• The electric vehicle maker Nikola has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it said Wednesday.
• Executives said in October the EV maker had enough cash to operate only until 2025's first quarter.
• Nikola faced fraud allegations in 2020, leading to investigations and its founder's conviction.

The troubled electric truck maker Nikola has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company said Wednesday.

Nikola's CEO, Steve Girsky, said in a statement that "various market and macroeconomic factors" had affected the company's financial situation and led to the bankruptcy filing.

"In recent months, we have taken numerous actions to raise capital, reduce our liabilities, clean up our balance sheet and preserve cash to sustain our operations," he said.

"Unfortunately, our very best efforts have not been enough to overcome these significant challenges, and the board has determined that Chapter 11 represents the best possible path forward under the circumstances," he added.

This type of bankruptcy protection allows a company to reorganize and keep the business open as it pays creditors over time.

Nikola said it also applied for authorization to sell its business, adding that it would keep operating during the bankruptcy process. The company said it had $47 million in cash to fund its activities.

Its stock has fallen from more than $30 in early 2024 to about $0.70 now — a fall of more than 95%. Shares were down almost 60% in premarket trading Wednesday.

The stock dropped 28% in a single day earlier this month following reports that it might file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company, which went public in June 2020, has a history of financial and operational challenges. On a third-quarter earnings call in October, Nikola, which lost nearly $200 million that quarter, said that it had enough cash to run its business only until the first quarter of 2025 and was exploring bringing in partners.

The company shipped 90 trucks in the third quarter, up from three in the same period in 2023.

In 2020, Nikola was valued at $34 billion before generating any revenue.

In September 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice launched investigations after a short-seller firm, Hindenburg Research, released a report accusing Nikola of being "an intricate fraud" under its founder and then-CEO, Trevor Milton.

Milton denied the allegations, calling the report a "hit job for short sale profit." He resigned from his position as executive chair the same month. Girsky, a General Motors alum, took over as CEO in August 2023.

In September 2023, Milton was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of fraud. A year later, he was ordered to pay Nikola nearly $168 million for making misleading statements about the company to the public.

Correction: February 19, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated the number of trucks shipped by Nikola in the third quarters of 2023 and 2024. It was three and 90, respectively, not 3,000 and 90,000.

• Russia wants to become a top lithium producer but faces a challenging environment.
• Its largest lithium mining project was sanctioned by the US in January.
• China, a partner in Polar Lithium, may be spooked by the sanctions, experts said.

Russia's plan to develop one of its vast untapped lithium reserves is hitting major roadblocks.

Russia sits on an estimated one million tons of lithium, an amount comparable to the US.

Lithium is used to make lithium-ion batteries, and has been in increasing demand since the EV boom.

With oil and gas sanctions weighing on Russia's economy after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, mining lithium is becoming more attractive.

"The production of this metal is, without exaggeration, a strategically important task," President Vladimir Putin said in the fall.

But a slowing market, US sanctions and a complex mining environment are challenging this ambition, experts told Business Insider.

It's a wide-ranging ambition: Russia has struck international deals and currently occupies Ukrainian land believed to hold lithium deposits.

The jewel in Russia's lithium crown is the Kolmozerskoye field in Murmansk in the country's arctic northwest.

Polar Lithium was set up in 2023 as a joint venture between the state nuclear energy company Rosatom and the privately-owned metals giant Nornickel.

There is technical backing from the Chinese engineering firm MCC International Incorporation.

It's projected to come online by 2030 and produce some 45,000 tons a year — putting it roughly on a par with Chile, the world's second-largest producer.

Rosatom has said that Russia aims to become self-sufficient for lithium and capture 10% of the global market by 2030, catapulting it ahead of the US and into the world's top five producers.

A sanctions chilling effect?

On January 10, the outgoing administration of former President Joe Biden imposed a slew of sanctions on Russia's energy sector.

On its list was Polar Lithium, an inclusion that could spook China's involvement.

Writing last year, analyst Vita Spivak said sanctions could "limit the further integration of China and Russia's metals supply chains, as Chinese firms would be wary of being targeted by Western secondary sanctions."

Speaking to BI in the wake of the recent US announcement, Pavel Devyatkin of The Arctic Institute agreed.

"The sanctioning of Polar Lithium creates risks for the Chinese company and may affect the company's plans," he said.

"Chinese companies have not shown a willingness to challenge US sanctions, including in the Arctic economy."

Philip Andrews-Speed, a senior research fellow at Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, also said that China has been "very careful" about investment in Russia's energy sector.

"My guess is that the Chinese might withdraw, or just slow things down," he said.

The extent of MCC's involvement in the project is unclear — Rosatom's announcement described its technical know-how in extracting and processing but didn't talk about what sort of payment it would get, whether in cash or in the form of mined lithium.

Laurence Haar, a financial economist specializing in energy markets at the UK's University of Brighton, told BI that a so-called offtake agreement, giving away some of the product, is likely the only way Russia can pay for China's expertise. China has used that model in lithium projects elsewhere.

Asked about the extent of MCC's involvement both before and after the sanctions, Polar Lithium spokesperson Vasily Zakharov told BI: "The project continues to advance in accordance with its planned timeline and operational objectives."

Business Insider wasn't able to reach MCC; a listed email address was inactive.

A challenging market

Lithium is often hailed as "white gold" or "the oil of the 21st century" — but for the time being it's not that rare.

Despite a rise in prices during the EV boom, oversupply cooled the market in 2024.

The lithium market "has become highly competitive," Ahmed Mehdi, another senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, told BI by email. China gets plenty from its domestic industry as well as from Australia and Africa, he said.

Mehdi added that it's also difficult to know how much investment would be needed to make Polar Lithium commercially viable, "particularly given potential infrastructure constraints and market opportunities (given its sanctions profile)."

Those infrastructure constraints are considerable, Haar told BI, and "would be challenging at the best of times."

Working in the remote and cold High North requires significant transport and civilian infrastructure just to get going, he said, which will add to production costs.

This makes Russia's ambition of taking up 10% of the world's market "a bit optimistic," Haar said, adding: "I don't see it as a threat to the market."

Polar Lithium isn't doomed, yet

This doesn't mean the project is dead in the water.

Lithium mining isn't a complex process, and Andrews-Speed, the OIES academic, said Russia could move ahead without Chinese cooperation in the hopes that sanctions will be lifted later.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has overturned some of the Biden administration's sanctions. The State Department declined to comment on its plans for Polar Lithium's sanctions.

Even under sanctions, it would not be hard to quietly sell the unprocessed lithium, Haar told BI. Russia has taken a similar approach with its oil and gas.

"Once it's turned into batteries and processed into oxide, no one can know from where it came," he said.

But the real money is in processing it, he added.

"The Chinese have cornered the market in processing lithium," he said. "Which is smart because beneficiation, moving downstream into producing the oxide, and then actually producing batteries, is where you make the money."

• Ahead of its shift to an all-EV future, Jaguar unveiled a new brand identity this year.
• The rebrand was roasted by many online. But some advertising vets have said it was a smart strategy.
• Jaguar's first new EV model is expected in 2025 — and industry watchers said it has to deliver.

Jaguar gambled big this year on a total brand transformation. And in 2025, the British luxury carmaker will need to prove all the fuss was worth it.

It's set next year to debut the first EV in its new all-electric lineup: After setting up global audiences to expect something big — this year's Jaguar advertising controversy was the talk of the industry and beyond — now it's got to deliver something that matches the moment its rebrand has created, industry watchers said.

A space-age concept car — presented in pink and blue — with swooping lines and curious interior features stoked some excitement for the brand, whose leaders have said it intends to go much more upmarket.

Sometime next year, if the company stays on its own timeline, we'll see the result.

"I think the biggest risk for them now is making sure the production model lives up to the promise and doesn't suffer death by a thousand cuts," Greg Andersen, the CEO of the Omaha, Nebraska, creative agency Bailey Lauerman, told BI recently. "Rolling out an unapologetic, future-facing brand along with a marginally better car might not go so well."

Here's how Jaguar — a favored vehicle of the British royal family, UK prime ministers, and James Bond villains — got to this point:

Jaguar's slumping sales call for a reset

Jag's sales had been slumping globally for years. In 2021, Jaguar first announced that it would ditch internal combustion engines and go all-in on EVs.

And in 2024, the nearly century-old Jaguar made major moves to ramp up that transition. Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India-based Tata Motors, said it would phase out production of all its current models by the end of this year.

In their place will come the new fully electric models, the first of which the company said would be unveiled in 2025 — and are expected to go on sale to the public in 2026.

A new Jaguar is born

In November of this year, soon after stopping new vehicle sales in the UK, Jaguar released the controversial new vision and brand identity.

The public reaction to the debut of Jaguar's new rebranding campaign wasn't quite as positive as the company may have hoped.

In particular, a promotional video Jag unveiled as part of the campaign — which also included an updated typeface for Jaguar's iconic logo, a redesigned leaping-jaguar mark, and a new creative philosophy to "copy nothing" — raised some eyebrows.

The video shows models clad in colorful, ultra-modern outfits doing things like exiting an elevator, painting a wall, and swinging a sledgehammer before they all sit down on a rock in a pink desert landscape.

Phrases like "create exuberant," "live vivid," and "delete ordinary," flashed across the screen. And notably, for a car company, there were no cars in the ad.

Social media users, late-night TV hosts, and some in the media roasted Jaguar over its decision not to include cars in the video, which was a viral sensation.

Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk weighed in, posting on X: "Do you sell cars?"

"The Late Show's" Stephen Colbert said on his program: "Where are the cars? Does Jaguar sell ketamine now?"

It wasn't just the lack of cars in the initial video that got people talking. A rash of criticism cropped up online and elsewhere, with some right-leaning personalities accusing the company of abandoning its traditional history and pushing into "woke" politics.

In response to the backlash, Jaguar's managing director Rawdon Glover told the Financial Times he was disappointed by "the level of vile hatred and intolerance" that he said the video garnered online, particularly against the models it featured. But he also said the campaign had drummed up positive buzz.

Marketing and rebranding professionals gave mixed reviews to Business Insider at the time — one called the campaign "bonkers," and another said it was a relatively successful rollout.

The ad industry vets all agreed that, at the very least, the rebrand sparked conversation.

Jaguar released a concept car to match its new image

A few weeks after its rebrand launch, at the beginning of December, Jaguar unveiled a design concept for its next generation of electric vehicles — finally pairing an image of a car with its "exuberant modernism" rebranding campaign.

The pastel-colored concept car — dubbed "Type 00" for zero tailpipe emissions and its status as car zero in the brand's new lineage — featured several novel design elements, like a glassless rear tailgate, a brass divider running through the middle of the cabin, and pedestals of travertine stone to support the floating seats.

When the concept car was released, several advertising veterans applauded it for continuing Jag's rebrand strategy.

"This is a master class in what rebranding can accomplish for a company — a new forward-facing product and brand, clearly designed for its new customer persona, that everyone is talking about," Jim Heininger, the founder and principal of the Chicago firm The Rebranding Experts, previously told Business Insider.

Others were less convinced.

Christos Joannides, the founder and creative director of the luxury branding agency Flat 6 Concepts in Los Angeles, said the concept car didn't do enough to ground Jaguar's new ethos in reality.

"By showcasing a production model with more realistic features, Jaguar could have conveyed its vision more effectively and provided tangible evidence of its direction," Joannides said. "As it stands, the concept car feels superficial and gimmicky, like a desperate attempt to be different without any real substance or coherent strategy."

Jaguar needs to deliver in 2025

For better or worse, Jaguar had a big year. And even bigger is the company's need to follow through next year.

The first model of Jaguar's new lineup — the electric four-door GT — will be unveiled in late 2025, the company has said.

It said the model would use dedicated Jaguar Electric Architecture, have a projected driving range of up to 430 miles on a single charge, and be able to add up to 200 miles of range after 15 minutes of rapid charging.

But with a price tag that could near $200,000, Jaguar's new models will really need to be incredible, EV news outlet Electrek argued.

With so much competition, it could still be a tough sell.

"Unless Jaguar's expectations for its upcoming line of EVs is tempered with a dose of reality, the company will be planning to produce far more vehicles than there will be buyers willing to take them home," analyst Sam Fiorani, vice president of global forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, told Car and Driver.

Jaguar has said updating its brand for the future is the right move.

"We have forged a fearlessly creative new character for Jaguar that is true to the DNA of the brand but future-facing, relevant, and one that really stands out," managing director Glover said at the time the concept car was revealed.

We'll see next year whether it was right.

• There are many factors to consider when purchasing an electric vehicle.
• It can help to know your daily mileage and charging preferences and see if you qualify for tax credits.
• This article is part of "Getting Ready for Electric," a series of guides and practical advice for buying your next EV.

If you're considering an electric vehicle for your next car, there are various factors — like your anticipated daily mileage and charging needs — to consider.

Before buying, you may also want to think about EVs that are eligible for tax credits, which can lower the cost of your overall purchase.

Whether you go with a fully electric or hybrid model, there are plenty of new, used, and coming versions of this more sustainable car type to choose from.

In "Getting Ready for Electric," a series of shopping guides, Business Insider has been exploring the ins and outs of EV purchasing. Read on for the best tips for shopping for your next EV.

When choosing your EV, it's important to take stock of your lifestyle and surroundings.

Battery ranges can vary depending on your driving habits and the climate of where you live.

While driving a few dozen miles daily in a moderate climate like Florida could open a buyer to a wide variety of EV options, someone who drives hundreds of miles daily and lives in a locale prone to colder temperatures may have fewer options overall, Scott Case, a cofounder and the CEO of Recurrent, a startup that tracks EV-battery health, previously told BI.

Newer models tend to accommodate long-haul driving needs better than older models, but they usually have higher price tags.

For more budget-friendly options, consider EVs that come with government-provided tax credits.

The federal government offers tax incentives on certain EVs, while some states have rebate programs that can lower the cost of your purchase.

Each of these discount methods has its own requirements and varies for new versus used EVs.

For example, to get a federal tax credit of up to $7,500, your new EV must have:

• A battery capacity of 7 kilowatt-hours or more.
• A gross vehicle weight rating under 14,000 pounds.
• Final assembly in North America.
• At least 50% of the minerals used to make it extracted, processed, or recycled in the US, or in countries with which the US has a free-trade agreement.
• A suggested retail price of no more than $80,000 for vans, SUVs, and pickup trucks, and no more than $55,000 for all other vehicles.

If you meet some but not all of the requirements, you may qualify for a smaller tax credit.

When it comes to used EVs, you may be eligible for a tax credit — 30% of the vehicle price, up to $4,000 — if you have:

• An EV that is at least 2 model years old, under $25,000, and sold by a licensed dealership.
• An income that doesn't exceed $150,000 if you're a joint filer or surviving spouse, $112,500 if you're a head of household, or $75,000 if you're a single filer.
• Not used this credit in the past three years.

There's also a leasing loophole for the EV-curious.

For the EV-curious who don't want to pay for a yearslong commitment, the leasing approach could be the way to go.

Unlike bought EVs, leased ones fall into a different tax-incentive category because they don't undergo the same complex parts-sourcing process and don't have the same income caps.

Because of this distinction, dealerships get a $7,500 federal tax credit for each of their EVs. That's where the EV-leasing loophole comes in: Many dealerships are opting to pass these credits onto their lessees.

That extra cash, bumper-to-bumper coverage, and the ability to return the car at the lease's end are benefits worth considering when shopping.

When it comes to powering up your EV, public fast chargers are becoming more readily available.

The Department of Energy reported that there are more than 61,000 EV charging stations nationwide, double the number in 2020.

The majority of Americans — 95%, a Pew Research Center study found — live in counties with at least one of these stations.

If you're close to one of these stations, an EV could be a convenient and inexpensive alternative to a gas-powered car.

Or you can invest in an efficient at-home charging setup.

Though more of an investment, at-home EV chargers can make your green-car purchase that much more worthwhile, Jenni Newman, the editor in chief of Cars.com and an EV owner, previously told BI.

Not all public charging ports are compatible with all EV car models, and drivers have reported coming across broken chargers. An at-home charging setup could eliminate those issues.

EV owners can charge their cars within hours or overnight — a slower method that can prolong battery life — and end up with 250 to 300 miles of driving range without leaving their driveways.

These setups range in cost — from $250 to $7,000 — depending on your outlet location, the voltage your electric panel can support, and the speed at which you want to charge your vehicle.

Like with buying or leasing an EV, there are charger tax credits available from the federal government.

No matter your needs, you can expect to see a wider variety of EV options in the coming years.

As automakers adjust their EV-manufacturing strategies, they're investing in more hybrid EVs and models at lower price points.

Because of these strategic changes in the car industry, you can expect a bigger menu of EV options for both fully electric and hybrid cars.

• Jaguar's founder started in the motorcycle sidecar business before building his first Jag in 1935.
• The luxury carmaker is rebranding with a new logo and controversial ad campaign.
• Here's a look back at the British carmaker over the last century.

Luxury British carmaker Jaguar has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the early 20th century.

The company's founder started making motorcycle sidecars in the 1920s before creating the first Jaguar car in 1935. Over the next few decades, Jaguar became synonymous with elegance and power. It's been used in racing, as the preferred vehicle of the British royal family, and by several villains in James Bond movies.

Today, Jaguar is preparing to launch its all-electric vehicle lineup, set to come out some time in 2026. And in preparation for its next generation, Jaguar unveiled a new branding campaign — complete with a new logo, redesigned leaping jaguar mark, and a promotional video that's stirred controversy online.

Here's a look back at the company over the last century, and surprising facts you might not know about its history.

Early days as Swallow Sidecar Company

In 1922, Sir William Lyons — who later became known as "Mr. Jaguar" — co-founded the Swallow Sidecar Company with a man named William Walmsley. Within a few years, Lyons had built his first car, called the SS1.

In 1934, Lyons bought the company out from Walmsley, renamed it SS Cars Limited.

And in 1935, the first Jaguar was born, a model named the SS Jaguar.

Lyons renamed the company Jaguar Cars Limited in 1945 in an effort to build a brand around the luxury sports cars it was making at the time.

Mid-century success

The 1930s through 1950s were marked by a number of innovations for the company, which it touts on in corporate history.

Jaguar introduced its first four-door model in 1937 with the SS Jaguar 2½ Liter Sedan, and by 1948, it had created the world's fastest production car — the Lyons-designed XK120, which could reach speeds up to 133 miles per hour.

In 1951, Jaguar introduced its aerodynamic C-type model, which was 25% lighter than the XK120 and won first place when it debuted at the Le Mans 24-hour race.

Then, in 1954, Jaguar rolled out one of the first cars with a unibody structure, the D-type racecar. Like the C-type before it, the D-type also made history at Le Mans, scoring first place three consecutive years, including in 1957, when the car secured five of the top six places.

All this built up to 1961 when Jaguar unveiled one of the most iconic cars of all time — the E-type.

Italian racing driver and founder of Ferrari, Enzo Ferrari, is frequently cited as declaring the E-type "the most beautiful car in the world," according to classic car auction house RM Sotheby's.

Some of the E-type's most famous owners included Frank Sinatra, Brigitte Bardot, and Steve McQueen, according to lifestyle magazine Gentleman's Journal.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York City acquired and first exhibited an E-type in 1996, becoming just the third car in the museum's design collection.

"Rarely has a car inspired the kind of passion in both car enthusiasts and the general public that the Jaguar E-type has. Even today, the E-type is considered an icon of the postwar British sports car," Christopher Mount, a MoMa curator who organized the Jaguar exhibition, said in a press release at the time.

Jaguars in popular culture

Jaguars have long been a favorite of the British royal family, along with Land Rovers and Range Rovers, which are part of the Jaguar Land Rover brand, owned by India-based Tata Motors.

The family's love for the brand dates back at least to 1955, when the Queen Mother Queen Elizabeth acquired the Jaguar Mark VII M Saloon 464 HYV, which was specially made in the royal color, claret, according to historic preservation charity Jaguar Heritage Trust.

Other members of the royal family, including Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth II, also owned and drove Jaguars over the years.

And a number of Jaguar vehicles have been driven by villains in James Bond movies, like the Jaguar XKR driven by henchman Tang Lin Zao in 2002's "Die Another Day," the Jaguar XF featured during a car chase in 2021's "No Time to Die," and the Jaguar C-X75 driven by assassin Mr. Hinx in 2015's "Spectre."

Jaguar's next chapter

Jaguar first announced in 2021 that it would be ditching internal combustion engines to go all-in on EVs.

In November, Jaguar stopped selling new models of its cars in the UK as it prepares for its electric vehicle launch, expected to hit the market sometime in 2026.

As part of this next phase, Jaguar has debuted a new brand identity focused on the creative philosophy of "exuberant modernism," which the company defines as "imaginative, bold, and artistic at every touchpoint."

Jaguar Chief Creative Officer Gerry McGovern said in a statement that the company's new vision was inspired by Lyons' belief that "a Jaguar should be a copy of nothing."

The company's new marketing campaign included a promotional video that featured models clad in colorful high fashion, with no cars in sight.

Some conservative social media users criticized the company as being too "woke" — partly over the look of the models it chose, while others have questioned why the ad didn't show any cars.

Meanwhile, high-profile critics of the rebranding video — which has been viewed more than 160 million times on X — included Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, and the conservative personality Ian Miles Cheong.

In response to the video posted on X by Jaguar, Musk wrote: "Do you sell cars?" And Nick Freitas, a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, replied to Jaguar on X: "Well … we know where the advertising team for Bud Light went," referring to the backlash to a Bud Light ad in 2023 that featured a transgender influencer.

Jaguar's managing director, Rawdon Glover, defended the British luxury car maker's rebranding campaign to the Financial Times — calling out some of its online critics and characterizing their reaction as "vile hatred" and "intolerance."

Jaguar said it would announce more details about its new branding strategy in December, though it's not clear whether that will include specifics about any of its forthcoming electric vehicles.

As part of the brand's positioning, the newly announced Jags are expected to be significantly more upmarket than the ones that are being phased out, Car and Driver previously reported, citing a Range Rover from the brand's corporate cousin that costs about $400,000 as where the brand wants to be. (Most 2024 Jaguar models have list prices of about $50,000 to $80,000.)

Without commenting specifically on the recent backlash to the new branding campaign, Jaguar previously said in a statement to Business Insider: "The brand reveal is only the first step in this exciting new era, and we look forward to sharing more on Jaguar's transformation in the coming days and weeks."