The Unsung Hero of the EV Revolution

Greetings and welcome back to the week.

Today, I’ve got an interesting topic to discuss with you…

Because with all the hoopla surrounding EVs, the batteries that power them, the lithium that powers those batteries, and everything else related to the green revolution in transportation, investors have completely missed the most important mineral in the whole industry…

You see, when it comes to lithium-ion batteries, only a very small percentage of the weight of the battery is actually comprised of lithium.

In fact, it’s around 11% of the weight of most advanced batteries. Then there’s about an equal amount of cobalt, a little bit of nickel, and some manganese, copper, and aluminum.

And those six elements make up around half the weight of a lithium-ion battery.

But the other half is made up almost completely of this unsung hero of the EV revolution.

Without it, lithium-ion batteries simply wouldn’t be possible.

That’s because the 50% of the weight of the battery that this material comprises is 100% of the anode.

And for those of you who aren’t quite sure what an anode is, that’s the part of the battery where the electrons come in to recharge the battery so they can later head out to power your car.

It’s pretty important and completely impossible without this essential material.

Using Carbon to Reduce Carbon Emissions

In case you haven’t guessed already, I’m talking about graphite, a mineral composed of stacked sheets of carbon atoms with a hexagonal crystal structure.

Turns out it’s not just used for those good old No. 2 pencils we all loved in grade school…

Without it, electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and the whole green transportation revolution that’s going to save the planet from carbon emissions are all dead in the water.

You see, graphite has many qualities that make it the perfect material for making batteries.

(As a side note, those same properties make it invaluable in the manufacture of semiconductors, too, but I’ll get to that later.)

Not only is it relatively cheap to produce, but it’s highly energy dense. That’s a fancy way of saying that it can pack a whole lot of energy into a very small space.

It’s also highly conductive, meaning there’s almost no resistance to electricity as it passes through the graphite and on to the rest of the battery and eventually the motor.

It’s incredibly strong (200x stronger than steel), yet it’s light as a feather when compared with metallic materials.

It’s the ONLY material that can be used to make the anodes in lithium batteries. And every lithium battery needs an anode to operate at all.

But you rarely hear anyone talking about it in relation to the EV revolution, driving home the point that it really is the unsung hero of this whole transition.

And that, my friends, represents a MAJOR imbalance in information that a savvy investor can exploit.

I’ll get more into that in a little bit, but first, there is one BIG problem with graphite that could hold the entire EV revolution in check…

A Global Monopoly

That’s the fact that China controls a staggering 80% of the world’s graphite production capabilities.

And along with that is the fact that China has been planning — and continues to prepare — to invade our ally Taiwan in the near future.

With U.S.-Sino relations already on thin ice, that act will almost certainly drive an irrevocable wedge between our two governments.

And it will mean that the U.S., our entire EV industry, and likely the industries of our Western allies will be completely cut off from the vast majority of the graphite we desperately need to make our EVs go.

Remember, 100% of the anode and, therefore, about 50% of the battery is made of graphite. And there is no alternative to using graphite to make the anode.

That puts us Westerners in a tricky predicament. Either we develop our own graphite industry with an extreme quickness…

Or we get ready to kowtow to China as it invades one of our allies and spreads its totalitarian government further around the world.

And I’d bet my solar-powered sailboat against your rotten, sunken kayak that the U.S. government isn’t going to kowtow to anyone.

But I don’t even have to make that bet… because the U.S. government already telegraphed its move as clear as day.

We’re building up our own industry, and we’re going to spend whatever it takes to do just that.

Remember Those Chips?

And this is where I’ll circle back to the importance of graphite when it comes to manufacturing semiconductors…

Because a few months ago, the Biden administration greenlit a stimulus package with a big payout for graphite written directly into it.

I’m talking about the CHIPS Act and the hidden provision tucked into the $52 BILLION spending package.

Specifically, the passage that launches “a new whole-of-government effort to secure a reliable and sustainable supply of the critical minerals that power… electric vehicles.”

It’s that passage, hidden deep within the bill, that could direct BILLIONS of dollars to domestic suppliers of battery minerals.

And with 100% of the anode and, therefore, a good 50% of the battery itself made from graphite…

And with China holding tight to a good 80% of the current global supply…

Any company in the U.S. that can produce graphite to help meet the needs of the EV industry (and the semiconductor industry at the same time) will be in line to collect MASSIVE subsidies for the next decade at least!

I’m talking about 10 years of government money just flowing right out of the coffers in Congress and directly to companies helping the U.S. secure green energy independence from China.

It’s Not a Crowded Field

But the thing is that there really aren’t that many companies directly involved in the production of graphite outside of China.

And that, again, presents an incredible opportunity for in-the-know investors…

All you need to do is look for the companies with the most developed assets and you’ll find the ones with the biggest shot at collecting the largest payouts.

Of the 20 or so operations with a direct connection to graphite manufacturing (and no connection to Communist China and its totalitarian government)…

Only a handful are developed enough to help cut our dependence on what could soon be our wartime enemy.

And it just so happens that my colleague Luke Burgess was on this case early, even before yours truly picked up on it.

He’s already pinpointed one company that he’s convinced has the best assets and therefore the biggest opportunity to get paid as it saves the EV revolution from Chinese dominance.

Now, initially, his focus was on how graphite was inextricably involved in the production of semiconductors, so his report focuses a lot on that aspect.

But after he let me in on his findings, we both continued to dig deeper, and that’s when we realized it isn't just the semiconductors (of which there are thousands in every EV) that rely on graphite….

It's the batteries, too. The literal heartbeat of EVERY electric vehicle…

And that just made Luke’s investment thesis even stronger and potentially even more profitable in my eyes.

So today I want to share it all with you in a special, 100% FREE report that Luke put together on the opportunity and what it means for investors like us.

I highly recommend you check it out and see how to get yourself positioned to ride what looks like it’ll be a massive wave of government-funded profits.

I’m pretty sure you won’t regret it.

To your wealth,

Jason Williams

@TheReal_JayDubs

Angel Research on Youtube

After graduating Cum Laude in finance and economics, Jason designed and analyzed complex projects for the U.S. Army. He made the jump to the private sector as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley, where he eventually led his own team responsible for billions of dollars in daily trading. Jason left Wall Street to found his own investment office and now shares the strategies he used and the network he built with you. Jason is the founder of Main Street Ventures, a pre-IPO investment newsletter; the founder of Future Giants, a nano cap investing service; and authors The Wealth Advisory income stock newsletter. He is also the managing editor of Wealth Daily. To learn more about Jason, click here.

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