Morale 'sucks' at EV startups like Lucid and Rivian. That could be a death blow for the Tesla wannabes.

Happy Monday, readers. Writing to you from a drizzly New York, I'm your host, Jordan Parker Erb.

Today, I want to highlight an enlightening piece from my colleague, Alexa St. John. Over the course of several months, she spoke with dozens of workers at electric-vehicle startups like Lucid and Rivian, and found that amid a storm of issues, employees are losing faith in the mission.

TLDR: Morale "sucks," and it's only getting worse.

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1. Morale "sucks" at electric-vehicle startups like Rivian and Lucid, insiders say. Over the past six months, more than three dozen workers in the EV-startup space told Insider they're not as optimistic as they once were — and that plummeting mood could be a death blow for struggling Tesla wannabes.

• Once industry darlings, startups like Lucid and Rivian are facing a raft of troubles: production delays, a supply-chain crisis, and increasingly robust competition from the likes of Ford and General Motors.

• According to some employees, low production numbers, managerial missteps, and layoffs are all sending morale into a tailspin. Some workers said their unhappiness had driven them to leave the industry entirely.

• That's grim news for the likes of Rivian, Lucid, Canoo, Xos Trucks, Fisker, and Faraday Future, which are built on the faith of not just investors, but also the thousands of workers who chose them over legacy automakers or established tech giants.

Here's everything startup employees told us.

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