STOCKHOLM, Feb 1 Reuters The shakeout in the global electricvehicle industry is picking up speed.

Chinese automaker Geely39;s GEELY.UL move on Thursday to take over funding of struggling EV maker Polestar from Volvo Cars is the latest consolidation among EV brands since Tesla Inc39;s historic financial surge in the early 2020s.

Tesla rode cheap capital, technological breakthroughs and Elon Musk39;s outsized persona to a 1trillion valuation but only after years of heavy spending before turning a profit. Now legacy automakers, startups and investors that bet more than 1.2 trillion on EVs face increasingly tough decisions to cut losses.

Geely owns a majority stake in Volvo, which has operated Polestar as an offshoot luxury EV brand with similar styling.

The struggles of Polestar and other smaller players underscore the massive expense of developing EVs, which favor deeppocketed companies willing and able withstand sustained financial bleeding. A global EVdemand slowdown could now weed out weaker players or force a consolidation wave.

It39;s certainly shakeout time, said Andy Leyland, cofounder of supply chain specialist SC Insights. EV startups need to start showing both how they will move to profitability, and how they will compete … with larger players and the Chinese.

Volvo39;s decision to halt Polestar investments came after the moneylosing luxury EV offshoot brand missed a 2023 delivery target that had already been repeatedly revised downward.

Polestar needs…