BUZZ-State policies, tech upgrades to drive BEVs long term - RBC

** RBC raises its long term expectations for battery electric vehicles(BEVs), seeing a robust growth by 2050, while cutting slightly medium term forecasts amid lagging demand

** It notes the growing number of BEV offerings, a wider range of vehicle segments and price ranges, fast charging improvements

** By 2050, RBC sees ~75% BEV global new vehicle penetration, forecasting this figure to be above 90% in Western Europe and China

** It also factors in governmental policies to ban internal combustion vehicles

** The companies that are best positioned to benefit from the long-term outlook are General Motors (GM.N) and Tesla (TSLA.O) , it says

** But the broker cuts its global BEV estimates for 2025 by 3.7%, to reflect the new demand-constrained environment, seeing their penetration in Western Europe at ~28%, China at ~33%, and in the US at 17%

** It says that the lowered forecast favours companies positioned for a transition to EVs later this decade such as Stellantis (STLAM.MI) or AXL (AXL.N)

** The new outlook should negatively affect Ford (F.N) and Rivian (RIVN.O) , which currently run unprofitable EV operations

** For 2023, RBC expects BEVs to represent around 12% of 2023 global demand