CARZ vs FDRV

CARZCFirst Trust S-Network Future Vehicles & Technology ETF

FDRVBFidelity Electric Vehicles and Future Transportation ETF

In short

CARZ A 2011 vintage that changed lanes. It spent its first decade tracking global carmakers, then in 2022 switched to an index of roughly 100 worldwide names across electric and autonomous vehicles, the tech that runs them, and the materials inside them.

FDRV Fidelity's in-house index take on electric vehicles and future transportation: about 60 companies worldwide, wrapped at 0.39%, one of the cheaper tickets in the EV aisle.

Stated mandate

CARZ The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the S-Network Electric & Future Vehicle Ecosystem Index, which focuses on companies involved in electric and autonomous vehicles and related enabling materials and technologies.

FDRV The fund seeks returns that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Fidelity Electric Vehicles and Future Transportation Index.

Why people hold it

• CARZ Old ticker, newer mandate: launched in 2011 as a global automaker index fund, it moved to the S-Network Electric & Future Vehicle Ecosystem Index in January 2022.sec.gov
• Covers the chain, not just the badges: about 100 global names spanning electric and autonomous vehicle makers, the enabling technologies, and the materials that feed them.
• The index caps any single holding at 4.5% and weights the rest by float-adjusted market cap, so one megacap cannot quietly become the whole fund.ftportfolios.com

• FDRV At 0.39%, it undercuts the typical fee in its EV and battery peer group, and sits below iShares' IDRV (0.48%) and Global X's DRIV (0.68%).
• About 60 companies, global by mandate, so the electric-vehicle theme isn't riding on one carmaker or one country.
• Plain index wrapper: a 1940 Act fund tracking Fidelity's own Electric Vehicles and Future Transportation Index, and one of the stronger builds in its cohort.
• Pays distributions quarterly, so income timing is predictable even though this is a growth-themed basket.

Worth knowing

• CARZ The 0.70% expense ratio sits a shade above the peer-group midpoint and well above leaner builds like FDRV (0.39%) and IBAT (0.47%).
• A small asset base and light trading make wider bid-ask spreads more likely here than in the category's heavyweights.
• One industry chain, worldwide: it moves with electric and autonomous vehicle sentiment rather than the broad market, and cash comes back once or twice a year at most.

• FDRV A small fund whose shares trade lightly, so spreads can run wider than at the category's biggest names.
• One theme, tied to the auto and battery cycle. Expect bigger swings than a broad-market index.
• Launched in 2021, so the track record is short and covers only a slice of the EV cycle.

Full CARZ profile⁠

Full FDRV profile⁠