3 No-Brainer EV Stocks to Buy Right Now

There's no denying that President Donald Trump isn't as supportive of electric vehicles (EVs) as his recent predecessors were. Then again, U.S. consumers' interest in EVs hasn't exactly remained robust either. Domestic sales of electric vehicles fell 4.4% in April, according to S&P Global Mobility, ending a 14-month growth streak. Separately, AAA (which you know as the travel and road service company "Triple A") reports that the likelihood of an American purchasing an EV has now fallen (for a third consecutive year) to only 16% of the country's car owners.

Be careful of jumping to sweeping long-term conclusions based on short-term data, however, or information that only applies within the United States. The EV business is a global one and isn't going away. It's going to continue evolving until electric vehicles become an irresistible choice.

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With that as the backdrop, here's a rundown of three EV stocks anyone anywhere in the world can get excited about buying.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Nio

American drivers have never seen an electric vehicle manufactured by Nio (NYSE: NIO) on U.S. roads. That doesn't mean they aren't out there, though. The Chinese company delivered 221,970 cars last year alone. It just delivered most of them within China, with a handful being sold in select parts of Europe. It's looking to establish sales channels in the Middle East soon as well.

These are all markets that are not only more supportive of the alternative but also where consumers are increasingly interested. The International Energy Agency expects 80% of China's vehicle sales to be all-electric or plug-in hybrids by 2030, for instance, with Europe not far behind at 57% of its automobile market by then. Globally, that translates into an average annualized growth pace of 11%, led by the Asia-Pacific market through 2034, according to an outlook from Precedence Research. Nio's wide selection of practical sedans, SUVs, and wagons at a range of affordable prices positions it to win at least its fair share of this growth.

Nio isn't yet profitable, to be clear. It's making consistent progress to that end, though, and will likely ease out of the red and into the black within the next few years. While that's far from being ideal for interested investors, just bear in mind that Tesla shares also made tremendous gains well before the company was consistently profitable. Sometimes, progress is enough.

The analyst community thinks so anyway. Most of them rate this stock as a strong buy right now and support a consensus price target of $4.78 -- that's 40% above the stock's current price.

2. Navitas Semiconductor

Navitas Semiconductor (NASDAQ: NVTS) isn't an EV "pure play," for the record. Just as the name suggests, it makes semiconductors that are used in a number of applications, including mobile phones, solar power systems, medical equipment, and more. Its core technological know-how, however, is arguably the most game-changing for electric vehicles.

Whereas most semiconductors are ultimately made of simple silicon, Navitas has perfected and patented the science of silicon carbide and gallium nitride integrated circuits. That won't mean much to most people, but this will: These solutions allow for smaller and higher-capacity electrical devices while also consuming less electricity than similarly sized silicon circuitry. In a world where energy-intensive applications like onboard AI and power-hungry data centers are running up the proverbial (and literal) electric bills, even the smallest of efficiency improvements are a pretty big deal.

As for its place within the electric vehicle arena, Navitas Semiconductor's gallium nitride semiconductors are well suited for 400-volt EV battery systems, while its silicon carbide semiconductors are aimed at bigger 800-volt vehicles. Its tech can improve an EV battery's range by 5%, but more than that, it can charge an EV battery three times faster with 70% less energy than most charging systems already in use. Those are specs that could help get EVs over the proverbial hump.

And it's doing just that. With a market cap of only $1.3 billion, this fairly small company's top line still ebbs and flows from one quarter to the next. However, it reported $450 million worth of new design wins in 2024 and nearly doubled the size of its customer pipeline to $2.4 billion during this same stretch. The business is out there. Investors will just need to be patient while waiting for Navitas to turn it into profitable revenue.

3. QuantumScape

Finally, add QuantumScape (NYSE: QS) to your list of no-brainer EV stocks to buy while it's still on sale at a steep discount. It's not a household name. It's also not yet profitable. Indeed, it's not even producing any commercial revenue yet. Give it time, though. It's coming, probably starting sometime in 2026.

QuantumScape solves one of the biggest problems holding the electric vehicle industry back -- the lithium-based batteries used in almost every single EV being manufactured at this time. They're good, but not good enough. They're expensive, they lack the range capacity most car owners want, and perhaps worst of all, they're not all that durable given their steep price. You'd be lucky to get 10 years out of one before its performance starts to noticeably suffer. Most EV batteries are only warranted for 10 years or fewer, if that tells you anything.

QuantumScape has a simple solution -- make electric vehicle batteries better by making them out of better materials. And that's what it does. Its solid-state lithium batteries can add on the order of 25% more driving range on a single charge and, better still, can go through more than 1,000 charging cycles with only a 5% degradation in their energy-storage capacity. That should make it good for roughly 300,000 miles worth of driving, which is likely longer than the EV it powers will actually remain on the road.

They're not cheap, mind you. But neither were the more conventional lithium batteries when the EV industry was in its infancy. The price dropped as production scaled up. So, too, will the cost of solid-state lithium battery packs.

For what it's worth, major automaker Volkswagen's battery company, PowerCo, has already partnered with QuantumScape to develop batteries for its aggressive electric vehicle ambitions. In the meantime, although it's not working with QuantumScape, Toyota is now developing its own solid-state lithium batteries, underscoring the technology's potential.

This might help make the point: Straits Research believes the world's solid-state lithium battery market is poised to grow from last year's $2 billion to $33.4 billion by 2033. That's an average annualized growth rate of more than 36%.

There's no denying that QuantumScape is the riskiest stock of the three EV names here to step into. If you can stomach the risk, though, the potential upside may well be worth it.

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James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Volkswagen Ag. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.