While electric vehicles (EVs) are currently a small part of the world’s auto fleets, their numbers are growing. EVs are benefitting from a mix of tailwinds, including improved technologies, social approval, and political will, combining to give a strong impetus to the EV industry.
The rapid expansion of EVs has opened up wide fields of opportunity for investors. While the car makers tend to soak up the headlines (think Elon Musk’s Tesla), there are also companies working on charging stations, battery technology and production, and, further back in the supply chain, lithium mining. These offer places for investors to cash in on the growth of EVs.
With all this as backdrop, we’ve opened up the TipRanks database and pulled up the details on two EV charging stocks that investment firm Needham has recently tagged as potential winners for the year ahead. Both are Buy-rated names with over 50% upside potential. Let’s see what’s behind this confident take.
Solid Power (SLDP)
First up is Solid Power, an industry leader working on all-solid-state tech for battery charging systems. This is a new frontier in battery technology, and if successfully developed into practical applications, will offer serious advantages over current liquid-based lithium-ion batteries. These advantages will include higher energy density, longer battery life-spans, greater safety, and long-term cost savings.
The technology the company is using to develop and realize these advantages is based on solid sulfide electrolytes, a new battery design that will allow for high charge rates with lower temperatures, while avoiding the high and rising cost of the lithium used in current systems.
In the meantime, Solid Power is working to be ready as the battery and charging sectors take off in the next few years. The company went public in December of 2021 and since then has seen a gradual increase in quarterly revenues. Those revenues are still modest, as the company has not yet entered full production, but we can get a good feel for where the company stands by looking at the 2022 financial…
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