With a lack of stocks on the ASX offering exposure to electric vehicles, Australian investors are looking to the USA for such opportunities. But it’s not just Tesla that they’re investing in.

Low-cost stockbroker Superhero, which boasts 150,000 customers, revealed the most traded US listed companies by Australian investors in the first 11 months of 2021.

Electric vehicle market leader Tesla (NDQ:TSLA) was the most traded stock – which was of little surprise – while Apple (NDQ:AAPL) took second.

But the next two were other electric vehicle companies which only completed IPOs earlier this year.

 

The two Tesla competitors

In third spot was Lucid Motors (NASDAQ:LCID), a luxury EV maker based in California.

Lucid only has one production model but it has a maximum driving range of 836km – longer than Tesla’s longest range car (the Long Range Model S which can only go 652km).

The Lucid “Air” (Image via Lucid)

The company completed an IPO in July 2021, listing via a merger with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Churchill Capital IV Corp.

It currently has a market capitalisation of US$62 billion ($86.5 billion) which is only a fraction of Tesla’s US$1 trillion valuation but more than traditional car manufacturers Ford and General Motors.

Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) has an even shorter history with its IPO only occurring last month.

This company, which has a market capitalisation of US$97.8 billion ($136.5 billion), has a focus on the pickup truck and SUV segment of the electric vehicle market.

It only delivered 156 vehicles in October and will be predominantly focused on North America and Europe but has a big backlog of orders – including a 100,000 delivery van order from Amazon.

 

Australian stock investors see the value of electric vehicles

Investor interest in electric vehicles also showed among Superhero’s list of most traded US ETFs – the Global X Funds Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF (NDQ:DRIV) took the crown.

“Aussie investors quite clearly see the value of electric vehicles. To have three EV companies be in the top five most traded US companies is huge,” said Superhero CEO John Winters.

“Tesla has led the charge for years but seeing Lucid Motors and Rivian also make the list showcases how [investors] back electric vehicles as the future.”