The S&P Kensho Electric Vehicles Index is experiencing a rollercoaster year in 2023. Up nearly 2% through June 14, it’s down 18% from its February high. In the middle of all that, you have electric vehicle (EV) stocks to buy and  EV stocks to sell.  

I don’t think there’s any question that Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) remains the industry benchmark. It’s up a whopping 137%. All EV stocks are judged in comparison. Some will say that TSLA is one of a few overvalued EV stocks–and that’s fair.  

However, there’s no question that Tesla is the most successful EV company. It will take supreme execution by one of the pure plays or legacy manufacturers of its perch. Elon Musk is a bit of a loon but a brilliant loon.

I’ve been tasked with recommending three EV stocks to sell. Since I brought up the index at the beginning, I’ll choose three to sell from the index, with a least of them being a top 10 holding. 

Here goes. 

Lucid Group (LCID)

I last wrote about Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) in May 2022. At the time, a big deal was made of the fact its controlling shareholder — Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the same people behind the PGA Tour takeover — hadn’t sold any of its shares in Q1 2022, a sign it was firmly behind the luxury EV maker. 

So, how many shares does PIF own today? It has added 94 million shares to 1.11 billion. However, due to additional shares issued by Lucid, its ownership has dropped 210 basis points to 60.6%.    

PIF is not going down without a fight. However, as of March 31, 2022, the 1.05 billion shares were worth $25.8 billion. At the end of March, its stake was worth $8.9 billion, or 66% less, despite holding 94 million extra shares. 

Everything I said about PIF’s relationship with Lucid holds true today. At the time, Lucid accounted for approximately 3% of PIF’s $600 billion in assets under management. Today, it’s tiny at 1.3% of $700 billion. 

On May 31, Lucid announced it would sell $3 billion in stock, two-thirds to be bought by PIF, with 173.5 million sold to the public. This is one reason it’s one of those EV stocks to sell.

As I said, PIF can afford to play the long game; retail investors can’t, at least not those who have to work for a living.

In the meantime, Lucid is burning cash at a furious rate. It finished Q1 2023 with just $900 million in cash. The $3 billion will help keep it in business for another year or two. However, it won’t be enough to keep LCID shares from falling into penny-stock status.

Rivian Automotive (RIVN)

I last wrote about Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) in June 2022. 

“If the production of the R1 vehicles doesn’t deliver substantially more than the current backlog of 90,000 orders, it’s possible that RIVN won’t have enough cash to get the R2 platform up and running. It will have to return to the markets for additional equity and debt capital,” I wrote on June 14, 2022.

“That won’t be good for RIVN stock. For this reason, I believe Rivian will continue to be a tough hold over the next 18-24 months.”

Rivian’s shares were trading around $28 at the time. They’ve lost about 50% of their value in the year since. 

Breaking down what I said, Rivian has said that it expects to produce 50,000 vehicles in 2023. This, despite the fact it only produced 9,395 in the first three months of the year. It has to produce 13,535 in each of the three next quarters to catch up. 

The company no longer reports its backlog. Last fall, it was 114,000 according to the Wall Street Journal. In its Q1 2023 shareholder letter, the company said it would launch the R2 platform in 2024. I guess we’ll see.

We do know that it has 35,000 R1s on the road as of March 31. That’s good, but it’s hardly what the company promoted a couple of years ago. In March 2022, it cut its production in half to 25,000. It missed by 663. 

The fact the company is sticking by its 50,000 target in 2023 tells you all you need to know. Get out before it falls to single digits.

Mullen Automotive (MULN)

I always viewed Mullen Automotive (NASDAQ:MULN) as a joke. Trading at 23 cents, it’s clear I was right to feel that way. 

The last time I wrote about Mullen was in June 2022. It had yet to announce its earnings for the second quarter but was expected to lose 8 cents a share on $37.3 million of revenue. 

The company reported its Q2 2023 results on May 15. Still waiting for revenue and a $117 million loss. It lost nearly half a billion dollars through the first six months of 2023. This strengthens the case for why it’s one of those EV stocks to sell.

In its June 2023 letter to shareholders, it said, “Despite the decline in stock price, management believes we are in a position to meet the previously announced objectives for moving first into the production and then sale of our Class 3 commercial vehicles during the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2023.”  

It went on to say that its market cap of $48.5 million is about one-third the value of its $135 million cash on its balance sheet. However, I’ve been unable to figure out how it came up with this number. It had $86.7 million in cash and restricted cash on its balance sheet at the end of March. 

Believe what you want. Mullen Automotive is a penny stock for a reason.  

On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.