Edison Motors is out of South Korea. As a result, you can’t buy their stock. They’re still a privately owned company. However, they’re an exciting one. Since you can’t buy their stock at the moment, you can read all about the innovative stuff they do. It could influence other companies that are on the market.

Electric vehicles are taking over the world and South Korea is no different, with the Model 3 already as the top EV model in the country. Enter Edison Motors, a small electric vehicle maker that has primarily been focussed on electric buses. In fact, it’s currently the largest supplier of electric buses to Seoul, by far the country’s biggest city and its capital. The company was acquired back in 2017 from TGM, and has since been aggressive in its growth in South Korea. While its electric commercial vehicles have already been a success, Edison is planning to expand into passenger cars and a long list of other consumer-facing vehicles in 2022 and ahead. But is there an Edison Motors stock?

It’s a tricky question for companies that operate outside of the US. American investors are always interested in investing in international companies, especially in markets that have the potential for high growth. Unfortunately, you cannot buy shares of Edison Motors stock right now on any American exchange. In fact, you can’t even buy shares of Edison Motors in Korea either. As of now, Edison is a privately owned company. 

Do not be surprised if it makes a public debut in the future though. Private companies that are looking to rapidly grow may look to the public markets to raise much needed capital. Also, a majority of world EV makers are competing on the public markets so that is another reason we could see Edison trading sooner rather than later. 

Has Elon Musk Met Kang Young Kwon?

What makes a company appealing to investors? It all starts with having a strong leader who is charismatic and allows you to buy into the dream. Think Elon Musk for Tesla or Jack Ma for AliBaba (NYSE: BABA) in China.

Well, if you think Musk is engaging, wait until you meet the Chairman and CEO for Edison Motors: Kang Young Kwon. Kang has actually built his company with one ultimate goal in mind: to overtake Tesla Motors. 

Kang has been very outspoken about being the number one electric vehicle company in the world within a decade. It has helped him gain valuable private investors that have contributed to Edison’s growth.

This also allowed the company to make a key acquisition, but more on that later! Kang actually started his career in the television broadcasting industry for Korean channel KBS in 1985. He was a television producer, and eventually in 1999 moved on to create his own production company. 

From there he started a waste disposal business that he sold to Anchor Equity in 2016 for approximately $102 million USD. With that money, Kang acquired the Chinese EV maker TGM in 2017 and thus, Edison Motors was born.

Like Musk, Kang turned to a legendary inventor to name his new company. While Musk chose Nikola Tesla, the father of modern electricity systems, Kang went with his US counterpart, Thomas Edison. There are a lot of parallels between the two CEOs, and while Kang may make it seem adversarial, it is clear he has a lot of respect for Musk and what he has accomplished. Maybe there will be an Edison Motor stock like there’s a $TSLA one.

Future Projects

Edison Motors established itself in the electric bus industry, but is looking to expand to all types of electric vehicles. Obviously, the segment that gets the most attention is the passenger vehicle market. But the electrification of utility vehicles and public transportation is a massive global market that remains up for grabs.

Other notable companies that hold some market share in this sector include Warren Buffet-backed BYD, Volvo, and Tata Motors. Let’s take a look at some of Edison Motors’ other upcoming projects. And potentially helping an Edison Motor stock in the future.

Hankuk Fiber 

This isn’t exactly a future project, but it is the basis of much of Edison’s technology. The Hankuk Fiber is a lightweight technology in its materials that has been in development for over 45 years. This material is used in the manufacturing of everything from its buses, railway vehicles, aircrafts, and even military missiles. Kang firmly believes that Hankuk Fiber is the foundation for Edison’s entire electric vehicle fleet in the future. 

Electric Buses

Yes, I know I already mentioned its fleet of electric buses, but Edison has some major plans for these in the future. The company is building an on board enterprise system that is based on big data analytics and cloud computing. This will allow these buses to use machine learning for charge efficiency, as well as implement ID and security for drivers. Also the long-term vision? You guessed it, autonomous buses! Edison is already developing self-driving buses that will utilize LiDar technology to reach speeds of 60 to 100 Km/hour. 

Electric Boats and Yachts

Here’s one industry we don’t hear much about: electric boats. Edison is designing passenger yachts that are between 33 ft and 165 ft long! This is in an effort to reduce emissions from the global shipping industry in anticipation of a high cost of fuel in the future. If Edison can somehow design cargo ships and other long-haul ships with battery technology, it can revolutionize the industry. 

Electric PAVs and Drones

Edison isn’t the first company to get into personal air vehicles or eVTOLs, but it certainly wants to be the industry leader.

The company believes that the future of eCommerce and product delivery is in drones. Drones have become very popular as of late.

Edison also believes that it can build drones large enough to carry shipping containers. That’d really be something. Maybe they’d give Amazn a run for their money with drone deliveries. Finally, by 2024 Edison is planning its first of a series of five-passenger personal air vehicles. 

Who are Edison Motors Stock Competitors

As we all know, the electric vehicle industry is becoming fiercely competitive. Every automaker in the world is developing some form of electric vehicles, so Edison certainly has its work cut out for it. Of course this also includes its largest domestic rivals in Hyundai and Kia. If you are interested in investing in the electric vehicle sector, here are some stocks to keep on your radar!

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA)

No electric vehicle article is complete without mentioning the gold standard: Tesla. It is perhaps the most popular stock on the market right now and is one of only five companies in the world with a market cap of $1 trillion or more. Tesla recently shattered its previous records for quarterly and annual deliveries and is well on its way to delivering 1 million vehicles in 2022. It also opened two new GigaFactories in Austin, Texas and Berlin, Germany which should dramatically increase production capacity. The Tesla Model 3 is the best selling electric vehicle in the world, including in Edison’s home market of South Korea. 

Nio (NYSE: NIO)

Often thought of as one of the top competitors to Tesla, Nio is an EV maker from China. It is considered a luxury electric vehicle and has revolutionized the industry. The most innovative thing that has come out of Nio? Battery Swap. Rather than forcing Nio drivers to line up and wait while their vehicle charges, for a small cost each month, they can drive to a Nio battery swap station and get a fully charged battery. Nio recently expanded into Europe through the EV market of Norway and is planning to hit five more markets in 2022. 

BYD (OTC: BYDDY)

BYD is actually the market leader in China in terms of new energy vehicle sales. It is also one of the largest electric utility vehicle makers in the world. BYD made headlines when Warren Buffett invested in the company a couple of years ago. In the works for BYD is a partnership with domestic rival Nio to bring a mass market EV brand to China. On top of that BYD is also partnering with Toyota on an electric vehicle project as well. 

Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN)

A newcomer to the electric vehicle market and the public markets. Rivian has been criticized early on for having a market cap of $100 billion without any deliveries or revenue. What’s the deal with that? One of its largest investors is Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) who has a standing order of several hundred thousand last mile delivery vans for its eCommerce network. Rivian is also in the market of producing passenger SUVs and electric trucks which it hopes will hit the market in 2023. 

Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID)

Another luxury EV maker based out of America, Lucid was a hot meme stock when it came public in July. Now, the company has been mired in an SEC investigation into how it came public through a SPAC merger. Still, Lucid’s Air Dream sedan has been receiving rave reviews and was even named the MotorTrend Car of the Year for 2022. Lucid is also planning expansion to Europe, the Middle East, and China in the next few years. 

Conclusion

There are few industries more exciting to invest in than the electric vehicle industry. Innovative and aggressive companies like Edison Motors are the reason why the global automotive industry is seeing a secular shift to electrification. Unfortunately for American investors, Edison Motors isn’t a publicly traded company, yet. For now, there’s a long list of EV makers you can invest in to get exposure to the sector!