Nikola Cannibalized a Ford for Electric Pickup, Jury Told (1)

A Nikola Corp. prototype of the electric vehicle startup’s planned Badger pickup was made partly of components from a Ford Motor Co. F-150 Raptor, the jury in the criminal fraud trial of Nikola founder Trevor Milton was told.

The testimony came before prosecutors showed the jurors texts from 2020 between Nikola employees worried about the promises Milton was making for the Badger.

The boss “doesn’t let facts or details get in the way of a good story,” one said, while another simply called him “an idiot.”

Engineers working on the heavily hypedBadger in 2020 merged parts from the gasoline-powered ...