This week in EVs: Tesla holds Cybertruck launch event | Pro Recap

Here is your weekly Pro Recap of the past week's biggest headlines in the electric vehicle space: Tesla holds Cybertruck event; China EV deliveries; Rivian launches leasing.

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Tesla launches Cybertruck

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk took the stage Thursday in Austin, Texas to reveal details about the company’s long-awaited Cybertruck electric pickup, one day after he appeared in an interview at the DealBook Summit in New York.

At that earlier event, Musk bragged about the launch event saying, “It will be the biggest product launch of anything by far on Earth this year.”

When Musk took the stage at the event, the billionaire-CEO hyped the crowed in attendance saying, “What we have here is a better truck than a truck, while also being a better sports car than a sports car in the same package.”

According to Musk, the new Cybertruck is bulletproof, “rock proof” and has an 11,000 pound towing capacity. The electric pickup has a 0-60 mph time of 2.6 seconds and features a “super-tough” 6ft composite bed.

The Cybertruck will “change the look of the roads” Musk bragged. Adding, the “future finally looks like the future.”

The Tesla leader did not directly mention the pricing and battery range for the Cybertruck. However, the company’s website revealed that the rear-wheel drive base model EV truck is priced at $60,990 and a “Cyberbeast” version for $99,990, with the all-wheel drive version priced at $79,900.

Deliveries of the all-wheel-drive version and Cyberbeast are scheduled to begin in 2024. Meanwhile, deliveries of the base model are expected to begin in 2025.

Shares of TSLA ended trading this week up 6.29% to $238.83/sh after reaching a weekly high of $252.12/sh on Wednesday.

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China November deliveries

Chinese electric vehicle makers, Nio Inc (NYSE:NIO), Li Auto Inc (NASDAQ:LI), and Xpeng Inc (NYSE:XPEV) released their monthly delivery results for November with LI leading the pack delivering over 41k units in the month.

While dominating last year’s November numbers by 172.9%, LI managed to reach 325,677 deliveries year-to-date, surpassing the company’s 2023 target of 300,000 vehicles one month ahead of schedule.

XPeng reportedly delivered 20,041 Smart EVs in November, representing a 245% increase over the same time last year, marking the company’s second consecutive month of 20,000 or more deliveries.

XPeng has experienced consistent monthly growth in vehicle deliveries for the past 10 months, resulting in a year-to-date total of 121,486 units, surpassing the total deliveries achieved throughout the entirety of 2022.

Nio Inc achieved a delivery milestone of 15,959 vehicles, marking a 12.6% increase compared to the previous year.

Among these deliveries were 10,545 premium smart electric SUVs and 5,414 premium smart electric sedans. As of November 30, 2023, NIO has cumulatively delivered 431,582 vehicles.

The battery-swapping EV maker also announced this week that Nio has teamed with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group to advance their battery-swapping technology.

Geely and Nio have agreed to adopt a collaborative approach centered around a "co-investment, co-construction, shared, co-operative" model.

Shares of LI and XPEV ended the week down 9.57% and 11.16% respectively. NIO ended the week down 1.65%. 4.3% off NIO’s weekly high of $7.47/sh achieved on Wednesday.

Rivian launches leasing

Electric truck maker, Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:RIVN) began leasing their R1T electric pickup trucks on Monday, placing them in direct competition with Tesla’s Cybertruck released later that same week.

Customers in California, New York, Florida, and Texas will have an opportunity to lease the R1T.

The EV automaker, earlier this month, raised their production outlook for the year by 2,000 vehicles, reaching 54,000 units due to continuous strong demand.

Shares of RIVN ended trading this week up 10.5%.

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