Ryan Stancil,
Editor
June 6, 2022
Combustion engines are out, electric cars are in.
It happened faster than many thought it would, and the trend just seems to be getting started.
It wasn’t that long ago that electric vehicles were a novelty. Now, you can’t drive anywhere without seeing at least a few.
Over the next few years, it’s going to get to a point where everyone has one. You might already be considering an EV for your next vehicle.
The automotive industry has been watching and adjusting.
Every major company from BMW to Toyota has at least a few electric vehicles in their lineups. Some are already talking about phasing out their combustion engine models entirely.
Others aren’t openly talking about it. Instead, they’re coming out with new models that serve as a sort of last hurrah for the combustion engine before they move on.
But they are moving on.
Just last week, Ford (NYSE: F) announced that it’s moving to direct-delivery, fixed-price, exclusively online sales for its EV offerings. It's chasing what Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has been doing since inception. It wants to carve out a big chunk of market share as manufacturers get serious about electric cars.
More than that, Ford is showing just what EV technology is capable of through its newly released F150 Lightning pickup truck. Between the commercial sector and consumers who have a regular need to haul things, pickup trucks are the most popular vehicle type in America.
In fact, the F150 is one of the most valuable consumer products in America — second only to the iPhone.
Ford is taking advantage of that fact to show off a feature of its new F150 Lightning that could become more common among EVs in the future.
The vehicle has a system in place that allows its battery pack to power a home or even the electric grid itself. This is an important quality to consider, given growing concerns about climate-related blackouts becoming more common.
And while being able to keep the lights on at home is important enough, with enough of these being put to work, energy can be sent back to the grid. That could make emergencies and grid-wide blackouts a thing of the past.
Utilities are already testing how to integrate the truck into their grids. If this feature, called bi-directional charging or vehicle-to-grid, becomes standard on EVs, we’ll be closer to the solutions needed to mitigate the effects of climate change.
This is just one change in the push toward virtual power plant technology that will modernize the electric grid. We’ll be seeing more of this as virtual power plants become more common.
The EV revolution is in full swing right now. The increased adoption rate of electric cars has already brought about the combustion engine’s peak. What we’re seeing now is it bringing about the combustion engine’s decline.
The big automakers have already acted.
Now, utilities are going to have to catch up to adapt to the new technology that is making virtual power plants possible. Overhauling their power infrastructure is going to have to account for supply created by solar panels, batteries, and now EVs.
When that happens, the companies whose offerings help meet that demand will be the ones that really benefit.
Just like the adoption of EVs, the spread of this new virtual power plant technology is still in the early days. That makes it the perfect time to get in as an investor.
The two trends are only going to snowball over the next few years.
One company already provides critical technology needed in this power grid overhaul. Thanks to its products and some of its partnerships, it’s in a place to truly corner the market in the electrification-of-everything we’re currently seeing.
It is already proving a critical piece of the infrastructure that will allow electricity from F150 Lightings’ batteries to integrate seamlessly with the grid.
Learn all the details in this new report. You’ll see just what this company has to offer and why it’s set to take off right alongside this emerging trend.
Ryan Stancil
Editor, Daily Profit Cycle