How to profit as electric cars hit the mainstream

The long-heralded age of the electric car might finally be upon us. Matthew Partridge looks at how to profit.

Perhaps more than any other 'future' technology, electric cars have always been 'just around the corner' but have never quite arrived. Many of the first 'horseless carriages' of the late 19th century were battery powered. But they were soon supplanted by cheaper, faster, wider-ranging petrol-based cars.

In the 1970s, the oil crisis sparked a brief surge of interest in electric car technology. But it petered out once the technical hurdles became clear. The mid-1990s saw several manufacturers produce electric cars, most notably General Motors' EV1, in response to a Californian law that required them to do so.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri