Commercial EV startups are burning cash and in a race to deliver vehicles

Others have already struggled, however.

ELMS filed for bankruptcy liquidation in June, citing insufficient funding, while Lordstown had to sell assets to Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn.

In May, Canoo disclosed “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a going concern, but recently received a boost when Walmart ordered 4,500 vehicles.

Obtaining more cash could be tough.

“The market right now is not an ideal market to raise capital,” said Dakota Semler, CEO of Los Angeles-based Xos, which already has 200 electric trucks operating on U.S. roads for customers including Amazon delivery contractors.

Xos had $132.7 million in cash at the end of March and can raise $125 million more via a share purchase deal with a unit of U.S. investment firm Yorkville Advisors.

Legacy automakers are turning up the heat.

FedEx has 150 electric trucks from GM’s Brightdrop brand running deliveries around Los Angeles. “It feels like you’re in the future now,” FedEx driver Nelson Granados, 28, told a Reuters reporter as he made deliveries during a ride-along in a BrightDrop EV.

FedEx has ordered 2,500 BrightDrop trucks, spurred by a combination of the 18-month-old company’s technology and GM’s manufacturing muscle, FedEx’s chief sustainability officer, Mitch Jackson, told Reuters

Potential new entrants have taken note.

British EV startup Bedeo makes electric powertrains for vans for Stellantis and said earlier this year it was talking to investors about building its own vans.