• by Tanya Gazdik , Staff Writer, January 30, 2023

Several electric vehicle automakers are seeing lower share prices Monday as a result of moves by Ford Motor Co. and Tesla to cut prices on some models.

Some recent decliners in late-afternoon trading according to The Wall Street Journal include Canoo, which was off 10%. Faraday Future Intelligent Electric retreated 9%; Fisker dropped 9%; REE Automotive fell 7% and Arcimoto was down about 6%.

The declines follow full year drops for some of the OEMs, including Tesla, Rivian and Lucid, per The Motley Fool, which doesn't see a comeback in prices anytime soon, which could be more a reflection of the overall economy rather than EVs.

By 2030, the number of available EV models in the U.S. is expected to increase 10 times over, from 26 in 2021 to 276, according to S&P Global Mobility.

Some buyers might be inspired to purchase based on news that the infrastructure seems to be improving.

Just today, TravelCenters of America Inc., the nation’s largest publicly traded full-service travel center network, announced an agreement with Electrify America to offer electric vehicle charging at select TA/Petro locations, with the first stations planned to be deployed in 2023. 

With a goal of installing 1,000 individual chargers at 200 locations along major highways over five years, TA will purchase Electrify America’s fast chargers. 

TA will be included on the Electrify America charging network, allowing customers to access and pay for charging through the Electrify America app. Electrify America is the largest open direct current fast-charging network in the country.

The network of charging stations will be open to almost all brands of EV vehicles and can deliver up to 350 kW to capable vehicles -- some of the fastest charging speeds commercially available. The new charging stations will help to provide range confidence to EV motorists traveling long distances.

There was EV-related news out of the National Automobile Dealers Association conference last week. Ford told its dealers it is eliminating an annual sales cap and training costs for some of its smaller dealers. 

EV news earlier this month included an announcement by J.D. Power that it is expanding its EV portfolio with acquisition of ZappyRide, an electric vehicle data company that builds white-label software and tools for automotive original equipment manufacturers, electric utilities, and other greentech stakeholders.

The U.S. market saw approximately 20 new EV models launched in 2022 alone, with roughly one-fourth of Americans now indicating they are “very likely” to consider an EV for their next purchase or lease, says Craig Jennings, president of J.D. Power Autodata Solutions.

“it has become clear that that the world as we know it is changing quickly,” Jennings says in a release.

The ZappyRide acquisition is part of the J.D. Power E-Vision initiative -- a new program focused on maximizing the company’s industry-leading EV data, analytics, insights and solutions. It will encompass a broad range of J.D. Power product lines.

Launched in 2018, ZappyRide has been a pioneer in the development of EV-specific software for automakers, utilities, government agencies, fleet companies and rideshare companies.