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Electric Vehicle Start-Ups Are Running Out Of Juice

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The trendy electric vehicle (EV) market could be in trouble as at least 18 EV and battery start-ups that went public in the last few years are running out of funds to operate, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.

The trouble in the industry follows rising costs and manufacturing issues as the companies fail to compete with top EV maker Tesla and traditional automakers, with the median stock of the 43 companies reviewed dropping 80% from its peak, losing tens of billions in collective value since the companies relatively recent inception, according to the WSJ. Of those 43 EV start-ups reviewed, five have already gone bankrupt or been acquired, including Lordstown Motors, Proterra and Electric Last Mile Solutions.

“It was by far the most insane bubble I have ever seen,” Gavin Baker, chief investment officer at Atreides Management, told the WSJ about the EV investment market.

Investor enthusiasm for electric vehicles is dropping as demand for the vehicles has not exploded as predicted, leaving the new start-ups short on cash and unable to push the needed amount of product to increase cash flow, according to the WSJ. The total share volume of EVs sold in January was 3% of new cars and made up a proportionate 3% of market share, but as of September, volume has increased to 6% while sales have only increased 4%, showing that market desirability is not scaling at the rate of increased manufacturing.

Ranked: Electric Vehicle Sales by Model in 2023 🚗https://t.co/DU0Ek1rQD1 pic.twitter.com/c1ncz2TFff

— Visual Capitalist (@VisualCap) December 16, 2023

While 16 EV companies reviewed have enough cash to sustain operations beyond 2024, their stock prices are also struggling as demand struggles in the emerging market, according to the WSJ. These include more luxury EV brands, including Lucid and Rivian, which have vehicles in the $80,000 range.

Only four of the EV companies reviewed had a positive cash flow, and 16 companies are projected to run out of cash during 2025 or later, according to the WSJ. One of the EV companies struggling is Faraday Future Intelligent Electric, which went public in 2021 and raised almost $1 billion, but burned through $875,000 per day in the third quarter of this year.

The EV sector is also being boosted by the Biden administration’s attempt to make half of all new vehicles EVs by 2030, pushing huge subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, signed in 2022. Subsidies include a $7,500 tax credit per EV manufactured in an attempt to make the costly vehicles more accessible to consumers.