General Motors takes 11% stake in Nikola to team up on electric truck

 (CNN) — General Motors and Nikola are teaming up to work on the Nikola Badger, a fully electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric pickup truck.

The partnership gives General Motors an 11% stake in the startup, receiving $2 billion in equity, the companies said in a news release. GM will also get the right to nominate one director to Nikola’s board.

Nikola shares rose more than 33% in morning trading Tuesday on the news.

General Motors will be the exclusive supplier of fuel cells to Nikola’s Class 7/8 trucks in all areas besides Europe, the companies said.

GM already has electric pickups and SUVs nearing production, including the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq. The Badger truck will share most of its engineering with those vehicles.

Nikola had been developing the truck on its own, but the company decided to rely on GM’s engineering instead after speaking with them, Nikola CEO Trevor Milton said.

The Badger will be available in 2022, while GM’s first electric trucks are expected late next year.

GM has long been working on hydrogen fuel vehicles as well. The hydrogen fuel cell version of the Badger will also be based on the so-called Hydrotec engineering that GM developed with Honda.

The partnership is the latest move by GM to expand its electric vehicle alliances. Last week, GM announced that it was teaming up with Honda to to develop a range of electric and petroleum-powered vehicles.

“This strategic partnership with Nikola … continues the broader deployment of General Motors’ all-new Ultium battery and Hydrotec fuel cell systems,” said General Motors CEO Mary Barra. “We are growing our presence in multiple high-volume EV segments while building scale to lower battery and fuel cell costs and increase profitability.”