What happened
The stocks of three struggling electric vehicle (EV) companies are jumping today. Shares of Workhorse Group (WKHS -2.18%) and Lordstown Motors (RIDE 2.91%) are down between 60% and 70% in the last 12 months. Those of special purpose EV maker Canoo (GOEV -6.90%) have lost 32% in the last year. But all three are popping higher today. As of 3:35 p.m. ET, Workhorse, Lordstown, and Canoo shares were up 12.7%, 17.1%, and 14.9%, respectively.
So what
Today's jump comes as investors heard the opinion from Goldman Sachs that almost half of all cars on the road by 2040 will be fully, or plug-in hybrid, electric. The report shared by CNBC added that analysts at the investment bank believe much of the acceleration for EV adoption will occur after 2030. That may bode well for smaller start-up companies that will take several years to successfully ramp production up to scale. And it's helping these electric vehicle stocks outperform even on a day when other growth stocks and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index are leading the market higher.
Canoo will offer lifestyle vehicles (above), commercial delivery vehicles, and pickup truck models. Image source: Canoo.
Now what
Workhorse Group is the only one of these three EV makers that has been in commercial production. But even that hit a wall, when the company was forced to suspend production of its commercial delivery vehicles and issue a recall for 41 of them from customers late last year. It had to repurchase those vehicles to retest and recertify them under federal safety standards.
The company is now focused on getting those back to customers, and then plans to complete the manufacture of 50-75 additional vehicles from inventory on hand during 2022. It will then contract out production for a new truck platform model until it restarts internal production for a new vehicle in the third quarter of 2023.
Lordstown has also struggled, and recently disappointed investors with guidance that it would only have up to 3,000 of its electric Endurance pickup trucks produced by the end of 2023. Canoo similarly expects to be starting manufacturing this year, and then targeting the production of between 70,000 and 80,000 units to be made by 2025.
While there are plenty of execution risks remaining for all of these manufacturers, the accelerating EV demand beyond 2030 that Goldman Sachs highlighted puts their production timelines in better context. There is a way these companies can be successful in the long run. And with the $1.5 billion market cap of Canoo being the highest valuation among them, aggressive long-term investors seemed to want to dip their toes in today for a chance at long-term appreciation.
