The Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO (NYSE: NIO) has taken investors on a wild ride since its IPO in Sept. 2018. However, both NIO and Li are still far ahead of their smaller American counterparts like Lucid (NASDAQ: LCID), which expects to produce 6,000 to 7,000 vehicles this year, and Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN), which is trying to ramp up its production to manufacture 25,000 vehicles this year.