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RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Related Party Aircraft Charter Agreement
In 2019, the Company entered into an aircraft charter arrangement with the Company’s former Executive Chairman of the board of directors of the Company and Legacy Nikola's former Chief Executive Officer to reimburse him for the flight hours incurred for Company use on his personal aircraft. These flight hours were related to business travel by the former Executive Chairman and other members of the executive team to business meetings and trade conferences, as well as the former Executive Chairman's commute between the Company’s headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, and his residence in Utah. During the three
months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, the Company recognized expenses of $1.07 million and $0.06 million, respectively, for the business use of the aircraft. During the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, the Company recognized expenses of $1.31 million and $0.10 million, respectively, for business use of the aircraft. As of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019 the Company had $0.97 million and $0.03 million, respectively, outstanding in accounts payable and accrued expenses to the former Executive Chairman for the business use of the aircraft. The aircraft charter arrangement was terminated effective October 2020.
Related Party Income and Accounts Receivable
During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 the Company recorded immaterial amounts for the provision of solar installation services to the former Executive Chairman, which are billed on time and materials basis. As of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the Company had zero and $0.05 million, respectively, outstanding in accounts receivable related to solar installation services to the former Executive Chairman. Solar installation services were terminated effective October 2020.
Related Party Stock Options
In December 2018, the former Executive Chairman issued 6,005,139 performance-based stock options to recognize the performance and contribution of specific employees, including certain executive officers, pursuant to Legacy Nikola's Founder Stock Option Plan (the "Founder Stock Option Plan"). The underlying common stock of these option awards are owned by M&M Residual, a Nevada limited liability company that is wholly-owned by the former Executive Chairman and are considered to be issued by the Company for accounting purposes. These performance-based stock options vest based on the Company's achievement of a liquidation event, such as a private sale or an initial public offering on a U.S. stock exchange. An additional award of 180,153 shares was made under the plan in May 2020, to replace a forfeited grant. The weighted average grant date fair value of the performance-based stock options was $1.20 per share for the period ended September 30, 2020. The performance conditions were met upon the closing of the Business Combination and the Company recognized stock-based compensation expense related to these option awards for $7.2 million in June 2020.

Related Party Redemption of Common Stock
Immediately following the Business Combination, pursuant to a redemption agreement, the Company redeemed 7,000,000 shares of common stock from M&M Residual at a purchase price of $10.00 per share, payable in immediately available funds. The number of shares to be redeemed and the redemption price were determined and agreed upon during negotiations between the various parties to the Business Combination, including the former Executive Chairman and representatives of VectoIQ, Legacy Nikola and the Subscribers.

Former Related Party License and Service Agreements
In September 2019, Legacy Nikola entered into a Master Industrial Agreement (“CNHI Services Agreement”) and S-WAY Platform and Product Sharing Agreement (“CNHI License Agreement”) with CNH Industrial N.V. ("CNHI") and Iveco S.p.A ("Iveco"), a former related party, in conjunction with the Company’s Series D redeemable convertible preferred stock offering. Under these agreements, CNHI and Iveco were issued 25,661,448 shares of Legacy Nikola Series D redeemable convertible preferred stock in exchange for an intellectual property license valued at $50.0 million, $100.0 million in-kind services and $100.0 million in cash.
During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, the Company issued 5,132,291 shares of Series D redeemable convertible preferred stock to Iveco in exchange for the licensed Iveco technology. Additionally, the Company issued 5,132,291 Series D preferred redeemable convertible preferred shares in exchange for $50.0 million in cash.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company issued zero and 9,443,353 shares of Series D redeemable convertible preferred stock, respectively, to Iveco, in exchange for zero and $92.0 million of prepaid in-kind services, respectively. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, $11.4 million and $28.6 million of in-kind services, respectively, were recognized in research and development on the consolidated statements of operations. As of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, $63.4 million and zero prepaid in-kind services, respectively, were reflected on the consolidated balance sheets.
Additionally, during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company issued zero and 5,132,289 shares of Series D redeemable convertible preferred stock to Iveco in exchange for zero and $50.0 million in cash, respectively.
As of June 3, 2020, Iveco was no longer considered a related party under ASC 850.

Former Related Party Research and Development and Accounts Payable
During the three months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, the Company recorded research and development expenses of $4.1 million and $2.3 million, respectively, from a former related party. During the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, the Company recorded research and development expenses of $10.6 million and $13.0 million, respectively, from a former related party. As of September 30, 2020, the Company had $0.4 million of accounts payable due to the former related party and $7.4 million of accrued expenses due to the former related party. As of December 31, 2019, the Company had $0.6 million of accounts payable due to the former related party and $0.5 million of accrued expenses due to the former related party. As of June 3, 2020, the entity is no longer considered a related party.
Former Related Party Stock Repurchase

In September 2019, in contemplation of Legacy Nikola’s proposed Series D preferred stock financing, Legacy Nikola entered into an amendment of the letter agreement by and between Legacy Nikola and Nimbus, dated August 3, 2018 (the “Nimbus Redemption Letter Agreement” and as amended, the “Nimbus Amendment”). Pursuant to the terms of the Amendment and the Nimbus Repurchase Agreement, Legacy Nikola agreed to repurchase 3,575,750 shares of Series B redeemable convertible preferred stock held by Nimbus, a former related party, at the share price of $8.77 which is equal to 90% of the share price in the Series D redeemable convertible preferred stock financing of $9.74 per share. The number of shares to be repurchased exceeded five percent (5%) of the contemplated Series D round of financing. This was negotiated by Legacy Nikola in order to reduce the total number of shares of Series B redeemable convertible preferred stock held by Nimbus, to such an extent that Nimbus would no longer be entitled to elect a member of Legacy Nikola's board of directors as a result of Nimbus' Series B preferred stock holdings. The repurchase was completed in October 2019, for an aggregate repurchase amount of $31.4 million. The Amendment also provided Nimbus with additional redemption rights based on various capital raise thresholds, none of which were met as of December 31, 2019.
In March 2020, Legacy Nikola entered into an additional letter agreement with Nimbus in which Nimbus agreed to terminate the Nimbus Redemption Letter Agreement. Concurrently, Legacy Nikola entered into an agreement with Nimbus, whereby Legacy Nikola agreed to repurchase an additional 2,850,930 shares of Series B preferred stock from Nimbus at a share price of $8.77 for an aggregate repurchase price of $25.0 million. The parties agreed that the repurchase price constituted the price that Nimbus would otherwise be entitled to under the Nimbus Redemption Letter Agreement. The number of shares to be repurchased was negotiated by Legacy Nikola and Nimbus as a mechanism to compensate Nimbus for agreeing to relinquish its previous redemption rights granted in the Nimbus Redemption Letter Agreement.

The repurchase was contingent on completion of the Business Combination which occurred during the quarter ending June 30, 2020, and the Company repurchased the shares in conjunction with the closing of the Business Combination. The Company recorded a reduction to additional paid in capital for the repurchase price in excess of the carrying value of the redeemable convertible preferred stock of $13.4 million. The carrying value of the shares repurchased were recorded as a reduction to redeemable convertible preferred stock, which has been retrospectively adjusted in the statement of stockholders' equity to reflect the Company’s equity structure for all periods presented. For the computation of net loss per share for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, the repurchase price in excess of the carrying value of the redeemable convertible preferred stock of $13.4 million is reflected as a decrease to net loss attributable to common stockholders (see Note 13).

As of June 3, 2020, Nimbus is no longer considered a related party.