What You Missed This Week in EVs and Clean Energy

Institutional investors and professional traders rely on The Fly to keep up-to-the-second on breaking news in the electric vehicle and clean energy space, as well as which stocks in these sectors that the best analysts on Wall Street are saying to buy and sell.

From the hotly-debated high-flier Tesla (TSLA), Wall Street’s newest darling Rivian (RIVN), traditional-stalwarts turned EV-upstarts GM (GM) and Ford (F) to the numerous SPAC-deal makers that have come public in this red-hot space, The Fly has you covered with “Charged,” a weekly recap of the top stories and expert calls in the sector.

TESLA DELIVERIES: Tesla said that in the fourth quarter, the company produced approximately 495,000 vehicles and delivered over 484,000 vehicles. In 2023, vehicle deliveries grew 38% year-over-year to 1.81M, while production grew 35% year-over-year to 1.85M million. Tesla reported Q4 Model 3/Y deliveries of 461,538. For 2023, Tesla delivered 1.81M vehicles.

Click here to check out Tesla’s recent Media Buzz Sentiment as measured by TipRanks.

ANOTHER ‘VOLATILE’ YEAR: Morgan Stanley admits it is “not terribly surprising that auto investors are cautious” on Tesla given increased competition and a lack of high-volume new products in 2024, but argues that Tesla is “definitely an auto company” and it is “also an AI company.” Looking ahead to 2024, the firm expects “another challenging year for the core auto business” and acknowledges that if all else is equal, continued negative surprises on the auto side should be negative for the stock, but adds that “we’ve learned with Tesla over our years of coverage, all else is rarely equal.”

The same forces that have driven AWS to reach 70% of Amazon’s (AMZN) total EBIT can work at Tesla, opening up new addressable markets that extend well beyond selling vehicles at a fixed price, with the catalyst being Dojo, Tesla’s custom supercomputing effort in the works for the past five years, Morgan Stanley tells investors. Beyond the core auto business, the firm points to Optimus, Tesla’s AI software, as well as Edge AI and EV infrastructure as areas that may be relevant for the stock in the year ahead. Morgan Stanley keeps an Overweight rating and $380 price target on Tesla shares.

RIVIAN DELIVERIES: Rivian Automotive announced production totals for the quarter and full-year ending December 31, 2023. The company produced 17,541 vehicles at its manufacturing facility in Normal, Illinois and delivered 13,972 vehicles during the same period. On a full-year 2023 basis, the company produced 57,232 vehicles and delivered 50,122. This exceeded management’s most recent full-year 2023 production guidance of 54,000 vehicles.

BEST IDEA: Baird believes Rivian is positioned for a strong 2024 with several potential catalysts ahead. The company has remained supply constrained relative to demand longer than several of its EV peers and Baird expects this to continue. The named the stock a Best Idea for 2024, and reiterated its Outperform rating with a price target of $30.

FISKER OCEAN: Fisker (FSR) provided a business update for the month of December. The company said, “After homologation delays in both Europe and the US, and as we navigated supplier issues, Fisker ultimately produced 10,142 in 2023. Customer deliveries began in June, with significant deliveries commencing in September and October. The company grew deliveries by over 300% from Q3 to Q4, and total deliveries are approximately 4,700, with the majority being Fisker Ocean One launch edition vehicles priced at $68,999.” Fisker began deliveries in Canada in December and is now operating in 12 markets worldwide. Right-hand drive vehicles have been delivered in the United Kingdom, and in December the UK saw the delivery of the first Fisker Ocean Sport, the company’s entry-level trim.

Fisker has undertaken two key over-the-air software updates in Q4. Version 1.10 was rolled out in November, and Version 1.11 commenced in mid-December. The company expects to complete the Version 1.11 update process for all customers by end of January 2024. Feature upgrades and bug fixes have greatly improved customers satisfaction. In February of 2024 Fisker expects to release Version 2.0 with additional exciting features. The company has opened four flagship Lounges and has multiple delivery and services locations in both the U.S. and Europe to bolster the company’s delivery infrastructure.

DELIVERIES BY CHINESE EV MAKERS: Nio (NIO) announced its December, fourth quarter and full year 2023 delivery results. Nio delivered 18,012 vehicles in December 2023, increasing by 13.9% year-over-year. The deliveries consisted of 12,048 premium smart electric SUVs, and 5,964 premium smart electric sedans. Nio delivered 50,045 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2023, representing an increase of 25.0% year-over-year. For the year of 2023, Nio delivered a total of 160,038 vehicles, showing a year-over-year increase of 30.7%. Cumulative deliveries of Nio vehicles reached 449,594 as of December 31, 2023.

Li Auto (LI) also announced that the company delivered 50,353 vehicles in December 2023, up 137.1% year over year, and achieved its monthly delivery target of 50,000 vehicles. This brought the company’s fourth quarter deliveries to 131,805, up 184.6% year over year. Total deliveries in 2023 increased by 182.2% year over year to 376,030. As of December 31, 2023, Li Auto’s cumulative deliveries surpassed 600,000 vehicles, the highest among Chinese emerging new energy automakers. As of December 31, 2023, the company had 467 retail stores in 140 cities, as well as 360 servicing centers and Li Auto-authorized body and paint shops operating in 209 cities.

Additionally, XPeng (XPEV) said that in December 2023, the company delivered 20,115 Smart EVs, a new record for monthly deliveries, representing a 78% increase year-over-year. Fourth quarter 2023 total vehicle deliveries hit 60,158, exceeding 60,000 quarterly deliveries for the first time and marking a 171% increase year-over-year. Total annual deliveries in 2023 reached 141,601 units, a 17% increase over the prior year. As of December 31, 2023, the company’s total cumulative deliveries reached 400,311 units.

XIOMAI ENTERS EV RACE: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi (XIACY) took the wraps off its first electric vehicle, dubbed the SU7, and announced it was aiming to become one of the world’s top five automakers over the next 15 to 20 years, reported Reuters’ Yelin Mo and Casey Hall. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun touted the EV as having “super electric motor” technology capable of delivering acceleration speeds faster than Tesla cars, the report noted.