- Tesla recently illustrated the enthusiasm surrounding the EV sector by becoming the newest entrant to the S&P500 equity index
- Investor interest in the sector has spilled over to Net Element, with one the world’s largest asset managers, Renaissance Technologies taking a 3.2% stake in the company in the third quarter
- A future combined Net Element-Mullen Technologies plans to begin marketing its initial vehicle model, the Dragonfly K50 in 2Q2021.
Late in the day on November 16, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) was named for inclusion in the S&P500 index, making it both the first electric vehicle manufacturer to form part of the group as well as the largest new entrant in the index’s history. Investors responded to the news headline by sending the stock up 8.2% the following day, leading Tesla’s market cap to swell by over $30 billion—a figure nearly equivalent to the entire market cap of consumer product giant Kraft Heinz. Net Element (NASDAQ: NETE), a financial technology company in the process of transforming its business model to become a pure-play electric vehicle (“EV”) manufacturer after entering into a definitive agreement to merge with privately-held Mullen Technologies Inc., similarly profited from the market enthusiasm, rising by 25% over the course of the day.
The electric vehicle sector has benefitted from a sharp uptick in investor interest in recent months, as a combination of improving sector fundamentals have coupled with positive news-flow to drive sector returns. The most recent updates came from the United Kingdom, where the British government announced that the sale of new diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles would no longer be permitted from 2030 onwards – a date which has been shifted forward from its original target of 2040 (https://nnw.fm/KqqR1). Simultaneously, the government also announced its commitment to spending approximately $1.72 billion over the next four years towards improving electric vehicle (“EV”) charging infrastructure—a factor which has previously been highlighted by Deloitte as a key constraint to future growth in the sector (https://nnw.fm/7yDqr).
A potential combined Net Element-Mullen Technologies entity plans to leverage upon the surge in consumer demand within the electric vehicle space through the launch of its initial vehicle model – the Dragonfly K50—in the second quarter of 2021. The car model, developed in conjunction with China’s Qiantu Motors, will mark the company’s initial foray into the North American electric vehicle market, a venture which the company will further look to reinforce through the launch of its self-manufactured EV SUV, the Mullen MX-5, by the second quarter of 2022.
Mullen Technologies also revealed that it has recently signed a letter of intent with the City of Spokane to build a 1.5 million square foot facility to manufacture and assemble vehicles, with work on the facility set to commence later this year. Remarkably, the company also disclosed its expectation to arrive at production phase with as little as $400 million in invested capital over five years (as compared with the $1 billion traditionally required) due to its current vehicle IP, which has already been two years in the making.
By 2030, Deloitte anticipates that electric vehicle sales could rise to 31.1 million vehicles per annum, representing an over ten-fold increase to the 2.5 million electric vehicles set to be sold in 2020 – a shift which would lead the EV sector to secure a market share of 32 percent of total automotive sales within the next ten years. With interest in the sector at an all-time high – as evidenced by the United Kingdom’s policy announcement as well as the recent market returns evidenced by EV companies—Net Element finds itself in an ideal position to capitalize on one of the biggest shifts in consumer behavior the world has ever seen.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.NetElement.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to NETE are available in the company’s newsroom at http://nnw.fm/NETE
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