Electric vehicles confront the leap to the mass market
The past year was sobering for investors who poured money into Tesla Inc and rival electric vehicle startups that hoped to emulate Tesla CEO Elon Musk's success.
As interest rates rose and financial markets gyrated, shares in many EV startups deflated. Rivian Automotive Inc, which had a higher market value than Ford Motor Co shortly after it went public in 2021, lost more than 70% of its value over the past year.
Other EV startups fared worse. Electric van maker Arrival warned it could run out of cash in less than a year. Lucid Group Inc, backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, struggled to build its sleek Air luxury EVs. Chinese Tesla challenger Xpeng Inc's shares lost more than 80% of their value.
Now comes the hard part: Persauding more mainstream consumers to come along for the ride.
WHY IT MATTERS
The automobile industry is pouring more than $1 trillion into a revolutionary shift from combustion engines to electric vehicles guided by software. From Detroit to Shanghai, automakers and government policymakers have embraced the promise of electric vehicles to provide cleaner, safer transportation. European countries and California have set 2035 as the deadline for ending sales of new combustion passenger vehicles.
Tesla Inc's surge to become the world's most valuable automaker - achieving a $1 trillion valuation last year - humbled established automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG that once were reluctant to go electric.
Starting next year, a wave of new electric vehicles from pickup trucks to middle market SUVs and sedans will hit the world's major markets.
Industry executives and forecasters do not agree on how rapidly electric vehicles could take over half the global vehicle market, let alone all of
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