Move over Musk. Yet Another Auto giant to reveal Electric strategy tonight at 11:30pm AEST

Regular readers will know we hold long term investments in the European battery metals stocks Vulcan Energy Resources (ASX:VUL) and Euro Manganese (ASX:EMN).

We closely keep an eye on any developments coming out of Europe that will affect our shareholdings in these companies.

Earlier this year Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot-Citroen completed a $52 billion mega merger to form a new European behemoth car-maker named “Stellantis Group”.

🚨 BREAKING TONIGHT At 11:30pm AEST new European car giant Stellantis is announcing its electrification strategy as a key enabler to sustain “clean, safe and affordable mobility”

Stellantis has over 400,000 employees and owns 16 household name car brands tonight we will hear just how hard and fast they plan to switch to Electric:

Since the merger Stellantis has beaten worlds biggest car maker VolksWagen in auto sales in Europe over the first two months of 2021.

If you are too busy or asleep we will be watching the event live and will report back tomorrow with any new information that might impact our long term investments in the European battery metals Vulcan Energy Resources (ASX:VUL) and Euro Manganese (ASX:EMN).

ASX:VUL: (Zero Carbon Lithium in Germany)

ASX:EMN: (Manganese in the Czech Republic)

Here is the invite to the event

🚨 BREAKING TONIGHT At 11:30pm AEST new European car giant Stellantis is announcing its electrification strategy as a key enabler to sustain “clean, safe and affordable mobility”

We closely follow any business or political developments coming out of Europe that will impact our investments in VUL and EMN.

We like to watch live streams when car makers announce ambitious electric plans or when governments meet to announce policy changes.

We are looking for any news that accelerates the adoption of electric vehicles in Europe and leads to increased demand for the raw materials to make the batteries that power them - like VUL’s lithium or EMN's manganese.

Here are a few of the past European and Electric Vehicle events we have covered in the past and how they impact VUL and EMN:

Tesla Battery Day - September 2020

We sat through hours of compelling presentations by the Tesla team — saving you the hassle of having to, we pulled out the key sound bites from Elon Musk.

The key messages from Elon Musk were:

• Tesla is going to be making a lot more electric vehicles (EV) and a lot of batteries... a LOT.
• Tesla Gigafactories will now DIRECTLY purchase battery metals like Lithium.
• Tesla demands that these battery metals need to be in close proximity to Gigafactories.
• A new Gigafactory is being built outside of Berlin, Germany.
• The metals that feed battery production need to be sourced without damaging the environment.

Read our full commentary and analysis on Tesla Battery Day here

European Union Climate Policy Announcements - December 2020

We stayed up to 3am to watch the European Union announce key policy changes that would likely increase the battery metal demand in Europe and commented on how this would affect VUL and EMN, including:

• New regulations around responsible sourcing of battery metals;
• New rules to force EV battery supply chains to be carbon neutral;
• New initiatives to accelerate and localise the EV industry in the EU.

Read our full commentary and analysis on EU climate policy impact on EV demand here

Volkswagen Power Day - March 2021

While not as cool as Tesla, German based Volkswagen Group (VW) is by far the biggest automaker in Europe and the biggest in the world, manufacturing over 10 million cars per year.

• VW will be standardising on one battery cell type - using lithium and high manganese content.
• Six new factories on the European continent - first in Germany and fourth one possibly in the Czech Republic - using 200,000 tonnes lithium per year.
• Commitment to sustainable and local supply
• Vertical integration - VW will explore investment and partnerships in supply chain

Volkswagen makes WAY more cars than Tesla ... and makes them in Europe too, which is very important for our investments in VUL and EMN.

Read what we think Volkswagens Power Day announcements mean for VUL and EMN

G7 Summit and Volkswagen Announcements - June 2021

VW announced it wants to secure battery metals directly from miners (like VUL and EMN for example)...

We saw a lot of mainstream media about European automakers and their big moves into electric vehicles - we speculated they were timing their key media releases to coincide with the attention on the climate goals of the G7 summit.

And it all bodes well for the two investments in our portfolio we are probably most excited about over the next few months and years....

Read our comments on how the G7 summit impact VUL and EMN here