Alberta’s first commercial hydrogen fuelling station has been shipped back to the United States, its American owner has filed for bankruptcy, and the company’s once convicted former CEO has been pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump.
When it opened in March 2024, the station was described as a “huge milestone” by the provincial government. But Clarence Shields, the owner of Blackjacks Roadhouse, told Taproot the Nikola fuelling station was removed from his Nisku property on Feb. 23.
The station was installed last year in a private deal between Blackjacks and Nikola, in concert with a $4.4-million investment from Prairies Economic Development Canada meant to enable the Alberta Motor Transportation Association and the University of Alberta to work to validate and build access to fuel for hydrogen-fuelled vehicles.
The $4.4 million in funding came alongside contributions from Alberta Innovates, Emissions Reduction Alberta, and industry, PrairiesCan said.
Neither PrairiesCan nor the AMTA gave money to Nikola, both parties confirmed to Taproot. Instead, Nikola built the station as an in-kind investment, with fuel coming from Suncor. The AMTA said Blackjacks nonetheless spent time and money to clear land for the station, while AMTA staff spent working hours on the project.
Government endorsement
In March 2024, Alberta officials said the Nikola station was significant. “The launch of Alberta’s first commercial hydrogen fuelling station is a huge milestone in advancing Alberta as a global energy supplier,” Brian Jean, the minister of energy and minerals, said in a press release on Nikola’s page. “Hydrogen is the next step in our commitment to reducing emissions, and projects like this demonstrate that we have the resources, expertise, and interest in our province to drive innovation and become leading suppliers of responsibly produced clean hydrogen.”
Both Jean and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith attended the opening ceremony for the fueller.
Taproot requested comment from Smith and Jean, but received an email statement from Kevin Lee, the press secretary for the ministry of municipal affairs, in response. “Alberta’s government worked closely with the proponent to try to get this project to completion,” Lee said in the statement. “Unfortunately, as the proponent was not able to provide the required documentation to verify that the equipment was built to Alberta’s safety standards, this project was unable to move forward.”
Nikola filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Feb. 19, and on March 24 announced plans to deregister with the Securities and Exchange Commission and therefore delist from the Nasdaq exchange. An investor FAQ page on Nikola’s website said the Chapter 11 filing will allow it to “wind down” the business “while conducting a structured process to solicit interest in the sale of all, substantially all, or a portion of its operations.”
The company, which is based in Phoenix, did not respond to Taproot’s repeated requests for comment.
Premier Danielle Smith at the announcement event for Alberta’s first commercial hydrogen fuelling station. The station is gone now and Nikola Corporation has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. (Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta)
Nikola had bad press before coming to Alberta
In September 2020, Nikola made headlines when energy giant BP backed out of a hydrogen station partnership deal that would have seen the two create a network of hydrogen fuelling stations. Shortly after, Trevor Milton, Nikola’s CEO, left the company.
In October 2022, Milton was convicted of defrauding investors in a New York court for using false claims about Nikola’s hydrogen and electric vehicles. In December 2023, Milton was sentenced to four years in prison.
The March 2024 press conference that launched the now-shuttered Nikola station came after these facts were publicly known.
Robert Harper, the president of the AMTA, told Taproot through a communications manager that Milton resigned from the Nikola board back in 2020. “All the dealings with Nikola were post the former CEO’s removal, and the new management was not involved in the former CEO’s fraud,” he said.
On March 27 of this year, before Milton served a day of the sentence, he announced that Trump had pardoned him.
Trump confirmed this the next day. “They say the thing that he did wrong was he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president,” Trump told reporters.
Milton donated $920,000 to the Trump 47 Committee in October 2024.
Regulatory challenges
Shields said the Nikola station never worked because it never had the chance to do so. ”(Nikola) had all the stuff that they required to operate in place,” he said. “They were operating and providing hydrogen to some of the vehicles, but it was a cascade system, which means they weren’t using the Nikola refueller. They were just transferring hydrogen from … trailers.”
Harper said the trailers serviced Nikola’s Class 8 hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks. He cited government approval as a roadblock to making the station operational. “Ten months of delays in regulatory approvals and equipment certification have limited facility operations.”
On regulatory approvals, Shields added that Nikola only received them for the fueller from the Alberta Boiler Safety Association on March 25, more than a month after the company had packed up its infrastructure. He said that regulatory approval was the most onerous part of creating the station, though he added the red tape exists for a good reason.
Hydrogen is a clear, odourless, highly flammable gas. Once lit, a hydrogen fire is difficult to extinguish.
Shields also said that he toured Nikola’s headquarters during the deal-making process, and that he believed the team wanted to “save the company” from the former CEO Milton’s actions.
“They sincerely wanted to see this succeed, because they believed that it would have a significant impact,” Shields said. “But they were neutered because of this crook.”
Mugglehead Magazine reported that Shields invested a “substantial but unspecified amount” in the station, but Shields did not provide Taproot figures. He said, however, that he and Nikola split costs on a 2,000-amp transformer to power the refuelling equipment.
Harper said his organization has no details on the transaction between Blackjacks and Nikola. “AMTA was not a party to the negotiations or sign off for the agreement between Blackjacks and Nikola, nor does AMTA know what funds were transferred between Nikola and Blackjacks.”
PrairiesCan said the AMTA spent most of the money it provided on hydrogen demonstration trucks, emissions monitoring equipment, and a hydrogen storage tank, which all remain its property.
Region has commercial hydrogen options
Commercial hydrogen fuel is available in the Edmonton region. Air Products has mobile fuellers near the site of its forthcoming net-zero facility and one on Aurum Road that are open to customers. The company plans to replace the former with a permanent version this year. It also plans to eventually build more along the Queen Elizabeth II Highway between Edmonton and Calgary.
Fuellers not available to the public include one at Edmonton International Airport for its fleet of hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirais. There’s another at a Suncor facility in Sherwood Park that supplies a hydrogen bus pilot. However, it is out of service due to “necessary repairs to the supply system,” John McCulloch, the director of transit fleet maintenance for the City of Edmonton, told Taproot. McCulloch said Air Products is supplying the bus fuel for now, and that the city will begin to use a mobile fueller this year as part of an additional pilot.
Commercial stations may have a new client, as KAG Canada announced on March 25 it is successfully operating Class 8 dual-fuel trucks using technology by Innovative Fuel Systems.
Brent Lakeman, who is now the executive director of the re-launched Edmonton Region Hydrogen HUB, recently told Taproot he expects further hydrogen activity to happen in the general vicinity of Blackjacks. He said it’s an important area because it’s near the airport and along the main route to Calgary.
Lakeman’s instincts mirror comments by Shields. The latter said the Nikola project yielded some benefits for another run at hydrogen fuel.
“They left my site perfectly prepared for the future,” Shields said. “We’re starting to get interest from other parties (for hydrogen energy projects).”