Inflation Reduction Act is a ‘rising tide for the entire electric vehicle industry’: Analyst

Later today at the White House, President Joe Biden will put the final touches on a major win for his administration, signing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law.

Within the $700 billion package are huge investments in new climate initiatives, such as rebate programs for energy efficient appliances and retrofits, production tax credits, and provisions for battery and solar cell manufacturers, and most importantly for the automakers, tax credits for new and used electric vehicles.

“Now that we have $370 billion coming from the Inflation Reduction Act, we expect that to continue to accelerate the growth of electric vehicles and really help companies along the value chain from car manufacturers to battery manufacturers to lithium suppliers to parts all involved in electric vehicles to benefit from this bill,” said Jay Jacobs, BlackRock U.S. head of thematic and active equity ETFs in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live. “We believe we’re going to see a really rising tide for the entire electric vehicle industry.”

Jacobs manages a number of ETFs under the iShares umbrella, which BlackRock owns. Among those is the iShares Self-Driving Ev and Tech ETF (IDRV), which invest in the entire value chain of electric and autonomous vehicles. Jacobs believes ETF offerings in the space are the best way for investors to get exposure to the industry because there are a number of smaller companies and foreign firms that are going to benefit from the IRA beyond big names like Ford (F), GM (GM) and Tesla (TSLA).

“Well, I think it’s really going to be felt across the entire value chain. I mean, this is the birth of a new industry. This is a revolution in transportation,” Jacobs says. “It’s not going to be one winner, we think there’s going to be many winners in this space and it’s going to expand beyond just passenger vehicles. We’re going to get into trucks, we’re going to get into alternative forms of transport.

Looking past transportation, Jacobs noted the “global clean energy chain at large” will benefit tremendously from implementation of the IRA.

In this space Jacobs said clients are interested in the iShares Clean Energy ETF (ICLN) because companies held by the ETF will benefit from the IRA’s focus on providing production tax credits to manufacture items like solar panels and wind turbines. The ETF also owns utilities, who will be implementing new clean technologies and produce electricity using solar and wind, as well as hydrogen and other forms of clean energy that the IRA is incentivizing.

—

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Download the Yahoo Finance app for Apple or Android

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and YouTube

Source: Read Full Article