On 13 January 2026, Iveco Group and its subsidiary FPT Industrial filed a formal objection with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in the context of Nikola’s Chapter 11 proceedings. The objection challenges the inclusion, in the sale agreement for the US company’s remaining assets, of patents relating to electric axles jointly developed during the collaboration between the two groups. The filing seeks to prevent these rights from being transferred to Hyroad Energy, which in August 2025 acquired part of Nikola’s remaining industrial and digital footprint for 3.85 million US dollars (around €3.6 million), according to a reconstruction by online outlet Clean Trucking based on court documents.
At the centre of the dispute is a patent identified in the filings as “Improved Drive System for an Electric Vehicle”, referring to an integrated traction system for heavy electric vehicles and associated, at industrial level, with the eAxle marketed by FPT Industrial as the eAX840-R. The intellectual property was filed in several jurisdictions, with an Italian application lodged on 25 November 2020 and further filings in the United States and Europe in 2022. According to the court documentation, the applications have received indications of grant from the relevant offices, a factor that gives the asset prospective value despite the formal process not yet being fully completed.
In their objection, Iveco and FPT set out a multi-layered line of argument. The first concerns original ownership and the content of the separation agreement of May 2023, under which the parties dissolved the European joint venture. At that time, Nikola obtained a form of joint ownership of the intellectual property relating to first-generation eAxles, while Iveco took full control of the Ulm plant. According to Iveco, that clause would not in any case have allowed Nikola to dispose of the patents unilaterally without the consent of FPT Industrial, particularly in the event of a transfer to third parties.
The second level relates to the costs required to keep the patent applications alive. FPT Industrial states that since 2022 it has borne in full the expenses necessary to prevent the lapse of the applications in Italy, Europe and the United States. This element is presented as decisive in demonstrating substantive ownership, or at least the absence of any real interest on Nikola’s part in preserving the value of the asset. Despite terminological differences between patent systems, the core argument is that without those payments the protection would have fallen away.
The third level is procedural. Iveco argues that the eAxle patents were included in the scope of the sale to Hyroad only after the auction had closed and after the sale order approved by the court on 6 August 2025. In the Italian group’s view, this subsequent inclusion would be improper and unenforceable against a party claiming an undeclared co-ownership. Hence the primary request to clarify that the original sale order did not authorise the transfer of the patents and, in the alternative, to require Hyroad to assume the financial obligations connected with maintaining the intellectual property.
The stakes are high because the contested technology is linked to a core component of the powertrain of the Nikola Tre Fuel Cell trucks included in the sale. For Hyroad, which acquired 113 vehicles and intends to ensure their operational continuity, access to rights and technical documentation has a direct impact on spare parts management, maintenance and the ability to intervene throughout the trucks’ life cycle.
The dispute is rooted in a complex industrial relationship between Iveco and Nikola, launched in March 2019 when CNH Industrial, through Iveco and FPT Industrial, announced a strategic collaboration with the US company to develop zero-emission heavy-duty trucks. The agreement included an initial investment of 250 million US dollars and the creation of a European joint venture based in Ulm, Germany, intended for vehicle production.
A key milestone was the Technical Agreement signed on 30 July 2020 between Nikola and FPT Industrial, which launched the joint development of eAxle technology. A few months later, on 25 November 2020, the Italian patent application at the centre of the dispute was filed, signalling an already advanced design phase. In September 2021 the Ulm plant was inaugurated and, at CES 2022 in Las Vegas, Nikola and FPT publicly presented the integrated 840 kW electric axle for heavy transport applications.
From 1 January 2022, with the creation of Iveco Group following the separation from CNH Industrial, the corporate framework changed further. The collaboration continued until May 2023, when the parties announced a reorganisation of the joint venture. Iveco acquired full ownership of the Ulm plant, while Nikola focused its activities on the North American market and fuel cell vehicles, retaining a form of co-ownership of the intellectual property relating to first-generation eAxles.
After the separation, Nikola’s financial deterioration accelerated, leading to the Chapter 11 filing in February 2025. The sale of assets to Hyroad the following August closed the company’s industrial chapter, but reopened the issue of rights to intangibles developed during the collaboration. It is on this knot that the proceedings before the judge are now focused, with implications not only for the parties involved but also for the operational continuity of fleets already in service.
Pietro Rossoni
