Tesla vs. Rivian: How a $10,000 Bet Three Years Ago Played Out
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on August 31, 2026.
The same $10,000 invested three years ago is now $14,257 in Tesla and $7,066 in Rivian. Investors still lump these two names into the same basket.
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Investors who treated Tesla and Rivian as interchangeable EV plays got drastically different outcomes over three years. A $10,000 position opened at the end of August 2023 grew to $14,257 in Tesla, while the same amount in Rivian shrank to $7,066.
Rivian shareholders have less principal today than they started with. Lumping these two names into the same EV basket, as many investors still do, has been a costly assumption.
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Tesla's chart over the period was far from a straight line upward. The position fell well below its starting value at multiple points before recovering and pushing into meaningful gains, which means the full return only materialized for those who held through the drawdowns.
Rivian's path was even more turbulent, with the position falling as low as roughly $4,127 at one point before a partial recovery that was not enough to return shareholders to even. For investors benchmarking EV exposure, these outcomes make a strong case for treating each name on its own fundamentals.