In 2021, electric vehicle (EV) stocks fell out of favor and the once hyped EV maker, Lucid Group, is falling even lower.

Yesterday, early Lucid investor lockups expired — allowing them to sell their stock — sending Lucid down 11%.

What’s the big deal? Lucid Motors was supposed to be the luxury EV company to challenge Tesla’s dominance. In Jan, investors sent Churchill Capital’s SPAC up over 500% purely on rumors of taking Lucid Motors public.

• After Churchill confirmed those rumors, the SPAC cratered 60% in the following weeks.
• Like many other EV stocks, Lucid’s stock has traded sideways for the year and is down 25% in the past month.

Lucid, which has $700m in potential pre-orders, hasn’t delivered any vehicles yet but expects to begin deliveries in the second half of 2021 — although previous targets were pushed several times.

Here’s what could get in the way of those deliveries: a chip shortage — the cause of supply chain issues with other carmakers.

EV stocks aren’t cheap: The top 3 electric vehicle makers have a combined $840b market cap — Tesla ($740b), NIO ($65b), XPeng ($35b). With future growth already priced in and a lack of catalysts, their stocks could continue to trade sideways in the near term.

Look elsewhere: Those looking for cheaper EV plays might want to try the commercial EV vehicle market.

• Arrival (NASDAQ:ARVL), valued at $7.5b, is developing electric busses with $1.2b in pre-orders.
• On the smaller end with a $656m market cap, Lightning eMotors (NYSE:ZEV) is up 36% in the past month after striking a deal to manufacture school busses for Colins Bus.

And don’t look here… Last week, EV truck maker, Rivian, filed to go public at a potential eye-popping $80b valuation.