Electric Car Investment Opportunities

The towering flames and thick black smoke could be seen from miles away.

The intense heat from the fire melted the asphalt…

Anyone within 100 feet of the blaze ended up covered in second degree burns.

Seventeen fire trucks were called in, joined by an army of hazmat fleets racing to the scene of the inferno.

Oh, the humanity!

This is how most mainstream media dolts would have loved to tell the story about a recent electric car fire. And although it wasn’t quite this hyperbolic, there were still few media outlets covering this one that didn’t choose to paint a very dishonest image of failure and fear.

These Opportunities Don’t Make Headlines

Earlier this year, a Chevy Volt caught fire three weeks after it had been crash-tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Apparently, a side-impact pole test cracked the vehicle’s battery pack.

Sitting in a NHTSA storage lot, the car eventually caught fire.

Despite a number of rigorous crash-tests conducted by both GM and the NHTSA, this is the only case of a battery-related fire in a crash or crash-test of vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries.

But let’s face it; that little tidbit doesn’t make headlines… nor did the story about the Chevy Volt that was totaled after a collision with a bus — and everyone in the vehicle walked away unharmed.

Take a look…

Of course, none of this matters.

Media outlets need to sell advertising. And nothing sells like a good old-fashioned car fire — unless, of course, it’s an electric car fire!

But while partisan slaves and ideological zombies continue to devour the media lies and empty Washington rhetoric, we prepare to take advantage of mass integration of electric cars.

Two Ways to Invest

Last week, the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook indicated that passenger car fleets are set to double to almost 1.7 billion units, driving oil demand up to almost 100 million barrels per day by 2035.

And so we continue to plan on the rapid depletion of our remaining recoverable oil supplies by investing in two areas.

The first is easy: oil.

More specifically, some of the largest recoverable oil supplies on the planet.

Located in the Dakotas, not only are these operations going to keep our outdated internal combustion engines running for decades to come.

The second way to play this is alternative transportation fuels and technologies.

And there are plenty — including next-generation biofuels, natural gas-powered trucks, high speed rail & mass transit, and of course, electric vehicles.

What They Forgot to Mention

While the most recent electric vehicle headlines have been monopolized by the Chevy Volt fire (something that happened about five months ago),the industry continues to move at light speed.

Here’s what the mainstream media has neglected to report:

• Developer of electric car networks Better Place, Inc. just closed a $200 million Series C financing, putting the company’s new valuation at $2.25 billion.

• Nissan now expects cumulative sales of 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles in four years.

• Honda will unveil three new electric vehicles at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show.

• Volkswagen has confirmed the 2013 production of the XL1 plug-in hybrid electric. This is the vehicle that boasts 170 miles-per-gallon.

• A Citroen electric van has just set a range record of 621 miles on a single charge. This was not in a controlled environment or on some manicured track. The test was conducted on public roads with commercially available batteries (not prototype equipment).

• Electrified vehicles are expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.5% between 2011 and 2017.

• Nearly 8 million electric vehicle charging locations will be available across the globe in just about five years.

• Fifteen electric car models will be available in the United States in just about two years. Today, there are three.

Yes, my friends, that Chevy Volt was on fire. And so is our portfolio, thanks to the rapid development of the electric car market.

To a new way of life and a new generation of wealth…

Jeff Siegel
Editor, Energy and Capital