Will Electric Vehicles Drive Nickel Endlessly Higher?

Photo of Chris Lange
By Chris Lange Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Thinkstock
Electric Vehicles have been an increasingly popular trend of late. This has become popularized by Elon Musk and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), and it’s been taking hold at other major auto manufacturers across the globe. Although car models and features might differ from one company to another, one thing that all these electric vehicles seem have to in common is the battery.

Without facing direct exposure to the auto markets, many investors are asking how to invest in this trend. We can look deeper to what makes up this common component.

Nickel sulphate is a key ingredient in the lithium-ion batteries that power these cars, and analysts are predicting this commodity could prove to be very profitable. It’s worth pointing out that cobalt and lithium are also used in making these batteries, but the costs of these commodities have doubled since the start of last year while nickel prices have remained subdued due to large inventories.

[nativounit]

Saad Rahim, chief economist at Trafigura, believes that it might be time for nickel sulphate. Glencore, a multinational commodity trading and mining company recently told analysts that it will increase its nickel production to 1.2 million tons by 2030, which is equal to more than all the current global production. This is all in an effort to keep up with demand from the battery industry.

Rahim further posited that future batteries likely will use more nickel and less cobalt, as the result of rising cobalt prices, and the biggest source of supply is located in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Investors looking to make a play on this should look into these two options. The iPath Bloomberg Nickel SubTR ETN (NYSEARCA: JJN) which was last seen trading up over 6% at $14.99, in a 52-week range of $10.11 to $14.99. The iPath Pure Beta Nickel ETN (NYSEARCA: NINI), which traded up 5.6% at $20.10 and has a 52-week range of $14.71 to $20.20.

[recirclink id=422912]

[wallst_email_signup]

Photo of Chris Lange
About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618