What happened

Shares of many companies in the electric-vehicle space were trading sharply lower on Monday amid a broad-based sell-off triggered by geopolitical worries and concerns about rising interest rates.

Here's where things stood for these three prominent names as of 1 p.m. ET on Monday, relative to their closing prices on Friday.

  • Fisker (FSRN 6.97%) was down about 9.9%.
  • Lucid Group (LCID 0.83%) was down about 6.6%.
  • Xpeng (XPEV -3.37%) was down about 10.2%.

So what

Traders and investors appeared to be unloading anything that might be considered "risky" as they digested several worrisome developments, including the possibility of a confrontation between Russia and Western powers over Ukraine, the likelihood of U.S. interest rate hikes starting soon, and the sharp declines of many cryptoassets over the weekend.

That's why these three names -- and many others like them -- were down sharply early on Monday afternoon. To be clear, none appeared to be moving on company-specific negative news, but for reference, here are the latest developments for each:

  • Fisker said earlier this month that its first production model, the Ocean electric SUV, will be equipped with advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) that incorporate proprietary "digital radar imaging" sensors. All trim levels of the Ocean will have the digital radar sensor suite; the full ADAS system, called Fisker Intelligent Pilot, will be standard on the model's top-line trims. 
  • Lucid's post-merger share lockup period ended last week. Often, that leads to a price decline as insiders sell down their holdings, but not in this case: Lucid's shares rallied on news that its largest shareholder, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, plans to hold its stake as a long-term investment. (That's not helping Lucid's stock today, of course, but it's noteworthy.) 
  • Xpeng got some support from analysts at Chinese investment bank Guosheng Securities, which initiated coverage of Xpeng with a buy rating and a price target of 259 Hong Kong dollars. (That translates to about $66.60 for Xpeng's American depositary shares, as each is equal to two of its Hong Kong shares.) The analysts wrote that while Xpeng's core EV business should grow nicely as EV adoption ramps up in China, the company's efforts in autonomous driving, robotics, and flying vehicles could deliver even more value than the EV business over time.
An orange Fisker Ocean, an electric SUV, parked on a rocky beach.

Fisker said that all versions of its upcoming Ocean electric SUV will incorporate new proprietary "digital radar" sensors. Image source: Fisker, Inc.

Now what

Electric-vehicle investors can look forward to detailed updates from the companies' management teams when they report fourth-quarter and full-year 2021 earnings. As of now, none of the three have announced dates for their next earnings reports, but all are expected to report in mid-to-late February.