in Nikola and has been pivotal to the company's success. Over the years, Steve has worked closely with the management team on advancing Nikola corporate initiatives. This is a inter knowledge of Nikola's business and products will enable him to hit the ground running with a speed required to capitalize on the exciting opportunities in front of us. Steve is a true champion of Nikolas mission, and I look forward to seeing the impact he will have in his new role as CEO. Going into our quarterly results, I began last quarter's call sharing with you that Nikola is a real deal. And we think that we are the best positioned company to lead the commercial Zero emission transition and accelerate the hydrogen economy.

謝謝你，Dhillon，大家早上好。再次歡迎參加我們的第二季度財報電話會議。在我們討論收益之前，我想首先談談今天早上早些時候宣布的領導層過渡計劃。尼古拉董事會主席斯蒂芬·吉爾斯基（Stephen Girsky）將接替我擔任首席執行官，立即生效。由於家庭健康問題，我決定辭職，並將返回歐洲。為了確保無縫過渡，我將在 9 月底之前留在 Nikola 擔任顧問，以支持 Steve 和團隊。董事會和我有信心任命史蒂夫為我的繼任者。史蒂夫是尼古拉的早期信徒和投資者，對公司的成功至關重要。多年來，史蒂夫與管理團隊密切合作，推進尼古拉的企業計劃。這是對尼古拉業務和產品的深入了解，將使他能夠以所需的速度開始運作，以利用我們面前的令人興奮的機會。史蒂夫是尼古拉使命的真正擁護者，我期待看到他在擔任首席執行官的新角色中產生的影響。談到我們的季度業績，我在上個季度的電話會議中開始與大家分享尼古拉是一個真正的交易。我們認為我們是引領商業零排放轉型和加速氫經濟的最佳公司。

I also laid out what Nikola pass forward was, focus on North America, deliver the first heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell truck in the market, provide hydrogen refueling solutions to enable fuel cell truck operations, continue to build sales momentum and optimize spending to align with our focus. Today, I share that we are solidly on the path we laid out and delivering on our commitments. You have seen us in the news doing business with companies such as global energy leader for test few future industries, Bosch, the largest automotive supplier in the world, J.B. Hunt, one of the largest U.S. trucking firms, Volterra for stations in biotech for hydrogen supply and fueling solutions. We continue driving forward in our mission to decarbonize heavy-duty commercial transportation. This is only possible with a great team that we have assembled at Nikola and I am proud of each and every employee who is along with us on this journey. When you are a pioneer, the road is never smooth. Bumps are to be expected, but we believe we have the people, the partners, the technology and the plan to make Nikola and Hilo a true world-changing company. So let's get started. Beginning with the truck programs, we started serial production of the hydrogen fuel set track on July 31. The initial trucks take more time to build as these are the first ones built on the newly upgraded mix model assembly line. As we build more trucks, they will come off the line faster and throughput will increase.

我還闡述了尼古拉的未來是什麼，專注於北美，交付市場上第一輛重型氫燃料電池卡車，提供加氫解決方案以實現燃料電池卡車的運營，繼續建立銷售勢頭並優化支出以協調一致與我們的專注。今天，我表示我們正在堅定地走在我們制定的道路上並兌現我們的承諾。您在新聞中看到我們與一些公司開展業務，例如測試未來行業的全球能源領導者、世界上最大的汽車供應商博世、美國最大的卡車運輸公司之一 J.B. Hunt、氫生物技術站 Volterra供應和加油解決方案。我們繼續推進重型商業運輸脫碳的使命。只有我們在尼古拉組建了一支優秀的團隊，這才有可能實現，我為與我們一起踏上這段旅程的每一位員工感到自豪。當你是先鋒時，道路永遠不會平坦。坎坷是可以預料的，但我們相信我們擁有人才、合作夥伴、技術和計劃，可以使 Nikola 和 Hilo 成為真正改變世界的公司。那麼讓我們開始吧。從卡車項目開始，我們於 7 月 31 日開始批量生產氫燃料組軌道。最初的卡車需要更多時間來建造，因為這些卡車是在新升級的混合模型裝配線上建造的第一批卡車。隨著我們製造更多卡車，它們下線的速度會更快，吞吐量也會增加。

We expect the first customer deliveries to happen in September. Helping drive sales of the hydrogen fuel cell truck are pilot tests with current and potential customers. During Q2, we completed 10 gamma trucks. 8 of the trucks will be used in pilot testing and 2 will be used in final validation testing. Interest in the hydrogen fuel cell electric truck is encouraging. To date, we and our dealers have received 18 customer orders for more than 200 trucks. On the battery electric truck, during the second quarter, we continued building sales momentum, completing 66 retail sales, double that of Q1 and completing 45 wholesale deliveries. The market for battery electric trucks is growing daily as customers discover the total cost of ownership benefits of the vehicles and additional government incentives and regulations are introduced. The willingness of fleets to participate in the transition to 0 emissions trucks is increasing as the technology is de-risked and the product is proven. The 45 wholesales to dealers last quarter reduced our inventory. We ended Q2 with 139 battery electric trucks in inventory on our site and 92 trucks at dealers. We expect a significant reduction of inventory in Q3 and plan to start producing battery electric trucks again in early 2024 on a build-to-order basis.

我們預計第一批客戶將於九月交付。與現有和潛在客戶進行的試點測試有助於推動氫燃料電池卡車的銷售。第二季度，我們完成了 10 輛伽瑪卡車。其中 8 輛卡車將用於試點測試，2 輛將用於最終驗證測試。人們對氫燃料電池電動卡車的興趣令人鼓舞。迄今為止，我們和我們的經銷商已收到 18 個客戶的 200 多輛卡車訂單。在純電動卡車方面，第二季度我們繼續保持銷售勢頭，完成了 66 輛零售銷售，是第一季度的兩倍，並完成了 45 輛批發交付。隨著客戶發現車輛的總擁有成本優勢以及額外的政府激勵措施和法規的出台，電池電動卡車市場日益增長。隨著技術風險的降低和產品的驗證，車隊參與向零排放卡車過渡的意願正在增強。上季度向經銷商的 45 家批發減少了我們的庫存。截至第二季度末，我們網站上的庫存有 139 輛電動卡車，經銷商有 92 輛卡車。我們預計第三季度庫存將大幅減少，併計劃在 2024 年初再次開始按訂單生產電動卡車。

Moving on to Haile, our Energy business, we made substantial progress in seeking to ensure that we have the required supply and fueling solutions for customers in late 2023 and 2024. The energy business is working ahead of truck sales to enable 0 emissions trucking operations with our fuel cell trucks. We believe what needs to be offered to customers is a fully integrated mobility solution, and we believe Nikola is the only company providing that for customers today. Hydrogen infrastructure takes a long time to permit, build and requires lead time to procure production and dispensing equipment. We believe we are well ahead of the curve and will continue to work with partners to build out the ecosystem. Our energy team continues to progress with well-established and capitalized partners. The joint station development partnership with Volterra is progressing well, and we have determined the first 8 station locations to be developed under the partnership.

轉向我們的能源業務海爾，我們在確保 2023 年末和 2024 年為客戶提供所需的供應和加油解決方案方面取得了實質性進展。能源業務正在卡車銷售之前開展工作，以實現零排放卡車運輸業務我們的燃料電池卡車。我們相信需要為客戶提供的是完全集成的移動解決方案，並且我們相信 Nikola 是當今唯一一家為客戶提供該解決方案的公司。氫基礎設施需要很長時間才能獲得許可、建設，並且需要時間來採購生產和分配設備。我們相信我們處於領先地位，並將繼續與合作夥伴合作構建生態系統。我們的能源團隊繼續與成熟且資本充足的合作夥伴一起進步。與Volterra的聯合車站開發合作夥伴關係進展順利，我們已經確定了合作夥伴關係下首批開發的8個車站位置。

The station development plan received another boost with the announcement of grants for over EUR 50 million from various California agencies supporting the construction of 8 California stations. These brands will lower the capital cost for hydrogen refueling stations, and I expect it to meaningfully reduce dispensing costs. We are very appreciative of the partnership with California state and regulatory agencies who are working alongside us to support the energy transition. On the hydrogen production and supply side, we announced that a definitive agreement was reached with Fortescue Future Industry to acquire 100% of the Phoenix Hydrogen Hub project. The agreement with FFI aligns with our strategy of controlling the hydrogen molecule through the ecosystem with the help of partners. The project has made good progress. We expect it to reach final investment decisions by the end of Q3 2023 and anticipate Phase 1 to be operational in 2025 with a production capacity of up to 30 metric tons per day, which could support up to 750 Nikola hydrogen fuel cell trucks.

加州各機構宣布撥款超過 5000 萬歐元，支持加州 8 個車站的建設，車站開發計劃再次得到推動。這些品牌將降低加氫站的資本成本，我預計它將顯著降低加氫成本。我們非常感謝與加州和監管機構的合作，他們與我們一起支持能源轉型。在氫氣生產和供應方面，我們宣布與Fortescue Future Industry達成最終協議，收購菲尼克斯氫中心項目100%的股權。與 FFI 的協議符合我們在合作夥伴的幫助下通過生態系統控制氫分子的戰略。該項目已取得良好進展。我們預計該項目將在 2023 年第三季度末做出最終投資決定，並預計一期工程將於 2025 年投入運營，產能高達 30 噸/天，可支持多達 750 輛 Nikola 氫燃料電池卡車。

We are negotiating a hydrogen offtake agreement with FFI to support our needs. The FFI and Voltarol partnerships are significant milestones to support our capital-light hydrogen infrastructure strategy. We continue working closely with partners such as Plug Power, Biotech and Linde to underpin our North American supply and infrastructure strategy. As of today, we have received 6 mobile fuels and are on track to receive 10 more over the next year. We plan to have 9 mobile fuelers at several California locations available for customers by the end of 2023. We believe we have secured a first mover advantage on hydrogen infrastructure and will continue to provide updates as we execute our business plan. Before I turn the call over to Stacy to go over financials, I want to say a few things about safety. Let's talk about the fire of our battery electric truck at our headquarters in late June.

我們正在與 FFI 就氫氣承購協議進行談判，以滿足我們的需求。 FFI 和 Voltarol 的合作夥伴關係是支持我們輕資本氫基礎設施戰略的重要里程碑。我們繼續與 Plug Power、Biotech 和 Linde 等合作夥伴密切合作，以支持我們的北美供應和基礎設施戰略。截至今天，我們已收到 6 種移動燃料，並有望在明年再收到 10 種。我們計劃到 2023 年底在加利福尼亞州的多個地點為客戶提供 9 個移動加油機。我們相信我們已經在氫基礎設施方面獲得了先發優勢，並將在執行業務計劃時繼續提供更新。在我把電話轉給史黛西討論財務狀況之前，我想說一些關於安全的事情。先說說6月下旬我們總部的電動卡車起火事件。

First of all, we are thankful that no one was heard. Secondly, it has been determined that only one truck started the fire and spread to the other 4. We have 2 investigations ongoing, one with our technical and safety staff and one being conducted by a third party, and we will share more when we know more. We want everyone to know Nikola trucks are designed with safety as the first priority and are rigorously tested prior to release. These tests include front, side and rear crash testing, battery coolant leakage monitoring and battery thermal runaway detection. Our trucks meet and exceed federal motor vehicle safety standards and United Nations Global Technical Regulations 20 standards as well as meet the industry best practices, including the society of automobile engineers, the international organization for standardization in the under writers laboratories. The testing we just described was also conducted on the fuel cell electric truck. Additionally, the hydrogen systems on the truck underwent further rigorous validation testing, including more than 11,000 hydraulic cycles, which stimulates more than 15 years of driving and fueling.

首先，我們很慶幸沒有聽到任何人的聲音。其次，已確定只有一輛卡車起火併蔓延到其他4 輛卡車。我們正在進行2 項調查，一項由我們的技術和安全人員進行，另一項由第三方進行，當我們知道後，我們將分享更多信息更多的。我們希望每個人都知道 Nikola 卡車的設計以安全為第一要務，並在發布前經過嚴格的測試。這些測試包括正面、側面和背面碰撞測試、電池冷卻劑洩漏監測和電池熱失控檢測。我們的卡車符合併超過聯邦機動車輛安全標準和聯合國全球技術法規 20 標準，並符合行業最佳實踐，包括汽車工程師協會、國際標準化組織的作者實驗室。我們剛才描述的測試也是在燃料電池電動卡車上進行的。此外，卡車上的氫氣系統經過了進一步嚴格的驗證測試，包括超過 11,000 次液壓循環，可刺激超過 15 年的駕駛和加油。

Extreme temperature testing, fire testing and the tanks undergo gunfire penetration testing to simulate high-rate puncture similar to a vehicle collision. Not only is Nikola, the pioneer of the truck itself, but of the safety system standards for heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. We have team members on staff who have been a part of establishing the standards for hydrogen and how it's going to be used in the United States. So we previously shared what we are going to do to ensure Nikola is around for the long haul. Today, we communicated that we have accomplished some of those things already and believe we are well on our way to execute all of our milestones and lead Nikola to profitability. What Nikola is looking to accomplish is incredibly important. This is the hottest summer ever on record. And innovative companies and partners must work together to transition heavy-duty transportation to 0 emissions. Class A trucks make up about 5% of registered vehicles on the road in the United States, yet produced 23% of emissions in the transportation sector.

極端溫度測試、防火測試以及坦克進行槍火穿透測試，以模擬類似於車輛碰撞的高速率刺穿。尼古拉不僅是卡車本身的先驅，而且是重型氫燃料電池電動汽車安全系統標準的先驅。我們的團隊成員一直參與製定氫氣標準以及如何在美國使用氫氣。因此，我們之前分享了我們將採取哪些措施來確保尼古拉長期存在。今天，我們表示我們已經完成了其中一些事情，並相信我們正在順利實現所有里程碑並帶領 Nikola 實現盈利。尼古拉想要實現的目標非常重要。這是有記錄以來最熱的夏天。創新型公司和合作夥伴必須共同努力，將重型運輸轉變為零排放。 A 級卡車約占美國道路上註冊車輛的 5%，但產生的排放量卻佔交通運輸行業的 23%。

That is more than 380 million metric tons of CO2 a year, replacing just on internal combustion engine semi-truck with a Nikola truck can avoid 106 metric tons of CO2 per year. There is a massive opportunity for Nikola, and we expect to play a critical role in the transition to 0 emissions. Thank you all once again for being a part of this journey as we strive to accomplish our mission together. Now I'd like to pass it off to Stacy. She will share with you how we are reducing our cash burn as we refocus our business. Stacy. The floor is yours.

這意味著每年排放超過 3.8 億噸二氧化碳，僅用 Nikola 卡車替換內燃機半掛卡車每年就可以避免 106 噸二氧化碳排放。尼古拉麵臨著巨大的機遇，我們希望在向零排放的過渡中發揮關鍵作用。再次感謝大家參與我們共同努力完成使命的旅程。現在我想把它交給史黛西。她將與您分享我們在重新調整業務重點時如何減少現金消耗。史黛西。地板是你的。

Thank you, Michael, and good morning, everyone. As we look at our Q2 results, we are really turning the quarter on the next phase of our business and improving our financial help. We got our cash burn substantially while also improving our balance sheet and increasing our unrestricted cash position by $107 million. We remain focused on our strategic priorities and delivering value to our shareholders. By focusing on the North American market, achieving a first-mover advantage in hydrogen economy and continuing to build sales momentum. This quarter, we executed many actions to reduce our spending and align nickel of cost structure with our new strategic priorities. We closed down battery production operations of Rome, reduced head count in Phoenix and Coolidge by more than 20%, completed the sale of European JV to tobacco and went through a company-wide cost rationalization effort to ensure that every dollar spent is in line with the company's priorities.

謝謝你，邁克爾，大家早上好。當我們查看第二季度的業績時，我們確實正在將本季度的業務轉向下一階段，並改善我們的財務幫助。我們大量燒錢，同時也改善了我們的資產負債表，並將我們的非限制性現金頭寸增加了 1.07 億美元。我們仍然專注於我們的戰略重點並為股東創造價值。聚焦北美市場，取得氫經濟先發優勢，持續打造銷售動力。本季度，我們採取了許多行動來減少支出，並使成本結構與我們新的戰略重點保持一致。我們關閉了羅馬的電池生產業務，將菲尼克斯和柯立芝的員工人數減少了20% 以上，完成了將歐洲合資企業出售給煙草公司，並進行了全公司範圍的成本合理化工作，以確保花費的每一美元都符合公司的優先事項。

Those decisions, while at times difficult to make helped Nikola accomplish cash burn below our $150 million target. Our team continues to work diligently, finding opportunities to optimize our cost structure and driving financially disciplined decision-making. As a result, we believe we have high visibility to reduce cash burn below $100 million per quarter by the end of this year through a combination of lowering ongoing OpEx and CapEx run rate and managing our working capital usage by continuing to build sales momentum and reducing inventory on the balance sheet. In Q2, we sold 45 battery electric trucks for gross truck revenue of $14.9 million and net truck revenue was $12 million after $2.9 million of dealer rebates and incentives. Dealer rebates are related to 2022 wholesale, which were executed at higher ASPs than they have been retailed for in 2023. As most of our 2022 wholesales have been retailed by now and pricing levels are stabilizing, we expect rebate activity to come down.

這些決定雖然有時很難做出，但幫助 Nikola 實現了低於 1.5 億美元目標的現金消耗。我們的團隊繼續努力工作，尋找優化成本結構的機會並推動遵守財務紀律的決策。因此，我們相信，通過降低持續運營支出和資本支出運行率，以及通過繼續建立銷售勢頭和減少運營成本來管理我們的營運資金使用，到今年年底，我們有能力將每季度的現金消耗減少到1億美元以下。資產負債表上的存貨。第二季度，我們售出了 45 輛電池電動卡車，卡車總收入為 1,490 萬美元，扣除 290 萬美元的經銷商回扣和激勵後，卡車淨收入為 1,200 萬美元。經銷商返利與 2022 年批發相關，其執行價格高於 2023 年零售價格。由於我們 2022 年大部分批發目前已零售且定價水平趨於穩定，我們預計返利活動將會下降。

Excluding dealer rebates, the average sales price for the battery electric truck was approximately 324,000 per unit, unchanged from Q1. Despite the revenue rebate impact in Q2, we continue to see improvements in gross margin coming in at negative 180% this quarter from negative 213% in Q1. Gross margin improvements are attributable to higher revenue, lower manufacturing labor and overhead as we have optimized resources and operations in college and improved inbound freight and inventory costs as we have transitioned to a build-to-order model. We expect to continue seeing gross margin improvements on a battery electric trucks as we start utilizing battery facts manufactured in Coolidge and optimize bill of materials costs, specifically on the battery pack and closure and battery cells. In the longer term, we anticipate the fuel full truck to be superior on the gross margin due to higher average sales price as we benefit from the first mover advantage and high incentives in states like California and labor, freight and overhead savings once we begin assembling the fuel cell power modules in college later this year. On both trucks, we have ample opportunities for bill of material cost reduction as the scale volume and localize our supply chain. This is something our team will be laser-focused on heading into 2024, and it will be critical to achieving gross margin breakeven.

剔除經銷商返利後，純電動卡車平均銷售價格約為32.4萬輛/輛，與一季度持平。儘管第二季度受到收入回扣的影響，但我們仍然看到本季度毛利率有所改善，從第一季度的負 213% 降至負 180%。毛利率的提高歸因於更高的收入、更低的製造勞動力和管理費用，因為我們在大學優化了資源和運營，並且隨著我們轉向按訂單生產模式，改善了入境貨運和庫存成本。隨著我們開始利用柯立芝製造的電池材料並優化材料成本，特別是電池組、閉合件和電池，我們預計電池電動卡車的毛利率將繼續提高。從長遠來看，由於我們受益於先發優勢和加州等州的高激勵措施，以及一旦我們開始組裝就可以節省勞動力、貨運和管理費用，因此我們預計燃油滿載卡車的毛利率將更高，因為我們受益於先發優勢和加州等州的高額激勵措施今年晚些時候在大學學習燃料電池電源模塊。在這兩款卡車上，隨著規模的擴大和供應鏈的本地化，我們有充足的機會降低材料成本。這是我們團隊在 2024 年將重點關注的事情，對於實現毛利率盈虧平衡至關重要。

Operating expenses in Q2 came in at $141 million within the provided guidance range. During the quarter, cash burn was $148.2 million, better than our $150 million target. Most of the improvement in Q2 came from slowing down CapEx investments and working capital usage. With the build-to-order production model, stronger sales momentum and floor plan financing solutions, we anticipate further improvements in working capital utilization. Our goal for the second half of 2023 is for the working capital impact to be neutral as the proceeds from existing Bove inventory sales offset working capital needs to scale up fuel cell volumes. Despite volatile market conditions, we raised additional capital and improved our cash position to $295.4 million in Q2. This is an increase of approximately $92 million from Q1. The increase in cash came from net proceeds of $96 million from the follow-on offering completed in April, $49 million college land sale leaseback proceeds 58 million from the ATM and convertible notes and $26.5 million net proceeds from the JV divestiture. The cash balance at the end of Q2 does not include $20.7 million received in July from the first phase of the Phoenix Hydrogen Health acquisition by FFI.

第二季度的運營支出為 1.41 億美元，在所提供的指導範圍內。本季度現金消耗為 1.482 億美元，好於我們 1.5 億美元的目標。第二季度的大部分改善來自資本支出投資和營運資金使用的放緩。憑藉按訂單生產模式、強勁的銷售勢頭和平面圖融資解決方案，我們預計營運資金利用率將進一步提高。我們 2023 年下半年的目標是使營運資金影響保持中性，因為現有 Bove 庫存銷售的收益抵消了擴大燃料電池銷量的營運資金需求。儘管市場環境波動，我們仍籌集了額外資金，並將第二季度的現金狀況改善至 2.954 億美元。這比第一季度增加了約 9200 萬美元。現金的增加來自 4 月份完成的後續發行的 9600 萬美元淨收益、4900 萬美元的大學土地出售回租收益、ATM 和可轉換票據的 5800 萬美元淨收益以及合資企業剝離的 2650 萬美元淨收益。第二季度末的現金餘額不包括 7 月份 FFI 收購 Phoenix Hydrogen Health 第一階段收到的 2070 萬美元。

As of the beginning of July, we maintained total access to capital of approximately $743 million and believe we have adequate cash on the balance sheet to sustain us into 2024. As we announced yesterday, our stockholders approve proposal to at our annual meeting, increasing the number of authorize shares of our common stock. This will allow us to continue accessing the capital markets strategically and efficiently and maintain liquidity to fund and execute our business plan, subject to market conditions, availability of capital, stock price and other variables of course. As we have redefined our business plans and reduced our cash burn, we currently anticipate being EBITDA neutral by the end of 2025 and estimate that we will lead approximately $600 million of additional capital to fully fund the business model and achieve profitability. This is substantially lower than what was previously estimated. Moving on to the guidance, for the third quarter, we expect total truck deliveries to be between 60 and 90 trucks for the net truck revenue of $18 million to $28 million, generating a gross margin of negative 165% to negative 110%. Total operating expenses for the quarter are expected to be in the range of $90 million to $100 million, including $16.5 million of stock-based compensation. This is more than a 30% reduction versus first half of 2023 levels.

截至7 月初，我們的資本總額約為7.43 億美元，並相信我們的資產負債表上有足夠的現金來維持我們到2024 年的發展。正如我們昨天宣布的那樣，我們的股東在我們的年度會議上批准了提案，增加了我們普通股的授權股數。這將使我們能夠繼續戰略性地、有效地進入資本市場，並根據市場條件、資本可用性、股票價格和其他變量，維持流動性以資助和執行我們的業務計劃。隨著我們重新制定業務計劃並減少現金消耗，我們目前預計到 2025 年底將實現 EBITDA 中性，並預計我們將籌集約 6 億美元的額外資本，為業務模式提供充足資金並實現盈利。這大大低於之前的估計。繼續來看第三季度的指引，我們預計卡車總交付量將在 60 至 90 輛之間，卡車淨收入為 1800 萬至 2800 萬美元，毛利率為負 165% 至負 110%。該季度的總運營費用預計在 9000 萬美元至 1 億美元之間，其中包括 1650 萬美元的股票薪酬。與 2023 年上半年的水平相比，減少了 30% 以上。

Q3 CapEx is expected to be $25 million to $30 million. We have a line of sight to further use cash burn to roughly $120 million in Q3, with July cash burn already coming in below $40 million. We are updating the full year 2023 guidance as we now have better visibility on the commercial side as well as into the savings from our realigned cost structure. For the full year, we expect to deliver 300 to 400 trucks for total revenue of $100 million to $130 million, generating gross margin of negative 110% to negative 85%. We expect to realize a 30% reduction in operating expenses moving forward. Operating expenses for the full year are now expected in the range of $395 million to $415 million, including $85.1 million of stock-based compensation.

第三季度資本支出預計為 2500 萬至 3000 萬美元。我們預計第三季度的現金消耗將進一步達到約 1.2 億美元，7 月份的現金消耗已低於 4000 萬美元。我們正在更新 2023 年全年指導，因為我們現在對商業方面以及重新調整的成本結構帶來的節省有了更好的了解。全年預計交付 300 至 400 輛卡車，總收入為 1 億至 1.3 億美元，毛利率為負 110% 至負 85%。我們預計未來運營費用將減少 30%。目前預計全年運營費用在 3.95 億美元至 4.15 億美元之間，其中包括 8510 萬美元的股票薪酬。

To wrap up, we had a strong quarter and have improved our financial results, strengthening our balance sheet. We have substantially reduced cash burn while almost doubling our unrestricted cash position executed on our cost savings initiatives, regained closing this price compliance with NASDAQ, developed a clear understanding of the capital requirements to fund the business to positive EBITDA and continued demonstration of our ability to access capital. I want to sincerely thank the entire Nikola team for executing, being efficient, creative and demonstrating an ability to do more with labs. While we're pleased with the results so far, there is still much to accomplish, and we assure you we are working diligently to achieve our goals and turn Nikola into a profitable business. I will now pass it back to Michael for closing remarks.

總而言之，我們度過了一個強勁的季度，改善了我們的財務業績，增強了我們的資產負債表。我們大幅減少了現金消耗，同時將我們在成本節約計劃中執行的無限制現金頭寸增加了近一倍，恢復了與納斯達克價格的合規性，對為業務提供資金以實現正EBITDA 的資本要求有了清晰的了解，並繼續證明我們有能力獲取資本。我要真誠地感謝整個 Nikola 團隊的執行力、高效性、創造力以及展示出利用實驗室做更多事情的能力。雖然我們對迄今為止的結果感到滿意，但仍有很多工作要做，我們向您保證，我們正在努力實現我們的目標，並將 Nikola 轉變為一家盈利的企業。我現在將其傳回給邁克爾以供結束語。

Thank you, Stacy. So as you have heard during the call, we are doing the right things at Nikola. We have increased our cash position while also substantially reducing our cash burn. We are building sales momentum and advancing the transition to 0 emissions commercial transportation, and we are making progress in the hydrogen refueling business with partners. As we look forward to Q3 and the second half of this year, we expect investors will see the following from the Nikola team. First, building sales momentum; second, ensuring we have the fueling solutions to support customer fuel cell truck operations; third, continue to reduce cash burn. Fourth, and raise adequate capital to execute on our business plan. Before we close, I just want to say that it has been a privilege and honor to have served as Nikola's CEO. As I step away to be with my family, my belief in Nikola purpose to pave the way for a zero emissions future has never been stronger. Steve is a seasoned automotive executive with a proven track record, and he is exactly what Nikola needs right now entering this next phase of the company's history, Steve over to you if you would like to say a few words.

謝謝你，史黛西。正如您在電話會議中聽到的那樣，我們在尼古拉正在做正確的事情。我們增加了現金頭寸，同時也大幅減少了現金消耗。我們正在建立銷售動力，推動商業運輸向零排放轉型，並與合作夥伴在加氫業務上取得進展。當我們展望第三季度和今年下半年時，我們預計投資者將從 Nikola 團隊中看到以下內容。第一，打造銷售動力；其次，確保我們擁有支持客戶燃料電池卡車運營的加油解決方案；第三，繼續減少現金消耗。第四，籌集足夠的資金來執行我們的業務計劃。在結束之前，我只想說，擔任 Nikola 的首席執行官是一種榮幸。當我離開家與家人團聚時，我對 Nikola 為零排放未來鋪平道路的目標的信念從未如此堅定。史蒂夫是一位經驗豐富的汽車高管，有著良好的業績記錄，他正是尼古拉現在進入公司歷史的下一階段所需要的人選，如果你想說幾句話，史蒂夫就交給你了。

Thanks, Michael. I know Michael and his family for over a decade. We've worked together in many capacities, and I cannot overstate what Michael has contributed to this company. I look forward to staying in touch with you and I speak on behalf of the entire Nikola team in wishing you and your family well. I want to thank Michael for his hard work and dedication to advancing Nikola mission to pioneer solutions for a zero-emissions world and would also like to thank the Board for placing their trust in me as we work toward continuing the company's momentum. I feel energized and ready to take on this role, and I'm excited about the many opportunities ahead of us. That concludes our remarks. Operator, please open the line for analyst questions.

謝謝，邁克爾。我認識邁克爾和他的家人已有十多年了。我們在多個職位上進行過合作，我無法誇大邁克爾對這家公司的貢獻。我期待與您保持聯繫，並代表整個 Nikola 團隊祝愿您和您的家人一切順利。我要感謝 Michael 的辛勤工作和奉獻精神，以推進 Nikola 為零排放世界開創解決方案的使命，還要感謝董事會在我們努力延續公司發展勢頭時對我的信任。我感到精力充沛，準備好承擔這個角色，我對我們面前的許多機會感到興奮。我們的發言到此結束。接線員，請接通分析師提問線路。

Thank you. If you would like to pad, a confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue.(Operator Instructions) you may start to if you would like to remove your question from the queue and for our participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the starts. Our first question is from Mike Shlisky with D.A. Davidson.

謝謝。如果您想填充，確認音將表明您的線路已在問題隊列中。（操作員說明）如果您想從隊列中刪除您的問題，則可以開始，對於使用揚聲器設備的參與者，這可能是在按開始鍵之前必須拿起聽筒。我們的第一個問題來自 D.A. 的 Mike Shlisky。戴維森。

Michael, also, I do wish you have done as well, and maybe I just want to talk about that transition that's my first question. See, sometimes when full come into the CEO role when they were Chairperson, it's sometimes only a temporary thing. Are you looking to kind of stay at Nikola for the long term? And can you maybe tell us, again, was this a very sudden thing? Did they just call you last night, Steve? Or was there a large external Board search done here?

邁克爾，我也希望你也這樣做，也許我只想談談我的第一個問題，即轉變。你看，有時當他們擔任董事長時完全擔任首席執行官的角色，有時這只是暫時的事情。您想長期留在尼古拉嗎？您能否再次告訴我們，這是一件非常突然的事情嗎？史蒂夫，他們昨晚剛剛給你打電話了嗎？或者這裡是否進行過大規模的外部董事會搜索？

So thanks, Mike. So I'm in it to win it here. I'm closing on a place in tomorrow. We're going to be spending time -- a lot of time in Phoenix. I plan to be on the road a lot, though, visiting customers and partners, I'm here for the long haul as long as it takes to win. A well-functioning Board had succession plans for all scenarios, and we had a succession plan for this one, and I was it, and I was happy to step up and move into this role. Does that help?

謝謝，邁克。所以我要在這裡贏得勝利。我明天就要關閉一個地方了。我們將在鳳凰城度過很多時間。不過，我計劃經常出差，拜訪客戶和合作夥伴，只要能贏得勝利，我就會長期在這裡。一個運作良好的董事會對所有情況都有繼任計劃，我們也針對這個制定了繼任計劃，而我就是這樣，我很高興能夠站出來擔任這一角色。這有幫助嗎？

Sure, let me appreciate that. I want to turn to what's coming here in the second half of the production line. I confirm, is this is going to be entirely fuel cell vehicles, if I'm reading everything correctly here, and then will all those vehicles have the bundled lease program attached to them? I know you have at least one filtration queued up for this year. But what's the plan to make sure that all those troughs going off the line in the back half of the year here have the hiring in that they need?

當然，讓我欣賞這一點。我想談談生產線後半部分的情況。我確認，如果我在這裡正確閱讀所有內容，這是否將完全是燃料電池汽車，然後所有這些車輛都會附加捆綁租賃計劃嗎？我知道今年您至少有一項過濾正在排隊。但是，有什麼計劃可以確保今年下半年所有的低谷期都能滿足他們所需的招聘呢？

Yes, Thanks, Mike, and this is Michael here. Let me take this. So first of all, in terms of the production, as we said, so we have started the production of the fuel cell truck, obviously, a very important milestone this week for the company. We have the flexibility to produce both trucks on one assembly line, which is also a very interesting thing in terms of efficiency. But you are correct. For this year, we plan to produce fuel cell truck. However, obviously, then with the build-to-order concept, we will also produce best electric trucks going forward.

是的，謝謝，邁克，我是邁克爾。讓我拿著這個。首先，在生產方面，正如我們所說，我們已經開始生產燃料電池卡車，顯然，本週對公司來說是一個非常重要的里程碑。我們可以靈活地在一條裝配線上生產兩輛卡車，這在效率方面也是一件非常有趣的事情。但你是對的。今年，我們計劃生產燃料電池卡車。然而，顯然，通過按訂單生產的概念，我們未來還將生產最好的電動卡車。

But now the next couple of months until the end of the year, it's all about the fuel cell truck -- and as we said, we think we will produce more than 100 trucks, which I think is a very good first step in terms of the launch of the product. In terms of the go-to-market strategy, I mean, obviously, various elements play a key factor, just to finish that. So first of all, the hydrogen availability is very important in terms of the mobile fuel. But several customers obviously want a bundled lease as well. And case-by-case, we will offer this as well. But there's not one go-to-market approach for everybody. It depends by customers, but yes, that plays a role, too.

但現在直到今年年底，接下來的幾個月，一切都與燃料電池卡車有關——正如我們所說，我們認為我們將生產 100 多輛卡車，我認為這是一個非常好的第一步產品的推出。就進入市場策略而言，我的意思是，顯然，各種因素都發揮著關鍵因素，只是為了完成這一目標。因此，首先，氫氣的可用性對於移動燃料而言非常重要。但一些客戶顯然也想要捆綁租賃。我們也會根據具體情況提供此服務。但並沒有一種適合所有人的進入市場方法。這取決於客戶，但是，這也很重要。

And I guess just to clarify your answer, that will explain maybe why there might be a lower ASP and better than the third quarter guidance of $300,000 or lower versus like 340 for the last quarter? Is it something for the FCEV that's all this Okay. First of all, on the ASP in -- in terms of the ASP, it's very similar, but obviously, we have now done some inventory liquidation and that had also an impact on the ASP. But in general, please think about that the ASP for the fuel set-truck is higher because the price is higher, the incentives are higher. So there is a significant difference between BAF and the fuel cell truck. In addition to that, obviously, where we have competition on the battery electric truck on the fuel cell truck, we have clearly a first mover advantage and are uniquely positioned. So I hope that clarifies it.

我想只是為了澄清你的答案，這也許可以解釋為什麼 ASP 可能會更低，並且比第三季度指導更好 300,000 美元或更低，而上季度為 340 美元？對於 FCEV 來說這一切都好嗎？首先，就平均售價而言，它非常相似，但顯然，我們現在已經進行了一些庫存清算，這也對平均售價產生了影響。但總的來說，請考慮一下燃油卡車的平均售價較高，因為價格較高，激勵措施較高。所以BAF和燃料電池卡車有顯著的區別。除此之外，顯然，我們在電池電動卡車和燃料電池卡車上存在競爭，我們顯然擁有先發優勢，並且具有獨特的定位。所以我希望這能澄清這一點。

And this is Stacy. -- if I may just jump in. As far as how we think about the ASP guidance going forward for the best rate as Michael alluded to, as we're selling through the existing inventory, ESP will normalize it be about 300 to $120,000 range, and for the fuel cell, we're kind of seeing yourself settling in 400, 425 range.

這是史黛西。 ——請允許我插話一下。至於我們如何看待邁克爾提到的最佳價格的 ASP 指導，當我們通過現有庫存進行銷售時，ESP 會將其正常化為約 300 至 120,000 美元的範圍，對於燃料電池，我們看到自己在400、425 範圍內穩定下來。

Okay. That makes sense. I appreciate.

好的。這就說得通了。我很欣賞。

Our next question is from Jeff Kauffman with Vertical Research Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自垂直研究合作夥伴的傑夫考夫曼。

Thank... First of all, Michael Lohscheller with your family and best of luck on your endeavors, and Steve, I'm very much looking forward to working with you going forward. So congratulations, and I'm sure we'll talk a whole lot more. I want to go back to Stacy's comment about seeking to be EBITDA neutral by the end of 2025, and I was just thinking this is going to be more of a fuel cell mix, and there's also going to be a fair amount of hill that is moving around the country at that point in time. So can you give us an idea of that breakeven that you're looking at, what kind of fuel cell truck population? Are we looking at around breakeven, not annual sales, but kind of how many fuel cell trucks and how much fuel do we need to be moving around the country to be thinking about an operating breakeven given the cost reductions and kind of what we're looking at over the next 2 years?

謝謝...首先，Michael Lohscheller 和您的家人，祝您一切順利，Steve，我非常期待與您合作。恭喜你，我相信我們會談論更多。我想回到 Stacy 關於尋求到 2025 年底實現 EBITDA 中性的評論，我只是認為這將更多地是燃料電池組合，而且還會有相當多的山丘當時在全國范圍內移動。那麼，您能否向我們介紹一下您正在考慮的盈虧平衡點，即燃料電池卡車的數量是多少？我們是否關注的是盈虧平衡點，而不是年銷售額，而是考慮到成本降低和我們正在考慮的情況，我們需要在全國范圍內運輸多少輛燃料電池卡車和多少燃料才能考慮運營盈虧平衡點展望未來兩年？

Yes, great question, and so really, last time we talked about what we needed to be able to produce and sell about 1,000 trucks. Most of those trucks I would expect to be on the fuel cell side. Obviously, the mix will be determined by the customer. But given kind of the momentum that we're seeing and the early order activity, we're seeing most of the truck volume will come from the fuel cell. With that, I think for -- if you think about the fuel revenue, that will take a little bit of time to ramp up right? If you think about each fuel cell truck cell, you're going to be bringing in somewhere between 80 to 60 to $80,000 of revenue for the hydrogen a year for each truck and operation, so it's going to take time to ramp up that revenue, and then if we look in 2025, we -- really, the target there is bringing about 20% margin on a fuel cell truck and about 15% to 20% margin on that hydrogen.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，事實上，上次我們談到了我們需要什麼才能生產和銷售大約 1,000 輛卡車。我預計這些卡車中的大多數都將採用燃料電池。顯然，組合將由客戶決定。但考慮到我們所看到的勢頭和早期訂單活動，我們看到大部分卡車銷量將來自燃料電池。有了這個，我想——如果你考慮一下燃料收入，這將需要一點時間才能增加，對嗎？如果你考慮每輛燃料電池卡車，你每年將為每輛卡車和運營帶來 80 至 60 至 80,000 美元的氫氣收入，因此需要時間來增加該收入，然後，如果我們展望2025 年，我們的目標是為燃料電池卡車帶來約20% 的利潤，為氫氣帶來約15% 至20% 的利潤。

Okay, and then I think Michael may have asked this, but have initially the thought with the fuel cell model was these are all going to be leases with maintenance and fuel bundled in. How is our thinking on fuel cell moving forward? Is it going to be kind of a hybrid model with some being sales and no tie in to the fueling -- or are we still thinking kind of this long-term lease model where we've got maintenance and fuel package it?

好吧，然後我想邁克爾可能會問這個問題，但最初對燃料電池模型的想法是，這些都將是包含維護和燃料捆綁的租賃。我們對燃料電池的想法如何向前發展？它是否會是一種混合模式，其中一些是銷售而不與加油有關——或者我們是否仍在考慮這種長期租賃模式，我們有維護和燃料包？

I mean, Jeff, I would definitely say, I mean, first of all, whenever we now sell fuel cell truck and the good news is we have many orders in already considering the stage of the production we are that we just launched. Obviously, the first key question from customers is hydrogen, right? And I think the combination there truck hydrogen, this is where obviously Nikola is uniquely positioned. Maintenance is a key factor, too. So therefore, I think bundled lease will play a role, but the key discussion with customers is like, okay, TCO of the truck and then obviously, what about the hydrogen included. This is where most of the debates are. And again, Nikola is very well positioned there, and that's why the whole energy play is so important, including mobile fueler stations, et cetera.

我的意思是，傑夫，我肯定會說，我的意思是，首先，每當我們現在銷售燃料電池卡車時，好消息是我們已經有很多訂單，正在考慮我們剛剛推出的生產階段。顯然，客戶的第一個關鍵問題是氫氣，對吧？我認為卡車氫的組合，這顯然是尼古拉獨特的定位。維護也是一個關鍵因素。因此，我認為捆綁租賃將發揮作用，但與客戶的關鍵討論是，好吧，卡車的總體擁有成本，然後顯然，包括氫氣怎麼樣。這是大多數爭論的地方。尼古拉再次在那里處於非常有利的位置，這就是為什麼整個能源行業如此重要，包括移動加油站等。

That's all I have.

這就是我的全部。

As a reminder, this truer telephone keypad if you would like to ask a question, our next question is from Bill Peterson with JPMorgan.

提醒一下，如果您想問這個更真實的電話鍵盤問題，我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的比爾彼得森。

Following up on the EBITDA walk in 2025 to neutral, I believe last quarter, you mentioned we needed to deliver 1,000 to 1,500 next year and then double in 2025. My first question is, is that number -- those figures still hold? And my second question is, how should we think about the mix in 2024? Is this going to be a vast majority fuel cell at this stage? Or how should we think about the mix into next year?

繼 2025 年 EBITDA 達到中性之後，我相信上個季度，您提到我們需要明年交付 1,000 到 1,500 輛，然後在 2025 年增加一倍。我的第一個問題是，這個數字仍然有效嗎？我的第二個問題是，我們應該如何考慮 2024 年的組合？現階段這將成為絕大多數燃料電池嗎？或者我們應該如何考慮明年的組合？

Bill... Yes, I'll take that. For the most part, that thinking that we've shared last time when the breakeven is still in place. With some of the reduction that we've talked to and we've been able to make as far as just being more efficient and bringing the overhead down some of the labor cost down. It's probably a little bit lower than 100%, but not that far off from that, and then in 2025, we would need somewhere between 1,500 to 2,000 trucks to get to EBITDA positive enough to cover the CapEx, so we start really generating the cash flow, right, the positive cash flow. As far as the mix, again, as I said, we'll let the customer decide, but right now, what we anticipate is, for the most part, the volume will be on the fuel cell side, and then for the best, we'll just build to order as the economics make sense of those orders.

比爾……是的，我接受。在大多數情況下，我們上次分享的想法是在盈虧平衡仍然存在的情況下進行的。通過我們討論過的一些削減，我們已經能夠提高效率並降低管理費用和勞動力成本。它可能比 100% 低一點，但離這個數字也不是太遠，然後到 2025 年，我們需要 1,500 到 2,000 輛卡車才能獲得足以覆蓋資本支出的 EBITDA，因此我們開始真正產生現金流量，右，正現金流。至於混合，正如我所說，我們將讓客戶決定，但現在，我們預計，在很大程度上，體積將在燃料電池方面，然後最好，我們將按照訂單進行生產，因為這些訂單的經濟意義是顯而易見的。

Yes, and nice job on reducing cost and cash burn. So you're now targeting below $100 million per quarter exiting this year. I guess can you give us a feel, earlier on that prior question on your current cash burn expectations beyond this year? And I guess you plan to maintain sufficient liquidity through commercialization. So I think you mentioned you now need $600 million, which is below prior expectations. So I guess how urgent does the capital raise fill to you? I mean, should we assume this is imminent? Or I mean, how are you thinking on this? I mean, can this be a step function or at least multiple ranges? Or just any color you can provide on how you're thinking about raising capital from here would be helpful.

是的，在降低成本和現金消耗方面做得很好。因此，您現在的目標是今年每季度退出金額低於 1 億美元。我想你能給我們一個感覺，在之前的問題上，你目前對今年之後的現金消耗預期是什麼？而且我猜你們打算通過商業化來保持充足的流動性。所以我想你提到你現在需要 6 億美元，這低於之前的預期。所以我想融資對你來說有多緊迫？我的意思是，我們應該假設這即將發生嗎？或者我的意思是，你對此有何看法？我的意思是，這可以是階躍函數還是至少多個範圍？或者，您可以提供任何有關您如何考慮從此處籌集資金的顏色都會有所幫助。

Yes. Thank you. I mean, obviously, this was a lot of work, a lot of very difficult decisions on everybody's behalf. Again, I think we've been able to show very good progress right going from $240 million to $150 million. That's where we are right now in Q2, and a lot of that is coming from working capital improvements, right, build to order, collecting on our sales, reducing our inventory, and now as we head into Q3 and Q4, how we get to that $100 million is we will start actually realizing the impact of all of those actions that we have carried out, right in Q2, so getting out of Cyber getting out of Europe, reducing their headcount, so all of those will start bringing some benefits on the OpEx run rate.

是的。謝謝。我的意思是，顯然，這需要大量的工作，對每個人來說都需要做出很多非常困難的決定。我再次認為，我們已經取得了非常好的進展，從 2.4 億美元增至 1.5 億美元。這就是我們現在第二季度的情況，其中很大一部分來自於營運資本的改善，對吧，按訂單生產，收集我們的銷售額，減少我們的庫存，現在當我們進入第三季度和第四季度時，我們如何實現1億美元是我們將開始真正意識到我們在第二季度所採取的所有這些行動的影響，因此擺脫網絡，離開歐洲，減少他們的員工人數，所以所有這些都將開始給我們帶來一些好處運營支出運行率。

Also CapEx will go down significantly, right, as we're pretty much down the school which at this point is with the fuel cell ensline in Q3. So that's really how we get to that $100 million, and then second part of your question, obviously, we feel good about where we are, right. We've increased our cash position. We have lower cash burn, and so with those 2 variables, we have a little bit less urgency as far as if you compare to where we were in Q1 as far as the capital raise. So yes, we have the availability to go out there and raise capital. We have the shares now. But we can afford being a little bit more selective on that and really looking at options that are aligned with our long-term capital needs and the timing on that, right, would have to be something that we will look at and will balance.

此外，資本支出也將顯著下降，對吧，因為我們在第三季度燃料電池的應用方面已經落後了很多。這就是我們如何達到 1 億美元的目標，然後是你問題的第二部分，顯然，我們對自己的處境感到滿意，對吧。我們增加了現金頭寸。我們的現金消耗較低，因此，考慮到這兩個變量，與第一季度融資情況相比，我們的緊迫性稍低一些。所以，是的，我們有能力出去籌集資金。我們現在有股份了。但我們可以在這方面更有選擇性，並真正尋找符合我們長期資本需求的選擇，而且我們必須考慮並平衡這一時機。

As far as the $600 million, it's really just a function of our forecasted cash burn going forward, and we -- through the time when we get to profitability, which will be in 2025, and most of that capital will be needed in the second half of this year, first half of next year as we scale the fuel cell truck. So again, we feel pretty good at where we are. We'll make sure we're being efficient on the capital raise and strategic and also disciplined with our spending.

就 6 億美元而言，這實際上只是我們預測的未來現金消耗的函數，而且我們 - 到我們實現盈利時，即 2025 年，其中大部分資本將在第二年需要今年上半年，明年上半年我們將擴大燃料電池卡車的規模。再說一次，我們對自己所處的位置感覺很好。我們將確保我們在資本籌集和戰略方面保持高效，並嚴格控制我們的支出。

And first question is, Michael, and I'll go back to Steve, looking at.

第一個問題是，邁克爾，我將回到史蒂夫那裡，看看。

Our next question is from Yan Dong with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的嚴東。

Just have one quick question. What is complicated in the lower delivery expectations for the year? I think you mentioned 100 units for the fee solid and retail delivery seems to be -- there was an uptake on a quarter-over-quarter basis for the best size. So I guess what's driving that? And then also, he's also going to the drivers of the gross margin change expected for the year...

我只想問一個問題。年內交付預期較低有何復雜之處？我認為您提到了 100 個單位的費用，零售交付似乎是 - 最佳尺寸的採用率逐季度上升。所以我猜是什麼推動了這一點？此外，他還將討論今年預期毛利率變化的驅動因素......

Yes. So I can take that. So I think the question was just the reasons for reducing guidance for some of the background on the decent guidance, full year guidance going from where we were to 300million to $400 million. We don't really talk about the mix. We don't break out the basal anymore again because we're building 2 orders. We will have to see how that shakes out with the customer demand for the most part again. For this year, we have 140 bases of hands that are available to sell, and then once those are sold through, we will resume production next year. And on the fuel cell, as Michael has alluded to, we plan to build about 120 poll tracks.

是的。所以我可以接受。所以我認為問題只是減少指導的原因，因為一些背景是體面的指導，全年指導從我們的 3 億美元到 4 億美元。我們並沒有真正談論混合。我們不再打破基礎，因為我們正在建立 2 個訂單。我們將不得不再次看看這對大部分客戶的需求有何影響。今年我們有140個基地可供出售，售完後我們明年就會恢復生產。在燃料電池方面，正如邁克爾所提到的，我們計劃建造大約 120 個投票軌道。

So really, the guidance for the rest of the year is just based on what we're able to build based on the lead times based on the build-to-order strategy that will take a little bit longer, and based on some of the lean our suppliers, so on the gross margin, really the gross margin, if you look at the overall improvement of the gross margin from where we were to where we had it, a lot of that will be driven off of the volume. Our overhead is fixed, right? And as long as we are manufacturing to the levels that we've talked about through the next few years, we don't need to scale the overhead significantly. So really, the margin will be just a function of the revenue, and so in the guidance, as you see, we lower delivery guidance, obviously, you will see the margin coming down.

因此，實際上，今年剩餘時間的指導只是基於我們能夠構建的內容，基於基於訂單構建策略的交付時間，這將需要更長的時間，並且基於一些依靠我們的供應商，所以在毛利率上，實際上是毛利率，如果你看看毛利率從我們原來的水平到我們現有的水平的整體改善，其中很大一部分將被銷量所抵消。我們的開銷是固定的，對嗎？只要我們的製造水平能夠在未來幾年內達到我們所討論的水平，我們就不需要大幅增加管理費用。所以實際上，利潤率只是收入的函數，所以在指導中，正如你所看到的，我們降低了交付指導，顯然，你會看到利潤率下降。

Our next question is from Tyler DiMatteo with BTIG. Steve,

我們的下一個問題來自 BTIG 的泰勒·迪馬特奧 (Tyler DiMatteo)。史蒂夫，

I wanted to phrase it a different way on the cash bridge. Can you provide a little more color on the working capital portion? I realize you said inventory is going to step down. But I mean, really, how are you thinking about that beyond this year into next? And the second part of the question, is there anything else that can be done on the optimizing the reselling comments that you alluded to in terms of the manufacturing and labor as we think about the manufacturing of the fuel cell coming off the line, what other efficiencies could we squeeze out on that, that could really benefit the cash position?

我想在現金橋上以不同的方式表達它。您能否對營運資金部分提供更多說明？我知道你說庫存將會下降。但我的意思是，說實話，從今年到明年，你是如何看待這個問題的？問題的第二部分是，當我們考慮下線燃料電池的製造時，在優化您提到的製造和勞動力方面的轉售評論方面，還有什麼可以做的嗎？我們能否提高效率，這確實有利於現金狀況？

Yes. So I'll start and maybe then Michael can chime on the production side. Thank you for the question. So as far as just where we are as we get to our cash burn target, -- on the spend on the CapEx side, we feel very good. Substantially all the reductions have been actioned in Q2, and our spend is something, as you know, that we can control an offset is needed, and of course, we'll look for incremental reduction opportunities in the OpEx and CapEx side, and you may find them, but right now, what was planned on the 30% reduction second half versus the first half. So that's what we've actioned already. The working capital, as you alluded to, is probably one of the biggest areas where we could have variance to plan just because this is something that -- what will be key is really our ability to sell trucks to dealers to resell those trucks and collect payments in a timely matter, right? If we're not able to do that, then we'll have cash tied up in inventory NAR, and that is similar to what had happened in above launch until we switched to the build to order. So some of the things that we're doing, obviously, for the fuel cell launch, we are pushing it in a little bit more of a pragmatic way.

是的。那麼我就開始吧，也許邁克爾可以在製作方面發表意見。感謝你的提問。因此，就我們達到現金消耗目標而言，在資本支出方面的支出，我們感覺非常好。基本上所有的削減都已在第二季度實施，正如您所知，我們的支出是我們可以控制的，需要抵消，當然，我們將在運營支出和資本支出方面尋找增量削減機會，並且您可能會找到它們，但現在，計劃下半年與上半年相比減少30%。這就是我們已經採取的行動。正如您所提到的，營運資金可能是我們可以有計劃差異的最大領域之一，因為這實際上是關鍵，我們有能力將卡車出售給經銷商，然後轉售這些卡車並收集付款及時吧？如果我們做不到這一點，那麼我們的現金就會被庫存 NAR 佔用，這與上面發佈時發生的情況類似，直到我們轉向按訂單生產。因此，顯然，我們正在為燃料電池的推出所做的一些事情，我們正在以更務實的方式推動它。

We're ordering material based on indication of customer demand. So right, we're not overdoing over investing in inventory. And then on above, as we've switched to build to water for the rest of this year, the proceeds from selling the back, right, will be a working capital benefit for those 140 trucks as we already have them there. So that's really where we get a lot of favorability for the rest of this year from working capital from those BAV units. And of course, we're still working on for plan financing, right, making sure that we have flooring financing in place with our dealers. So we're able to increase that and we're able to accelerate our collections.

我們根據客戶需求指示訂購材料。所以，我們對庫存的投資並沒有過度。然後在上面，由於我們已經在今年剩餘時間裡轉向建造水，出售後面的收益，對吧，將成為這 140 輛卡車的營運資金收益，因為我們已經在那裡了。因此，這確實是我們在今年剩餘時間裡從這些 BAV 部門的營運資金中獲得很多優惠的地方。當然，我們仍在努力計劃融資，對吧，確保我們與經銷商一起落實融資。所以我們能夠增加這一點，並且能夠加速我們的收藏。

Yes, and just to add in terms of obviously the overall cost of the fuel cell truck and efficiency in Koolies limited at the beginning in the phase of the launch, right? So we do the first trucks we do 100-plus trucks this year. But then going into next year, you will see significant bond reduction but also significant efficiency improvements on the direct labor side. This is normal. We have done now the second launch, but also from experience with other companies. Also in terms of automotive experience, you should see efficiency gains on the labor side in the amount of 30%, 35% in the first stable year rates than obviously 2024.

是的，只是要補充一下，顯然燃料電池卡車的總體成本和 Koolies 的效率在啟動階段之初就受到限制，對吧？所以我們生產了第一批卡車，今年我們生產了 100 多輛卡車。但進入明年，您將看到債券大幅減少，但直接勞動力方面的效率也顯著提高。這個是正常的。我們現在已經做了第二次推出，也是藉鑑了其他公司的經驗。同樣在汽車體驗方面，您應該會看到勞動力方面的效率提升，在第一個穩定年份中，明顯比 2024 年提高 30%、35%。

Thank you. I will now hand the call back over to Dhillon for shareholder questions.

謝謝。我現在將把電話轉回 Dhillon 詢問股東問題。

Thank you, operator, there are a few recurring themes in the questions which we have consolidated. The first question is, what is the future for Nikola and how will you create value for shareholders?

謝謝操作員，我們整理的問題中有一些反復出現的主題。第一個問題是，尼古拉的未來是什麼？你將如何為股東創造價值？

We believe the future looks bright for Nikola. We are making the difficult but right decisions to reduce cash burn and achieve profitability quicker. In the second quarter, we made progress toward that goal. We have a first mover advantage on the hydrogen fuel cell truck and will begin delivering production vehicles to customers next month. We are also advancing the energy ecosystem with partners and improving the sales strategy for the battery electric trucks. So when you look at Nikola, you see we have a management team making conscious decisions to eliminate unnecessary spend, be wise with capital and drive forward the transition to 0 emissions with our first-to-market world-class products. We believe if we continue to execute and build on this momentum, we will be able to deliver on our promises, generating value for shareholders and simultaneously decarbonize heavy-duty trucking.

我們相信尼古拉的未來一片光明。我們正在做出艱難但正確的決定，以減少現金消耗並更快地實現盈利。第二季度，我們在實現這一目標方面取得了進展。我們在氫燃料電池卡車方面擁有先發優勢，將於下個月開始向客戶交付量產車。我們還與合作夥伴共同推進能源生態系統，完善純電動卡車的銷售策略。因此，當您看到Nikola 時，您會發現我們的管理團隊正在做出有意識的決策，以消除不必要的支出，明智地利用資本，並通過我們率先推向市場的世界一流產品推動向零排放的過渡。我們相信，如果我們繼續執行並鞏固這一勢頭，我們將能夠兌現我們的承諾，為股東創造價值，同時使重型卡車運輸脫碳。

The second question is, how do you see government incentives and regulation affecting Nikola moving forward?

第二個問題是，您如何看待政府的激勵措施和監管措施影響尼古拉的前進？

Great question. The government incentives and new regulations are very positive for Nikola. As we discussed on the call, station grants will reduce our hydrogen dispensing costs and help reduce the CapEx investment for station development. This is in addition to existing hydrogen production and dispensing credits, such as clean hydrogen production credit, offering up to $3 per kilogram and up to $2 per kilogram LCFS in California. On the truck side, vouchers in states like California and New York make purchasing a zero-emission truck easier for fleet as it lowers the acquisition cost, making the total cost of ownership more competitive to diesel truck.

很好的問題。政府的激勵措施和新法規對尼古拉來說非常積極。正如我們在電話中討論的那樣，加氫站撥款將降低我們的加氫成本，並有助於減少加氫站開發的資本支出投資。這是對現有氫氣生產和分配信貸（例如清潔氫氣生產信貸）的補充，在加州提供每公斤高達 3 美元的 LCFS 和每公斤 2 美元的 LCFS。在卡車方面，加利福尼亞州和紐約州等州的代金券使車隊更容易購買零排放卡車，因為它降低了購置成本，使總擁有成本比柴油卡車更具競爭力。

A great example is the California HVAC program, which can offer up to 288,000 towards the purchase of a fuel cell electric truck. We also believe we will see increased demand as new regulations come into play. For example, in California, only 0 emission drayage trucks can register in the carbon line system beginning next year. So there are significant incentives for fleets to transition to 0 emissions.

加州 HVAC 計劃就是一個很好的例子，該計劃可為購買燃料電池電動卡車提供高達 288,000 美元的補貼。我們還相信，隨著新法規的實施，需求將會增加。例如，在加利福尼亞州，從明年開始，只有零排放拖運卡車可以在碳線路系統中註冊。因此，車隊有很大的動力轉向零排放。

The third question is, when will Nikola achieve profitability.

第三個問題是，Nikola何時能夠實現盈利。

Last quarter, we discussed we have a path to achieve positive EBITDA in 2025. Q2 was a step in the right direction towards achieving that goal, and we expect to continue finding ways to optimize our costs. While reducing operating and capital expenditures is critical to get to profitability, we need to generate meaningful gross margins from the sale of our products. The 3 most impactful variables to that are volume, average selling price and the bill of material cost for the truck. We've already spoken to the continued build of sales momentum, and we expect that to increase as the hydrogen fuel cell truck becomes available.

上個季度，我們討論了我們有一條在 2025 年實現正 EBITDA 的途徑。第二季度是朝著實現這一目標的正確方向邁出的一步，我們預計將繼續尋找優化成本的方法。雖然減少運營和資本支出對於實現盈利至關重要，但我們需要從產品銷售中獲得有意義的毛利率。影響最大的 3 個變量是卡車的銷量、平均售價和材料成本。我們已經談到了銷售勢頭的持續增強，我們預計隨著氫燃料電池卡車的上市，銷售勢頭將會增加。

We still expect to have to sell at least 1,000 trucks to get the gross margin breakeven and close to double that to reach positive EBITDA. We estimate the average selling price will be approximately $400,000 per truck, driven by the combination of first mover advantage and incentive offerings, especially in states like New York and California. Now that the fuel of filtrating production, one of our most important priorities going into 2024 will be reducing the bill of material costs for both trucks. As the scale of the volume, we will have better visibility into peace price reductions based on our supply chain. Ultimately, we need to see our bill of materials reduced to approximately $275,000 per truck. Between that and the localization of key components, we expect that we can achieve our desired profitability target by the end of 2025.

我們仍然預計必須銷售至少 1,000 輛卡車才能實現毛利率盈虧平衡，並接近兩倍才能實現正 EBITDA。我們估計，在先發優勢和激勵措施的共同推動下，每輛卡車的平均售價約為 40 萬美元，尤其是在紐約和加利福尼亞等州。既然過濾生產的燃料，我們進入 2024 年最重要的優先事項之一將是降低兩輛卡車的材料成本。隨著量的規模擴大，我們會根據我們的供應鏈對和平降價有更好的可視性。最終，我們需要將每輛卡車的材料成本減少到大約 275,000 美元。加上關鍵零部件的國產化，我們預計到 2025 年底我們可以實現預期的盈利目標。

So let me just... Go ahead, sorry.

所以讓我...繼續吧，抱歉。

I'm sorry, I was just going to close out the Q&A and hand it back to Steve for closing remarks.

抱歉，我只是想結束問答並將其交還給史蒂夫做結束語。

Great, I'm getting used to this. So let me just close with this. So I want to thank everybody for participating. I want to thank you for your support. I just want to say I've been involved with this company for a little over 3 years since the IPO in 2020. I've seen a lot. But I'd also tell you that nobody thought they could engineer a truck, and we are. Nobody thought we could build a truck, and we are. Nobody thought we could sell a truck and we are, and nobody thinks we can decarbonize this industry, and we will. I am excited to be here. I'm excited to be part of this team. Michael, we will stay in touch, I'm sure. So thank you all for listening in.

太好了，我已經習慣了。讓我結束這個。所以我要感謝大家的參與。我要感謝您的支持。我只想說，自2020年IPO以來，我已經參與這家公司三年多了。我看到了很多。但我還要告訴你，沒有人認為他們可以設計卡車，而我們是。沒有人認為我們可以製造卡車，而我們確實做到了。沒有人認為我們可以出售卡車，我們確實做到了；沒有人認為我們可以使這個行業脫碳，我們也會這麼做。我很高興來到這裡。我很高興能成為這個團隊的一員。邁克爾，我確信我們會保持聯繫。謝謝大家的收聽。

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

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路，感謝您的參與。