Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Sparks

Tesla’s and Rivian’s Year-End Sales Are Messy

Meanwhile, China’s BYD has taken the lead in the global EV market.

A Rivian showroom.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

How is the electric car industry doing? It depends on how you ask the question and who you ask it of.

Two leading U.S. companies — one a startup turned stalwart, the other still trying to secure itself a foothold in the market — reported their production and sales figures for the final three months of 2023. The behemoth Tesla delivered 484,507, besting expectations, according to Bloomberg. Rivian, the newcomer, delivered 13,972 cars over the same time period, missing estimates by a hair. The stock market response tells the rest of the story: Rivian shares were down around 10% in morning trading Tuesday, while Tesla shares are basically flat.

While the more-than-30-times difference is scale is obvious, the two companies’ numbers serve as snapshots of both the promise and peril of auto electrification as we roll into 2024. EVs are a real business, in which Tesla is a large but no longer dominant player. Elon Musk’s company has slipped into the number two slot behind China’s BYD. Rivian, meanwhile, is not just competing with Tesla to sell electric vehicles in the United States, but also with legacy automakers who have ramped up their electric vehicle businesses to the tune of about 10% of the American car market.

For Tesla, everything now is about scale — how it can pump out as many (increasingly competitively priced) cars to snare the average car buyer’s dollar. Rivian is at a different stage of its evolution, more reminiscent of the Tesla of more than a decade ago. The company still loses a staggering amount of money on every car it sells (although that figure is narrowing) and competes in a defined sector that Tesla has notably declined to directly play in: full-size luxury trucks and SUVs. And on another worrying note, while Rivian’s full-year production numbers came in more than 3,000 vehicles over its own guidance, its fourth quarter deliveries were short of the third quarter’s 15,564 deliveries.

While the challenge for Tesla is to sell as many cars as it can, the challenge for Rivian is to navigate the most dangerous part of a new car company’s growth — not the early days of using investor money to develop a new vehicle, but the next stage, where you have an actual car to sell but you have to figure out a way to make money doing it.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the difference in scale between Tesla and Rivian deliveries. We regret the error.

Green

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Sparks

Majority of North Carolina Voters Want to Keep the IRA, Poll Finds

The state’s senior senator, Thom Tillis, has been vocal about the need to maintain clean energy tax credits.

A North Carolina sign and solar panels.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The majority of voters in North Carolina want Congress to leave the Inflation Reduction Act well enough alone, a new poll from Data for Progress finds.

The survey, which asked North Carolina voters specifically about the clean energy and climate provisions in the bill, presented respondents with a choice between two statements: “The IRA should be repealed by Congress” and “The IRA should be kept in place by Congress.” (“Don’t know” was also an option.)

Keep reading...Show less
Green
Sparks

The Trump-Elon Breakup Has Cratered Tesla’s Stock

SpaceX has also now been dragged into the fight.

Elon Musk.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The value of Tesla shares went into freefall Thursday as its chief executive Elon Musk traded insults with President Donald Trump. The war of tweets (and Truths) began with Musk’s criticism of the budget reconciliation bill passed by the House of Representatives and has escalated to Musk accusing Trump of being “in the Epstein files,” a reference to the well-connected financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in federal detention in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The conflict had been escalating steadily in the week since Musk formally departed the Trump administration with what was essentially a goodbye party in the Oval Office, during which Musk was given a “key” to the White House.

Keep reading...Show less
Sparks

Rhizome Raises $6.5 Million for AI Grid Resilience

The company will use the seed funding to bring on more engineers — and customers.

Power lines.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

As extreme weather becomes the norm, utilities are scrambling to improve the grid’s resilience, aiming to prevent the types of outages and infrastructure damage that often magnify the impact of already disastrous weather events. Those events cost the U.S. $182 billion in damages last year alone.

With the intensity of storms, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires growing every year, some utilities are now turning to artificial intelligence in their quest to adapt to new climate realities. Rhizome, which just announced a $6.5 million seed round, uses AI to help assess and prevent climate change-induced grid infrastructure vulnerabilities. It’s already working with utilities such as Avangrid, Seattle City Light, and Vermont Electric Power Company to do so.

Keep reading...Show less
Blue