“They’re not bound by their history. A startup like Nikola can be anything they want to be, so it's probably easier for them as opposed to a [legacy truck manufacturer] or anybody who's been around for a hundred years to say, ‘I'm going to provide the fuel too.’ It’s creating a whole new widget – and challenge and business – that's quite likely needed. And at the same time, do we want to get into it?”
Elrick said that legacy companies have had longstanding partnerships with large fuel companies that could prove advantageous when it comes to pairing up fuel cell deployments with hydrogen station rollouts.
“[Legacy OEMs] are so well connected,” Elrick said. “Why would they go compete against somebody who's been a partner over the decades?”
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