The current market rout hasn't spared some of the biggest EV makers already grappling with materials shortages and supply chain delays.
Why it matters: Long-term public market volatility could spell disaster for embattled EV makers and pause public adoption just as interest increased amid high fuel prices.
What's happening: Nikola, Lucid Motors and Rivian were all down Wednesday to year-to-date lows — 47.5%, 63.6% and 79.6%, respectively.
- Tesla is off 35.7% so far in 2022, but had yesterday's smallest one-day drop.
What they're saying: The biggest threat to the industry, according to industry analysts and the companies themselves, is the ongoing supply chain constraints and materials shortages. Consumer demand, meanwhile, remains high.
- "There are some raw material constraints that we see coming in lithium production, probably in about three years," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at an FT conference Tuesday.
- “Our own factories have been running below capacity for several quarters as supply chain became the main limiting factor, which is likely to continue through the rest of 2022,” Tesla stated in its financial outlook.
- Rivian said it lost “approximately a quarter” of planned production since the end of March due to supply chain constraints, and specifically identified semiconductor chips as a key element holding up production.
The bottom line: Some EV makers won't make it through the supply chain crunch, an outcome EV maker Canoo is already warning its investor base about.
- “As of the date of this announcement, we are reporting that there is substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” Canoo says in its earnings report.
