As the electric vehicle industry faces a string of high-profile failures, several startups that have surfaced in recent years have underestimated their capital needs by billions of dollars, industry insiders said.
Many of the companies that have tried to bring products to market or go public, especially through Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, or SPACs, are struggling. At least 30 EV companies have either suspended their operations, gone quiet or faced the risk of bankruptcy in the last decade, according to AutoForecast Solutions, an industry research and forecasting group.
“Tesla, outside of the Chinese, is kind of the first automaker to start in half a century,” said Mark Wakefield, managing director at AlixPartners. “Rivian and Lucid are sort of the next two closest of the Western ones. Both of them have eviscerated $10 billion. So it’s interesting to see these other small startups who raise $1 billion or $2 billion and …