EV Stocks Are Back on Track: Whoโs Got the Juice in 2025?This year is big for the EV sector so we figured letโs do a piece on it and bring you up to speed on whoโs making moves and getting traction โ both in the charts and on the road.
What weโve got here is a lean, mean lineup of real contenders. Letโs go for a ride.
๐ Tesla: Still King of the Road (for Now)
Tesla NASDAQ:TSLA isnโt just an EV company. Itโs a tech firm, an AI shop, a robotaxi rollout machine, and an Elon-flavored media event every quarter. Even so, when it comes to margins, global volume, and name recognition, Tesla is still the benchmark everyone else is chasing.
In 2025, Teslaโs bounceback is fueled not just by EV hype but by its push into autonomous driving and different plays into the AI space.
The stock is down about 13% year-to-date. But investors love a narrative turnaround. Apparently, the earnings update didn't help the situation as shares slipped roughly 5%. Well, there's always another quarter โ make sure to keep an eye on the Earnings Calendar .
๐ BYD: The Dragon in the Fast Lane
BYD 1211 is calmly racking up sales, expanding across continents, and stealing global market share without breaking a sweat. The Chinese behemoth is outselling Tesla globally and doing it with less drama and more chargeโฆ literally .
Vertical integration is BYDโs secret weapon โ they make their own batteries, chips, and even semiconductors. The West might not be in love with BYDโs designs, but fleet operators and emerging-market governments are. And thatโs where the real growth is.
โฐ๏ธ Rivian: Built for Trails, Not Earnings (Yet)
Rivian NASDAQ:RIVN still feels like the Patagonia of EV makers โ rugged, outdoorsy, aspirational. Its R1T pickup truck has cult status, but the company had to tone down its ambitions and revised its guidance for 2025 deliveries to between 40,000 and 46,000. Early 2025 projections floated around 50,000 .
The good news? Rivian is improving on cost control, production pace, and market fit. The bad news? Itโs still burning cash faster than it builds trucks. But for investors betting on a post-rate-cut growth stock rally, Rivian may be the comeback kid to watch. It just needs a few solid quarters.
๐๏ธ Lucid: Luxury Dreams, Reality Checks
Lucid NASDAQ:LCID , the one thatโll either go under or make it big. The luxury carmaker, worth about $8 billion, came into the EV game promising to out-Tesla Tesla โ with longer range, more appeal, and a price tag to match.
But hereโs the rub: rich people arenโt lining up for boutique sedans, especially when Mercedes and BMW now offer their own electric gliders with badge power and a dealer network.
Lucidโs challenge in 2025 is existential. The cars are sleek, the tech is strong, but the cash runway is shrinking and demand isnโt scaling like the pitch deck promised.
Unless it nails a strategic partnership (Saudi backing only goes so far), Lucid could end up as a cautionary tale โ a beautifully engineered one, but a cautionary tale nonetheless. Thankfully, Uber NYSE:UBER showed up to the rescue ?
๐ช NIO : Battling to Stay in the Race
Remember when NIO NYSE:NIO was dubbed the โTesla of Chinaโ? Fast forward, and itโs still swinging โ but now the narrative is more about survival than supremacy. NIO's battery-swap stations remain a unique selling point, but delivery volumes and profitability are still trailing.
The companyโs leaning into smart-tech partnerships and next-gen vehicle platforms. The stock, meanwhile, needs more than just optimism to get moving again โ itโs virtually flat on the year.
โ๏ธ XPeng: Flying Cars, Literally
XPengโs NYSE:XPEV claim to fame used to be its semi-autonomous driving suite. Now? It's working on literal flying vehicles with its Land Aircraft Carrier. Innovation isnโt the problem โ it's execution and scale.
XPeng is beloved by futurists and punished by spreadsheets. Itโs still getting government love, but without a clear margin path, the stock might stay grounded.
๐ Li Auto: The Surprise Front-Runner
Li Auto NASDAQ:LI doesnโt get the headlines, but itโs quietly killing it with its range-extended EVs โ hybrids that let you plug in or gas up. A smart move in a country still building out its charging infrastructure.
Li is delivering big numbers, posting improving margins, and seems laser-focused on practicality over hype. Of all the Chinese EV stocks, this one might be the most mature.
๐ง Nvidia: The Brains of the Operation
Okay, not an EV stock per se, but Nvidia NASDAQ:NVDA deserves a spot on any EV watchlist. Its AI chips are running the show inside Teslaโs Full Self-Driving computers, powering sensor fusion in dozens of autonomous pilot programs, and quietly taking over the brains of modern mobility.
As self-driving becomes less sci-fi and more of a supply-chain item, Nvidia's value-add grows with every mile driven by data-hungry EVs.
๐ ChargePoint & EVgo: Picks and Shovels
If you canโt sell the cars, sell the cables.
EV charging companies were once seen as the โsafe betโ on electrification. Now theyโre just seen as massively underperforming.
ChargePoint BOATS:CHPT : Still the leader in US charging stations but struggling with profitability and adoption pacing. Stockโs down bad from its peak in 2021 (like, 98% bad).
EVgo NASDAQ:EVGO : Focused on fast-charging and partnerships (hello, GM), but scale and margin pressures remain.
Both stocks are beaten down hard. But with billions in infrastructure funding still flowing, who knows, maybe thereโs potential for a second act.
๐ Off to you : are you plugged into any of these EV plays? Share your EV investment picks in the comments!
