EV Market Continues to Grow Even with Tesla Slight Miss in Quarterly Production

Written by: Jay Yi, MBA; Edited by: Chris Thompson, CFA, MBA, P.Eng

eResearch | This week, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported Q3/2019 global sales of 97,000 electric vehicles (“EV”), which missed Factset’s estimate target of 99,000, with a 1.8% sales growth quarter-over-quarter compared with a 51% growth in Q2/2019.

Tesla has pledged to sell 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles by the end of 2019, but the EV company will be cutting it close as it enters the slow winter season with only 255,200 sales year-to-date.

The EV industry has surged in the past five years as countries around the world implemented various subsidies and policies to promote the purchase of EVs. In the U.S. alone, there were a total of 231,539 EV sales in first three quarters of 2019, of which more than half were Tesla vehicles.

Though Tesla is dominating the retail market for EVs, companies such as the London EV Company (private) have been focusing on using EVs for commercial use through its electronic taxi, TX Taxis, which has already sold over 2,500.

In this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, London EV presented its newly developed TX Shuttle which it expects to add to its line of electric on-demand vehicles, with plans to be a leader in the ride-share services industry across Europe.

Electronic vehicles and ride-sharing is not restricted to just land as Uber (NYSE: UBER; LSE: 0A1U; DB: UT8) launched its Uber Copters in July, a helicopter ride-share platform on which users can book flights between major airports in New York for a price between US$200 and US$225 per person.

Growth in helicopter usage within New York is increasing rapidly as its three major airports experienced a 51% increase in helicopter takeoffs and landings between 2015 and 2018. Uber plans to deploy a much larger network of electric-flying taxis with the company HeliFlite, who currently provides and operates Uber’s helicopters.

Bird Rides is a company who is also disrupting the ride-share space through its GPS-enabled electronic scooters, which are placed across 100 cities around the world for users to rent for a short period of time. The e-scooter company is valued at over US$2 billion as it has already raised US$415 million, and this week, Bird announced a US$50 million investment from Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (“CDPQ”), a Québec pension plan and insurance manager.

According to Acumen Research and Consulting, the EV industry is expected to reach US$567.2 billion by 2026 at a CAGR of 25.6%, stimulated by governments pushing towards environmental sustainability and vehicle manufacturers developing more efficient and affordable EVs.

There is still a large amount of vehicles in world that run on fossil fuels, which are eventually going to be turned over for more efficient and environmentally friendly EVs. It will be interesting to see if Tesla continues to dominate previously leading car manufacturers in EV sales and if disruptions in the ride-sharing industry such as electronic scooters and helicopters will be sustainable.

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Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA)

• Headquartered in California, United States, Tesla is an automotive and energy company that specializes in electric vehicles, as well as solar panels through their subsidiary, SolarCity.
• TSLA currently trades at US$231.43 per share with a market capitalization of US$41.4 billion.

Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER; LSE: 0A1U; DB: UT8)

• Headquartered in California, United States, Uber is a multinational peer to peer transportation platform and network, which include ride sharing, ride service hailing, food delivery, and bicycle sharing.
• Uber is currently trading at US$29.67 per share with a market capitalization of US$50.4 billion.

Bird Rides, Inc. (private company)

• Headquartered in California, U.S., Bird is a private electric vehicle sharing company focused on providing e-scooters through its smartphone app.
• Bird was founded in 2017 and in Jun 2018 raised US$300 million at a post-money valuation of US$2 billion, with investors including Accel, Charles River Ventures and Sequoia Capital.

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