Electric-vehicle stocks are Wall Street's Wild West. EV stocks tracked by Barron's are up more than 160% year to date, led by Tesla's 250% rise. 
Li Auto -- a maker of electric SUVs with onboard generators -- rose 43% in its market debut Thursday.

There is no lack of volatility in the sector. Shares in battery- and fuel-cell powered truck maker Nikola (ticker: NKLA),
for instance, moved double-digit percentage points seven separate days in July, and shares dropped 56% in the month.
Still, the stock is up more than 190% year to date.

All of this action is leaving Wall Street a little befuddled.

Most EV stocks now trade above analyst price targets. And those are the EV stocks followed by Wall Street analysts.
Four EV companies worth more than $15 billion -- including Li Auto (LI) -- don't even have analyst coverage yet.

Instead of raising or lowering stock prices and stock targets rapidly -- something analysts are loath to do -- they are writing worst-,
base-, and best-case scenarios for EV stocks and leaving it up to investors to figure out what to do next.

Analysts, in other words, are sitting on the fence. Still, such scenario planning is a good idea for investors, especially traders.
It can help them plan what to do no matter what happens, which is especially important in a sector like electric vehicles.

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