These are design patents. They can't be bogus if they are sufficiently original. The Tesla design looks pretty damn similar to the Nikola.
Likewise, Tesla already has full windshield design in their other vehicles, and it's logical they'd extend that to other vehicles in their fleet of offerings.
On a side note, I don't know what patents Nikola has. They obviously don't have the brand recognition of Tesla and Elon Musk, and so they're clearly scared. I feel for them, however with the laws of economies of scale, in this day and age you aren't creating to support a whole ecosystem you won't be able to compete as efficiently.
Another side note, patents although seem to have some benefit, however it's arguable that they are holding back innovation and a higher quality of life for everyone - potentially suffocating innovation while extracting excess value from everyone, and funnelling money to those who already have the most money to invest to begin with.
It's obviously a difficult subject to navigate as we don't have an alternate system to compare to, well, except perhaps in part the ignoring of patents in China allowed their economy to boom.
Boeing has been patenting the design of its aircraft since the late 1920s...
If you wish to build an Airplane some things are going to look quite similar to how others build it. The same goes with rockets too. May be F1 cars etc. Things like that.
At some point your design will look as physics wants it.
How is this at all true? So you're saying to reach,say, a certain coefficient of drag, there's only one design?
Start with a bumper as per regulations. It has to be the furthest forward part of the vehicle, close to ground level. No pointy aircraft noses on road transport.
Now shape the hulk to sweep air aside in clean smooth lines to sufficient height and width to clear standard sized trailers.
The design goal coefficient dictates how smooth the surface has to be, and the curvature of that surface.
What is left for the designer is flourishes like the profile of the windscreen, how many wipers there are, how they are concealed, and the shape of the door and whether the door opens to the front or the rear.