A few days ago, Nissan announced a drastic increase in electric vehicle (EV) production and sales.
The company aims to sell 1 million battery-powered vehicles annually through the financial year ending March 2023.
That's pretty ambitious when you consider that annual EV sales passed 1 million units total, worldwide, for the first time ever just last year.
But Nissan is betting big-time on growth - especially in China - and its product.
Indeed, EV sales in China rose 50% in 2017, despite a move by the Chinese government to slash subsidies by 40%. Meanwhile, Nissan's Leaf is the world's most popular EV, selling some 73,000 units. And the company intends to roll out eight new electric vehicles in the next five years.
"We see the tipping point in the next decade, when EVs become cost competitive to conventional vehicles," said Philippe Klein, Nissan's chief planning officer.
Nissan projects that 40% of its sales in China, Europe, and Japan, and 30% of its U.S. sales, will be battery-powered vehicles by March 2023.
Obviously, Nissan isn't the only company looking to expand its footprint in the EV market, but it's certainly been the most aggressive.
And for good reason.
Electric vehicles are the future. Period.
Consider this...
On average, an EV now has the equivalent emissions of a gas car that gets 80 miles to the gallon. (And no, there's no gas-powered car on the market that does that.) As a result, running an EV is typically 2.3x cheaper than operating a traditional gas vehicle.
It's an absurd disparity. Especially since in some parts of the U.S., the equivalent MPGs of EVs is as high as 109.
The key here lies in the technological advancements that have made batteries cheaper and more efficient.
For instance, the cost of a lithium-ion battery has fallen by roughly two-thirds in the past decade. And in that same time, the high-end range of an EV has tripled from 100 miles per charge to 300.
Remember, those were always the two big impediments to purchasing an EV. For a long time, they were far more expensive than gas-powered cars, and restricted by tight range limits. But today, EVs are cheaper (especially when you add in the fuel savings) and far more capable.
That's why analysts now expect EVs to make up more than a third of the auto market by the end of the next decade. And even that's probably understating it.
At least, Nissan thinks so. And it's probably right.
Electric vehicles have gained far more traction than anyone anticipated, and growth will continue to accelerate more quickly than anyone thought, as well.
Why am I bringing this all up now?
Because our in-house resource expert, and editor of Junior Mining Monthly, Gerardo Del Real, has found an amazing investment opportunity that's set to benefit from this unstoppable trend.
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And he's found the one company that's perfectly positioned to supply the electric battery boom.
Lithium... Cobalt... Graphite... It produces all of these.
It's such a big deal that two ex-Tesla executives are opening up a brand-new "gigafactory" right on its doorstep.
So in light of this trend, I fully encourage you to check out Gerardo's latest report. He's got all the details, and is expecting massive gains. (He's figuring 836%).
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Jason Simpkins
Jason Simpkins is a ten-year veteran of the financial publishing industry, where he's served as a reporter, analyst, investment strategist and prognosticator. He's written more than 1,000 articles pertaining to personal finance and macroeconomics. Simpkins also served as the chief investment analyst for a trading service that focused exclusively on high-flying energy stocks. For more on Jason, check out his editor's page.