For EV startups, things are going from bad to worse

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Electric-vehicle startups were struggling before the election. Donald Trump’s victory could send them into a tailspin.

Several high-profile companies, including electric SUV maker Fisker and bus manufacturer Arrival, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Swedish-based battery maker Northvolt became the latest casualty last week, filing for Chapter 11 after BMW canceled a key order. At least a dozen other startups, specializing in electric vehicles or batteries, are at risk of running out of cash by next summer, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of their most recent filings.

Even shares of more stable startups, such as Rivian Automotive and Lucid Group, are down 40% or more this year as they face an increasingly challenging outlook. Rivian this week got conditional approval for a government loan of up to $6.6 billion to boost production capacity, but investors are still worried about costs and the prospect that the electric-truck maker might not get the money if it doesn’t complete the deal by Inauguration Day. Many of these young companies have been hammered by cooling demand for electric cars, rising costs and supply-chain obstacles that have hindered their ability to put out new products quickly.

Collapsing stock prices have vaporized billions of dollars in market value. The shifting political landscape is putting at risk planned investment in the U.S., some of which has been aided by state and federal subsidies. “It’s just a disaster out there with consumer demand going down," said Ted Brandt, chief executive of clean-energy focused investment bank Marathon Capital.A Journal analysis of 54 publicly traded EV and battery startups shows an increasingly dire financial