Shares in electric car manufacturers Rivian and Tesla are rising after strong volume data
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US electric car startup Rivian Automotive revealed stronger-than-expected production figures a day after bigger rivals Tesla and BYD reported robust deliveries, sending shares of the companies sharply higher on Monday.
Rivian said it built 1[ads1]3,992 trucks and vans at its plant in Normal, Illinois in the second quarter, well above Wall Street expectations of about 11,000, according to analysts polled by FactSet. The California company confirmed guidance for production of 50,000 vehicles this year.
The update came after Tesla, the US EV leader, said on Sunday that it delivered a record 466,000 vehicles in the second quarter, up 83.5 percent from a year earlier. Sales increased after Tesla cut prices in January and March.
“Tesla and Rivian were big good news for the EV sector, as production and demand hum despite many skeptics on the street,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. “This was a trophy case quarter for Tesla, and Rivian added to the fireworks with very impressive results for the June quarter.”
BYD, Tesla’s main rival in China, also reported that sales volume grew by almost double in the first half of 2023, as it sold 1.26 million vehicles in the six months to the end of June.
Shares in Rivian closed 17.4 percent higher in New York on Monday, in a shortened session ahead of the Independence Day holiday, while Tesla climbed 6.9 percent. BYD closed up 4.5 percent in Hong Kong.
Electric vehicles accounted for 8.6 percent of new vehicle sales in the United States in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 5.9 percent for the same period a year earlier, according to the industry group Alliance for Automotive Innovation. More than 305,000 electric cars were sold in the country between January and March.
The market for electric cars is becoming increasingly competitive as GM, Ford and start-ups such as Rivian attempt to challenge Tesla’s dominant position. But even as more American car buyers choose electric vehicles, the number of public charging stations has lagged behind. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation said that in the first quarter, 39 electric cars were registered for every new public port.
Increased demand for fast public charging has prompted Tesla to open its Supercharger network next year to drivers of cars and trucks made by other automakers, including Ford, GM and Rivian. Rivian said last month it would build trucks and vans using Tesla’s North American charging standard for connectors starting in 2025.
The 12,000 Superchargers in Tesla’s network account for about 60 percent of the total fast chargers available to US electric car drivers, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Rosner.
Rivian said it would publish its full second-quarter results on August 8. The company delivered 12,640 vehicles to customers during the second quarter, compared to 4,401 in the same quarter of 2022.