Tesla's Worst Week Since 2020 COVID, Rivian's Recall, Nio Launches Into New European Markets, Ford's Consecutive F-150 Lightning Price Hike and More: The Biggest Electric Vehicle Stories week

Macro concerns continue to weigh on the electric vehicle space, with stocks mostly falling in the week ending October 7. Market leader Tesla, Inc. TSLA had a dismal week, falling around 15%, amid a negative reaction to its third-quarter deliveries and ongoing feuds between Twitter, Inc. TWTR and Elon Musk in about the latter's proposal to buy the former.

Now here are the key events that happened in the EV space during the week:

Tesla Product Updates: Musk tweeted this week that Tesla Semi will be made available to PepsiCo, Inc. PEP starting December 1, which was later confirmed by the beverage giant. This would bring the number of vehicles in its range to five. The announcement comes as a surprise, as the Semi, which was first announced in 2017, isn't expected to go into production until 2023. Tesla's CEO also said it will have a range of 500 miles. p>

Meanwhile, the IDRA Group's 9,000-ton Giga press, used to build Tesla's Cybertruck, is said to have arrived in Texas and is expected to reach the Gigafactory in Austin soon. In a response to a Teslaratti post on Giga Press, Musk said he "can't wait to see this beast in action!"

The Cybertruck is expected to launch in 2023.

Tesla shares' sharp drop this week, the stock's worst drop since March 2020, was driven primarily by concerns over potential stock sales by Musk to fund the proposed purchase on Twitter. Future Fund's Gary Black believes the stock will continue to be under pressure until Musk sheds some light on this.

Rivian Mixed Week: Rivian Automotive, Inc. RIVN started the week with good news. The EV startup reported third-quarter production and shipments that exceeded expectations. By the end of the week, the company had to deal with the recall of all the vehicles it sold in this way due to potential problems with the fasteners.

See also: Tesla shares will remain under pressure after deal announcement on Twitter, analyst says - unless Elon Musk only gives

More heads are rolling at Faraday Future: Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. FFIE announced on Thursday that its executive chairman Sue Swenson and directors Scott Vogel and Jordan Vogel have resigned from their respective positions. The company said the planned transition had been accelerated by death threats and baseless allegations against some directors. The company also said Adam He will assume the role of interim non-executive chairman.

Nio deepens its European expansion: Chinese electric vehicle startup Nio, Inc. NIO held its European launch event in Berlin on Friday, where it announced details of its products and services for the market including Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. The ET7, ET5 and EL7, which are all derived from the new NT2 platform, as well as innovative subscription models, would be available in these countries, the electric vehicle maker said.

Ford hikes the price of the F-150 Lightning: Pushed into a corner due to input price inflation, Ford Motor Company F has announced that it will raise the price of its 2023 model year F-150 Lightning EV pickup truck $5,000 to $52,000 to $97,000, depending on model type. This marks a consecutive price hike, given that the company only announced a series of price increases in August. The company also reported sales in September, with overall call sales down about 9% year-over-year...