Powering Your Portfolio with WBAT

We believe battery solutions are the core of our world’s energy transformation.

We believe developments in battery technology represent an emerging megatrend, fueled by massive attention to climate change and rapidly evolving technologies. 

Over the last decade, lithium-ion battery costs have declined by 80%,¹ driving battery adoption and growth beyond portable electronic (e.g., mobile phones) into larger applications, like electric vehicles and stationary storage solutions.

Within the transportation market, electric vehicles need a portable electricity source, and batteries are the solution. Looking ahead, electric vehicle adoption is likely to be the main catalyst for battery demand. As battery costs continue to fall, we approach cost parity between electric vehicles and internal combustion engines, which marks a significant catalyst for higher battery demand. 

Within power production, batteries are becoming a key source of renewable energy. Other renewable sources, like wind and solar, are intermittent, making it difficult to match electricity demand with the instability of natural elements. In contrast, batteries can store excess production and release it at times of higher demand. As a stationary storage solution, batteries can be employed at the utility level or at the consumer level with residential battery storage.

Introducing the WisdomTree Battery Value Chain and Innovation Fund

The battery value chain is made up of a myriad of industries across the globe. WisdomTree believes that the multisector utilization of battery components and technologies creates an opportunity for investors to gain diversified exposure to the companies that are enabling the inevitable energy transition. 

The mining and chemical industries each provide raw materials to manufacture battery cell components. Cells are then packed for different applications—such as increasingly popular electric vehicles. At the end of life, batteries may be recycled or used for secondary applications, such as electrochemical storage systems. 

In addition, a series of industries has evolved symbiotically with this value chain. Charging infrastructure and smart grid software providers can both benefit from, and support, the growth of the electric vehicle industry.

The WisdomTree Battery Value Chain and Innovation Fund (WBAT) aims to provide exposure to companies across the battery value chain:

WBAT seeks to track the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the WisdomTree Battery Chain & Innovation Index, which is comprised of companies primarily involved in battery and energy storage solutions and innovation.

Our process starts with identifying companies that operate across the battery value chain and scoring each one based on its exposure to battery and energy storage solutions and innovation. The methodology is designed to tilt toward companies with higher exposure to competitively positioned segments of the battery value chain. We also use a number of other screening techniques to mitigate the risk of exposure to illiquid or extremely high-risk companies in positions of high weight. 

WBAT is both geographically and industrially diverse, and it was designed with the capability to continually evolve with rapidly developing technology. 

Powering Your Portfolio with WBAT 

Battery solutions are expected to experience enduring growth as technological advancement creates demand from new applications in the coming decades. With WBAT, investors now have access to a financial product that is tilted toward parts of the value chain we view as having the highest future growth potential. 

¹ WisdomTree, Wood Mackenzie, as of 2/8/22.