IBAT vs SMOG

IBATBiShares Energy Storage & Materials ETF

SMOGCVanEck Low Carbon Energy ETF

In short

IBAT Most EV funds buy carmakers. IBAT drops a layer down the supply chain to the batteries, hydrogen, fuel cells and storage materials underneath, tracking a global STOXX index at a fee that undercuts much of its thematic peer group.

SMOG Clean energy from before it was a crowded shelf. SMOG has traded since 2007, and its global index reaches past wind and solar into the batteries, EVs, hydrogen and smart grids that move the electrons.

Stated mandate

IBAT The fund seeks to track an index of global companies involved in battery technologies, hydrogen, fuel cells, and other energy-storage solutions. It provides targeted exposure to companies supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy.

SMOG The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS Global Low Carbon Energy Index. The rules-based index targets renewable-energy companies and related low-carbon technologies, including wind, solar, hydro, hydrogen, biofuels, batteries, electric vehicles, smart grids, and efficiency materials.

Why people hold it

• IBAT 0.47% a year, cheaper than Global X's DRIV (0.68%) and Amplify's BATT (0.59%).
• Buys the storage layer, not the showroom: battery technology, hydrogen, fuel cells and the materials that feed them.ishares.com
• Global mandate, roughly 80 holdings: miners, chemical firms and equipment makers a US large-cap index never touches.
• Sits in the upper tier of its battery and EV thematic group on our review.

• SMOG Launched in 2007, one of the original clean energy ETFs, on the market long before the theme filled up with copycats.
• Not just power plants. The index rules pull in wind, solar, hydro, hydrogen, biofuels, batteries, EVs, smart grids and efficiency materials.vaneck.com
• Global and rules-based: roughly 60 names picked by a published index method, not a manager's hunches.

Worth knowing

• IBAT One theme, one supply chain. Battery and materials demand drives the whole basket in the same direction at the same time.
• BlackRock applies business involvement screens, so the portfolio is a filtered slice of the industry rather than the full map.ishares.com
• Launched in 2024, so the record is short and payouts come once or twice a year at most. Not an income holding.

• SMOG Costs 0.64% a year, the pricier end of the aisle. ICLN and FRNW run global clean energy mandates for 0.39%.
• One of the thinner traders in its group, so the gap between buy and sell prices can run wider than at the category's giants.
• Distributions land once or twice a year at most. Income is a side effect here, not the point.

Full IBAT profile⁠

Full SMOG profile⁠