It’s getting strange in EV-land and this time it isn’t just Tesla.Should investors be worried?
Electric vehicle investors are used to a little weirdness. There are, after all, Elon Musk tweets featuring a dog in haute couture. And the Tesla Cybertruck, due to be delivered later this year, looks like something out of a Mad Max/Blade Runner crossover movie.
Still, Tesla took weirdness to another level Monday when, in a regulatory filing, the company announced Musk’s title now included “technoking”and that CFO Zach Kirkhorh would also be known as the title “Master of Coin.”
And then there is EV truck maker Nikola,whose stock has dropped 66% since September. Monday afternoon, it filed a prospectus with the SEC indicating the company planned to sell stock. Companies don’t usually issue cash at low stock prices if they don’t need the money now. Nikola now has more than $800 million in cash on its balance sheet. Its stock is down more than 2% Tuesday morning.
And remember, last week EV start-up Canoo took a page out of Tesla’s book by launching a pickup truck that looks a little like a space pod. And the proposed vehicle has more hidden compartments and pullouts than a puzzle box.
Investors expect such oddities from Elon Musk and Tesla. Whether they will from other EV makers remain to be seen.