Don’t Believe the Hype — Electric Cars Are Here to Stay

Not only is the company aiming for 100% of European sales to be... Not only is the company aiming for 100% of European sales to be...                                                                                                      [Outsider Club Header] Jan 25, 2024 By Jeff Siegel for the Outsider Club Don’t Believe the Hype — Electric Cars Are Here to Stay Anti-EV zealots had reason to cheer last week. After embracing EVs for its rental fleet, Hertz (NASDAQ: HTZ) got dinged when high repair costs, lower resale values (after Uncle Elon dropped the price of its Model Ys and Model 3s), and muted interest from customers unltimately made this a bad decision. While I understand wanting to integrate more EVs into its fleet, Hertz placed too big of an order. 20,000 was way too much. Truth is, there’s been no evidence to suggest that a majority of rental customers are seeking EVs anyway. I’d also be interested to know how many customers wrecked those rented Teslas. Because the latest data indicate that drivers switching from internal combustion to EVs are more likely to get into accidents within the first year of ownership compared to drivers switching from one internal combustion vehicle to another. This doesn’t surprise me though, as the acceleration on an EV is vastly different from that of an internal combustion vehicle. [twa plug in payouts]( With internal combustion, the speed of your vehicle sort of ramps up over a few seconds, while EVs take off like a bat out of hell the second you step on that accelerator. If you’ve never driven an EV before and you’re not prepared for that instant torque, an accident is certainly likely. It's unfortunate, because costs to repair EVs tend to be a bit higher than what you might find with internal combustion. Those repair costs will go down after time after more EVs are on the road, supply channels expand, and materials costs decline. But in the near-term, you’ll be hard-pressed to find many Teslas in rental car fleets this year. In fact, last week we got word that European rental car company Sixt was also dropping the Teslas it has in its fleet, and has put in an order with Stellantis (NYSE: STLA) for as many as 250,000 vehicles. This is not trivial. But it’s also not a complete repudiation of electric cars. According to Bloomberg, the multibillion-euro order includes both internal combustion vehicles and EVs. It should also be noted that, while it doesn’t really advertise itself as such, Stellantis is one of the biggest players in the EV space. Not only is the company aiming for 100% of European sales to be electric by 2030 (and about 50% in the U.S.), it’s also commandeered enough supplies of EV battery materials to take it through 2027. In other words, while Stellantis is not an EV-only car company, it’s strategically moving in a direction where the majority of its vehicles will eventually be electric. Also worth noting: a couple of weeks ago, Stellantis announced a new investment in a sodium-ion battery startup called Tiamat. Tiamat claims that its batteries can be recharged in as little as 5 minutes. To put that into perspective, the quickest you can charge a car today — from a fast-charger — is about 30 to 40 minutes. There's $322 Billion Worth of Lithium in Northwest Alberta...Why Can't Anybody Touch It? For more than 40 years, an oil company has been working a 671-square-mile chunk of northwestern Alberta, producing its lifeblood using brine that’s kept in hundreds of massive storage ponds. These storage ponds have long been known to contain a massive lithium resource, totaling an estimated 4.3 million tons. Just recently a tiny Vancouver-based technology company, founded and headed by petrochemical industry veterans, figured out a way to extract the lithium from this brine, very quickly and very efficiently. So efficiently, in fact, that the company can filter this oil field brine, returning it to the pond after processing, with a better than 95% capture rate. Production of salable lithium will cost between $3,000 and $4,000 per ton, while market rates price lithium at $70,000 per ton. They know where the lithium is, they know how to extract it, and, as of now, they have an agreement in place to work this giant lithium-rich property. Commercial production is now projected to be in place by the middle of 2024, with buyers already lining up. [Interested? Enter here to learn more.]( If this holds true, Stellantis could prove to be one of the most successful EV companies in the world — and it’s not even an EV company. But this isn’t really just about Stellantis. It’s about the EV market, in general. We know EV sales slowed last year, mostly due to high interest rates and supply chain disruptions. And we also know that this time of year, when the proverbial mercury falls below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, EVs aren’t as efficient as they are in the warmer months. When this happens, those who loathe the idea of a battery moving a car warn the world on social media that EVs are a scam. They’ll say they don’t work. They’ll say If you drive one in the snow, you’ll run out of charge and freeze to death. They’ll tell you that if the grid goes down, you won’t be able to drive your pregnant wife to the hospital and she’ll have to deliver the baby in a blizzard. Or whatever other hyperbolic scenario they can come up with. While EVs still have some downsides, they’re not as catastrophic as some folks want you to believe. And whether they like it or not, the EV market will continue to grow rapidly for the foreseeable future. I don’t say this just because I love my Tesla and have long been a fan of electric cars, by the way.  Shots Fired!!! A war is raging between Wall Street and Main Street, and we’re going to battle. Join our private community of like-minded investors every trading day at 9:00 a.m. for our "Opening Salvo." We’ll tell you which stocks we’re watching. We’ll catch you up on key market-driving events. And we’ll be speaking our minds without any corporate sponsors or three-letter agencies peering over our shoulders. Participation is free for anyone with [this invitation.]( P.S. This is an exclusive, limited-time event. We rally at 9:00 a.m. until market open. Trading days only. You must be a member of our private Discord to participate. [Join here]( and check back in at the "Opening Salvo." I say this because, as investors, you have to make investment decisions based on data and objective analysis. You can find that here every single day. The type of analysis that eschews conjecture while focusing on facts. Because that, dear reader, is what will help you create wealth. And let’s face it: we’re just here to make money anyway. In fact, while I’m easily the biggest treehugger here at Energy and Capital, I’m also not stupid enough to ignore an opportunity to make a ton of money in what some would consider the antithesis of EVs: the oil and gas industry. I bring this up because, according to Keith Kohl, one of the most successful oil and gas analysts in the world, we’re about to enter into another 10-year bull market in oil. Just like the one we witnessed 20 years ago. The same triggers that not only pushed oil prices to new highs but kept them there for nearly a decade, have returned. And as a result, Keith now expects oil prices to creep back up over $100 a barrel again, and actually stay there for years. Since Keith has already helped me make boatloads of cash in the past, I’m most definitely listening to him about this. You should, too. Which is why I’m including [this link to his most recent investment note]( that explains why he’s so bullish on oil right now, and more importantly the stocks he believes will give you the most bang for your buck as oil climbs back to $100 a barrel. Make no mistake: I don’t care if it's zero-emission electric cars or carbon-spewing gas-powered cars — if there’s a way to make a buck, you better believe we’re going to be all over it. So unless you hate money, I encourage you to [get some of this action for yourself, too.]( To a new way of life and a new generation of wealth... [Jeff Siegel Signature] Jeff Siegel [[follow basic]Check us out on YouTube!]( [[follow basic]@JeffSiegel on Twitter]( P.S. 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