By Samuel Taube
Transcript:
Samuel Taube: Joining us again today is Ryan Fitzwater, the Research Director of The Oxford Club. Today we are talking about the technology and the materials behind electric vehicles (EVs). Ryan, thanks for joining us.
Ryan Fitzwater: It’s great to be here again, Sam.
ST: So eventually today we’re going to talk about what goes into an electric vehicle and how to invest in these materials. But let’s start with a simpler question, which is, why should you be investing in electric vehicles? What kind of demand can we expect in the future?
RF: Yeah, so EVs have been around for a while, and I know a lot of people have been skeptical of them actually taking over a large share of the car market. And, you know, like any technology, at first it takes a small sliver, and then it increases.
You know, the battery technology is more powerful and reliable than ever for EVs, and the big kicker is that the costs have come down dramatically.
So as a result, the market for electric vehicles is expected to explode, actually. By 2030, the annual sales of EVs could easily hit 24 million vehicles a year. That’s a thirtyfold increase over today’s volume.
ST: Oh, wow.
RF: So… it’s big. Along with that, to power these vehicles you need these battery packs, and that’s going to increase demand for lithium-ion batteries, especially.
So from an investment standpoint, why should you be investing in them? It really comes down to the fact that EVs are going to become cost-competitive with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
The big thing I want to mention is that there are a lot of bans coming out by certain countries.
ST: Right, right. Especially Scandinavia…
RF: Yeah, Norway.
ST: Norway, that’s it.
RF: And a lot of European countries are actually going to ban internal combustion engine vehicles – banning new sales, not banning them outright. If you own one, you’d still have it.
So Norway is one of them and even China… I mean China, which has the biggest demand for vehicles, announced that it will eventually ban them. It hasn’t picked a date, but it’s going to happen because it has such a pollution problem.
So with government intervention, the fact that the cost is coming down, and because I think next year we’ll have cost parity of EVs to a standard ICE vehicle… That all means that if you’re not investing in this trend, you’re missing out on what the future of cars is eventually.
What will be the main car on the road will be an EV one day, in many people’s minds.
ST: I see. That makes sense. So what are some of the materials that go into EVs? As you just said, the batteries and the other components are quite a bit different than internal combustion engines… So what kind of stuff goes into these EVs?
RF: Yeah, yeah. So there are some metals and other materials you might have heard of before like nickel and lithium. Lithium-ion batteries, of course, are made of lithium. But …read more
Source:: Investment You
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