Rivian Surprises with Q1 Earnings, Fisker Misses Targets, Faraday to Raise 100 Million in Debt
David Shultz reports on clean technology and electric vehicles, among other industries, for dot.LA. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, Nautilus and many other publications.
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It’s earnings season, baby! I feel like we just did this, but four quarters in a year means that business marches inexorably onwards.
Rivian
Rivian announced Q1 earnings yesterday and they were better than expected, with the company reporting a net loss of *just* $1.35 billion or $1.25 per share. Analysts had anticipated that the company would lose as much as $1.62 per share, but better-than-expected revenue narrowed the gap considerably. Rivian reported $661 million in revenue for Q1, which beat estimates of $652.1 million.
More importantly, perhaps, Rivian reaffirmed its production targets of 50,000 vehicles for the year. In Q1, the company produced just 9,395 EVs, but much of the quarter saw assembly lines down as the company added its new, less expensive “enduro motor” configuration into production. The enduro motor, which will be added to the Amazon Vans as well as the auto maker’s R1T platform features two single-motor drive units, with one on each axle. The new configuration will serve as the backbone for the company’s coming “R2” platform, which is still on pace for 2026, according to a CNBC interview with CEO RJ Scargine.
Getting to 2026 remains key for Rivian. The company reported $11.8 billion in cash on hand yesterday, which, at the current burn rate, will last them just over two years. The Irvine-based EV company has previously signaled that it’s open to exploring various ways of raising the funds necessary to bridge the gap, but has declined to go into specifics. Rivian’s share price jumped as high as 7% on the news, but has since fallen back to +2.63% as of this writing.
Fisker
Meanwhile, across town in Manhattan Beach, Fisker saw the opposite story play out, reporting a wider-than-expected loss this quarter and cutting its production targets. This news may be unsurprising if you’ve been following the progress of the company’s first offering, the Ocean, which has hit a series of last-minute production hiccups in the United States. The company had previously forecast a production target of 42,000 vehicles for 2023, but has slashed that number to 32,000-36,000. Fisker did say, however, that it expects deliveries to begin before the end of the month in the United States, which would obviously be a massive milestone for the company.
Faraday Future
And last but not least, LA-based Faraday Future announced that it plans to raise $100 million in debt to get its flagship FF 91 electric vehicle over the hump and into production. The company first signaled back in April that it would need to raise money to actually start production and begin deliveries, and yesterday Reuters reported that the money would come via debt raise. The money will come from FF Global Partners (FFGP), a collection of current and former company executives, as well as other investors, such as Metaverse Horizon Limited and V W Investment Holding, according to Reuters. This is far from the first time that Faraday has needed to raise additional money at the last minute in order to keep the lights on, but the company has previously relied primarily on equity raises or securities rather than debt.
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David Shultz reports on clean technology and electric vehicles, among other industries, for dot.LA. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, Nautilus and many other publications.
