Investor Alert: How Soon Will Gas-Powered Cars Disappear?
While you’ve been driving around recently, you have certainly noticed a growing number of electric cars on the road. Yes, Teslas and other electric cars are gaining market share against gas-powered cars. But how soon will it be until gas-powered vehicles disappear?
As precious metal investors, we need to watch this trend, which will shape both the availability and the demand for different precious metals:
Gas and diesel cars contain mostly recyclable gold, platinum, and silver.
Electric cars contain those same metals too, plus, they contain about 75% more rare earth metals than gasoline-powered cars do. Their batteries contain lithium and there is more recyclable copper wire in them too. (Copper is not a precious metal, but it is in demand and easy to sell.)
How Quickly Are Carmakers Phasing Out Gasolene-Powered Vehicles?
As part of the United Nations Net Zero Program, 30 countries have signed a pledge to eliminate all carbon emissions by the year 2035.
To date, six automakers have pledged to stop selling all gasoline-powered and diesel-powered cars by that same year. (Note that this pledge applies only to vehicles they will sell in “major markets” like Europe, North America, and populous Asian nations; as a result, they will be able to sell gas and diesel models in smaller countries.)
The carmakers who signed the U.N. pledge are:
Ford
General Motors
Jaguar Land Rover
Mercedes-Benz
Volvo
BYD (a Chinese automaker)
Please note that Toyota, Nissan-Renault and Volkswagen have not yet signed.
A Dose of Reality, However . . .
Pledges and plans are one thing, actual events are another. One example? Although Tesla’s electric cars are outselling all electric cars from other makers, their sales have diminished in the last six months because of supply-chain limits.
We can’t predict every shortage, pandemic or trend. But neither can we stick our heads in the sand and pretend that nothing will ever change in the way consumers select and power the cars they drive.
Start learning today about recycling rare earth metals, recycling lithium, and other topics you will need to know as the shift to electric cars takes place. The Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners Blog is a great place. Be sure to check out our advisories on lithium, cobalt and more!
Call us at 800-426-2344 to formulate a plan.