Nikola announces Michael Lohscheller will become CEO

Nikola Corporation announced that Chief Executive Officer and President of Nikola Corporation Mark Russell will retire, effective January 1, 2023, and has named current Nikola Motor President Michael Lohscheller as his successor. Lohscheller will assume Russell’s president title, join the Nikola Board of Directors immediately, and become CEO upon Russell’s retirement. Russell will remain a member of the board.

Lohscheller joined as president of Nikola Motor in February 2022 and the company says he has already made several notable achievements, including having a major impact in moving the Tre battery-electric vehicle (BEV) into series production and achieving development milestones for the Tre fuel cell electric vehicle, the company says. Prior to Nikola, he was CEO of Opel.

A 20-year global automotive industry veteran, Lohscheller has held a variety of positions: executive vice president and chief financial officer at Mitsubishi Motors Europe, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Volkswagen Group of America, chief executive officer at Opel Automobile GmbH and member of the board at PSA Group and global CEO of VinFast.

BorgWarner has agreed to acquire the electric vehicle solution, smart grid and smart energy businesses of Hubei Surpass Sun Electric (SSE). The transaction has an enterprise value of up to RMB 410 million (approx. $59.36 million).

Headquartered in Xiangyang, Hubei province, China, SSE’s electrification business supplies patented electric vehicle charging solutions to customers in China and more than 70 other countries. SSE says it has delivered over 50,000 charging points and has led the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of more than 250 charging station sites. SSE’s charging and electrification capabilities in China are expected to complement BorgWarner’s existing capabilities in Europe and North America, the companies say. SSE’s 2022 revenues for the electrification business are expected to be approximately RMB 180 million (approx. $26.06 million).