Why Rivian and Telo’s smaller EVs could spark an EV rebound | TechCrunch Minute

Is the great EV boom grinding to a halt If you're reading the news it may just Seem that way but there's good news out There for all you battery heads back in January Tesla said that in 2024 our Vehicle volume growth rate may be Notably lower than the growth rate Achieved in 2023 as our teams work on The launch of the Next Generation Vehicle at gigafactory Texas and that Took some folks by surprise given that Tesla had already cut prices on its cars In recent years surely that alone would Be enough to keep demand up well as it Turns out Elon musk's car company is Hardly alone in forecasting slowing EV Growth techn has written about the great EV softening as we put it and CNBC is Out this week with a big piece arguing That and I quote EV Euphoria is dead as A great number of car companies are Quote scaling back or delaying their Electric vehicle plans now sure we've All heard that Chinese EV volumes are Growing like the proverbial weave but is There really a dimmer future out there For cars that operate on battery power Instead of internal combustion Personally I don't think so I think that What car companies have brought to Market thus far has yet to kind of fully Nail the EV use case thinking mostly About traditional auto companies here Than Tesla but roll with me I don't

Think that what we should do is just Take massive vehicles for folks who like To drive tanks to strip malls and put Batteries in them and that's why I think That the upcoming generation of smaller EVS are going to absolutely rip and I'm Not alone in thinking that so rivan is An electric car company that I'm sure You've heard of it has a deal with Amazon for delivery vehicles and it Makes a truck that I've actually seen Out and about in the wild in my Neighborhood and the company recently Announced the R2 a new SUV for its Lineup but perhaps more importantly at That event it also mentioned that it is Going to build the R3 a smaller boxy Crossover type thing that took the Internet absolutely by storm and also I'm not going to lie quickly captured my Heart as someone who wants a small City Vehicle that runs on electric juice Instead of petrol the market loved it as Well techch called the R3 and the Response thereof a quote shot in the arm For rivan given how much buzz it drove That's not really an overstatement so How do we Square falling EV growth with R3 hype I think that's while it's been Cool to watch Legacy car companies try To make EVS that fit inside their Existing lineups there's been too many EV versions of existing cars and not Enough Blank Slate EVS that are ground

Up new and designed for a slightly Different use case and this brings us to T and its hecking cute small pickup now Tech reports that this startup that Makes what we call a pint size pickup Has racked up 3,000 reservations already For its little Urban EV truck and that Success saw it raised $5.4 million Recently it added a Tesla co-founder to Its board and it's making a real run at Building something new and EV first Versus EV second now to close I recall People saying that EES would earn no Market share that they were too Expensive to succeed for most folks or That range anxiety would Doom them well Now there's griping that EES aren't Growing fast enough as a segment and all I can say to that is blah I think that Tesla is right that we are in between e Growth Cycles but also that what's Coming up for EES is more exciting than Anything that has come before from big Companies like rivan and startups like Te alike and I am so so here for it