5 Key EV Headlines You May Have Missed This Week

EV stocks extended the gains in the week ending Oct. 16, with EV giant Tesla, Inc. TSLA spearheading the sector's advance.

Tesla Buoyant On The Back of China Revival And Optimistic Q3 Forecasts: The EV giant reported earlier this week strong domestic deliveries in China for the month of September.

Tesla sold 56,006 cars in China during September, representing a 26.5% month-over-month increase and a 394% jump from the year-ago period. Another interesting statistic that emerged from the China Passenger Car Association data is the proportion of cars exported from the Giga Shanghai in the third quarter to the total deliveries, which came in at 55%.

The stock also received a shot in the arm from optimistic expectations concerning its third-quarter earnings. In a note released late Thursday, Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois maintained a Buy rating on Tesla shares and upped the price target from $850 to $950. The optimism was premised on strong fundamental performance.

Plug Power Lights Up: The annual "Plug Symposium" offered support to shares of Plug Power Inc. PLUG in the runup to the event.

The green hydrogen energy company established a long-term target of $3 billion in sales for 2025. The company also increased its sales guidance for 2022 from $825 million to $850 million, an estimated 65% growth from 2021. Plug Power also announced a deal to acquire energy transportation company Applied Cryo Technologies, a joint venture to set up an Australian Giga and showcased its Hyvia Hydrogen fuel cell-powered van prototype, among other things.

Sell-side scrambled to raise their price targets for Plug Power shares following the event.

Related Link: Why Plug Power Analysts Are Bullish After Hydrogen Green Energy Company's Investor Day

Nio Boosts Annual Capacity At Hefei Plant By 20%: Chinese EV startup Nio, Inc. NIO said renovation at its Hefei factory, which it jointly runs with JAC, has completed a phased upgrade of its production line. This, the company said, has boosted capacity by 20% annually from 100,000 units per year previously.

Lucid Comes Calling to Canada: Lucid Group, Inc. LCID announced Friday its retail location –"the Lucid Studio" in Vancouver, Canada will be open to customers, beginning Saturday. This is the company's first retail location in Canada.

Lucid also announced pricing for its Lucid Air lineup for Canadian customers, with the starting price of $105,000 for the Lucid Air Pure. Customers in Canada can reserve all Lucid Air models online with C$400, the company said.

Lordstown Hires New CFO: Embattled EV truck company Lordstown Motors Corp. RIDE announced the appointment of Adam Kroll as its chief financial officer, replacing Rebecca Roof, who was serving as the interim CFO. Kroll previously served as an investment banker at JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM.

Among other developments that made news were Ford Motor Company F giving up its board representation at Rivian ahead of its proposed initial public offering and Fisker Inc. FSR suggesting it will release two more EV models on top of its Ocean SUV and the Pear, by 2025. These two models are to be produced in the U.K.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. HMC announced its upcoming China-market EV lineup with a range of concept cars that preview upcoming models that will fit under a new sub-brand called e:N.

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