Tesla Analyst's Tempered Q3 Expectations, Lucid CEO's Fat Paycheck, Nikola's Nagging Fire Incidents And More: Biggest EV Stories Of The Week

The broader market weakness weighed down on electric vehicle stocks in the week ending on Sept. 8, although some, including market leader Tesla, Inc. TSLA, bucked the downtrend. After the irrational exuberance that followed its initial public offering, Vietnamese EV startup VinFast Auto Ltd. VFS continued to head south.

Here are the key events that happened in the EV space during the week:

Tesla’s Giga Shanghai Milestone, Cybertruck News Flow And More: Tesla Asia said on X this week that the Elon Musk-led company’s Giga Shanghai plant achieved the milestone of producing its 2 millionth vehicle in just four years since the plant’s inception. About half of Tesla’s worldwide production comes from the Giga Shanghai plant, and EVs manufactured there have higher margins. The Giga Shanghai also serves as Tesla’s major export hub.

News around the Cybertruck continues to circulate heavily, as the vehicle’s launch approaches. While one social media user shared a video of two Cybertrucks cruising down a highway, another shared a TikTok video of a Cybertruck crash test. The latter showed the EV pickup truck’s cabin remaining intact after a rollover test.

Sell-side analysts shared some negative tidings about Tesla’s third-quarter results, with Deutsche Bank flagging risks to third-quarter production and deliveries due to scheduled summer production pauses.

Additionally, the company’s need to offer discounts on inventory and the absence of substantial cost offsets in the quarter could contribute to incremental downside risks, the firm said.

Separately, Musk confirmed that Tesla’s priority would be robotaxis. The billionaire refuted a report that the company’s rumored $25,000 car and robotaxis would be inspired by the Cybertruck but acknowledged that the “Robotaxi will look like the future.”

See also: Best Electric Vehicle Stocks

Lucid CEO’s Compensation Raises Eyebrows: One report noted that Lucid Group, Inc. LCID CEO Peter Rawlinson was the highest paid automotive CEO in 2022. The executive’s salary was split as a base salary of $575,000, plus annual cash incentives of up to another $575,000 based on company performance. Commenting on the fat paycheck, Musk said, “Beware any company where leadership compensation is not linked to performance.” Incidentally, Lucid is struggling with production and deliveries undershooting expectations.

Fisker’s Ocean Update: EV startup Fisker, Inc. FSR said this week that it is planning to ramp up production of its Ocean electric SUV from 180 units per day currently to 300 per days in the fourth quarter. During the week of Sept. 4, the company built 3,123 customer vehicles, it said. The company expects customer deliveries in the U.S. to accelerate in September, and noted that recent software updates have improved numerous vehicle features as well as the overall customer experience.

Nikola Haunted By More Fire Incidents: This week saw two more Nikola Corp. NKLA Trey electric semi-trucks catching fire. One of the semitrucks caught fire in Tempe, Ariz., affecting its battery pack, and another pre-production truck caught fire near the Phoenix headquarters. In June, when a truck went up in flames at the company’s headquarters, Nikola suspected foul play, although it later cited a coolant leak inside a battery pack as the cause of the fire.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Honda Joins Tesla EV Charging Standard Bandwagon: Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. Ltd HMC became the latest automaker to warm up to Tesla’s North American Charging Standard for the former’s EV models, which will go on sale in North America starting in 2025. 

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EV Stock Performances for The Week: