EV truck company Lordstown Motors had a rough 2021. From a high of around $29 in September 2020 to a low of less than $2.50 in January 2022, the slide down the stock charts has been fast and furious for RIDE. But why is this EV brand struggling when other electric vehicle companies are rising, and what might the future have in store for RIDE investors?

Hindenburg Research gunned for RIDE in early 2021, calling out Lordstown Motors for what it deemed as fake preorders. The EV trucker company had previously pointed to a roster of 100,000 preorders as a bolster for investments and a way to demonstrate upcoming stability. Hindenburg researchers poked that list with a few metaphorical sticks and found it wanting.

Researchers found items on the list such as 14,000 truck preorders from a company called E Squared Energy. E Squared isn't a large corporation with a big fleet, though. It's a company that's operated out of an apartment somewhere in Texas that probably doesn't need 14,000 EV trucks. Hindenburg contends it probably didn't order those trucks, and the research firm points to other suspicious orders in the same vein.

Hindenburg also disclosed information that indicated production challenges and prototype fires that Lordstown Motors was not disclosing to investors.

Stockholders took note of Hindenburg's research and started to sell, setting off a downward spiral for RIDE values. By the summer of 2021, C-suite execs were stepping down from Lordstown Motors and industry experts were issuing warnings about potential closure of the business. RIDE values continued to plummet.

While RIDE has seen a tiny bump in the positive direction in the past few days — and some analysts believe it may regain around 50% value in 2022 — it's definitely proven to be a risk for portfolios. RIDE investors and potential buyers need to ask themselves: Do they want to gamble on an unstable EV truck company that might yet rise again or stick to other EV stocks that are safer bets?