Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on three counts of fraud

Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by twelve40 on Thursday July 29, 2021 @11:59AM (#27998003)

This Nikola thing looks pretty weird indeed, but to be fair, Musk's name for his company is also not very original, since he (or whoever) also just took the dude's name even though he had absolutely nothing to do with him.

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by majormajor on Thursday July 29, 2021 @12:07PM (#27998087)

Tesla's name is somewhat original because the connection between electricty and Tesla is certainly obvious and understandable, yet also rare enough in the US compared to Edison that it wasn't already taken.

A second company then copying exactly the same association? Different thing entirely.

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by Sanzig on Thursday July 29, 2021 @04:24PM (#28001029)

It's also name for the SI unit of magnetic flux density, which fits with the electric motor theme.

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by mcot2 on Thursday July 29, 2021 @12:09PM (#27998104)

Tesla invented the AC motor which was used in the first roadster so thats why they named it that. Very logical…

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by myself248 on Thursday July 29, 2021 @12:28PM (#27998298)

And I remember around the time Tesla-the-car-company first emerged, rolling my eyes at the name. Like "Oh here we go, another EV startup using the guy's name without permission because his estate isn't set up to sue anyone who speaks it the way Edison's is. Best we can hope for is they do something cool and don't dishonor his legacy."

There are times I'm glad to have misjudged someone.

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by lordnacho on Thursday July 29, 2021 @12:01PM (#27998022)

I thought Musk joined after it had been founded? Did he change the name?

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by Sebguer on Thursday July 29, 2021 @12:14PM (#27998154)

No, Musk had literally nothing to do with the name, just a continuation of his myth as anything more than a guy with a lot of money.

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by tim333 on Thursday July 29, 2021 @04:58PM (#28001419)

He started as a guy without money and got to briefly be the guy with the most money which is not so easy to do.

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by orestarod on Sunday August 01, 2021 @09:12AM (#28026043)

Are you sure he had no money? Was he born in a low or middle-class family?

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by ineedasername on Thursday July 29, 2021 @12:37PM (#27998372)

a guy with a lot of money

Well, in the words of Batman when asked about his superpower, "I'm rich".

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by sebzim4500 on Thursday July 29, 2021 @02:53PM (#27999977)

I think Bezos has demonstrated quite convincingly that simply having a lot of money does not mean you can compete with SpaceX. Similarly, I don't know much about the automotive industry, but turning a company with a few employees into one of the most valuable companies in the world is not easy, even if you have $100 million to play with at the start.

It's OK to simultaneously believe that "Elon Musk is very effective at growing engineering businesses to the point that they disrupt entire industries" and also that "Elon Musk is not as smart as he thinks he is, and his tweets are embarrassing".

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by vlunkr on Thursday July 29, 2021 @01:16PM (#27998847)

Is it really a significant part of his myth that he named the company?

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by Sebguer on Friday July 30, 2021 @05:13PM (#28012442)

I didn't say it was significant! Though, being considered a 'co-founder' of Tesla was important enough to him to sue the actual founders.

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by twelve40 on Thursday July 29, 2021 @01:37PM (#27999094)

"Tesla almost had a very different name—until Elon Musk and his co-founders bought the rights to “Tesla” for $75,000"

https://fortune.com/2018/12/09/tesla-name-faraday-elon-musk/

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by nonfamous on Thursday July 29, 2021 @12:53PM (#27998563)

Tesla is also an SI unit associated with electricity. Then again, are there any companies called "Ohm" or "Ampere"?

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by pacificmint on Thursday July 29, 2021 @03:07PM (#28000141)

Not the company name, but the Chevy Volt was sold as the Ampera in Europe.

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by IlliOnato on Thursday July 29, 2021 @01:18PM (#27998864)

https://ampere.shop

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Re:Grand jury indicts Trevor Milton, Nikola founder, on thre... by haneefmubarak on Thursday July 29, 2021 @06:03PM (#28002038)

There's a computing startup founded by ex-Intel folks named Ampere

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