IBAT vs VCLN

IBATBiShares Energy Storage & Materials ETF

VCLNCVirtus Duff & Phelps Clean 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.

VCLN Most clean energy ETFs just follow an index. VCLN doesn't: it's an active stock-picker in the space, with a mandate pointed at Europe and the US, priced right at what the average rival in the category charges.

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.

VCLN The Fund seeks capital appreciation and is actively managed rather than designed to replicate a specified securities index.

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.

• VCLN Active by design: the prospectus says it seeks capital appreciation rather than replicating an index, so the manager can skip names a benchmark would have to own.
• You pay the going rate for that active mandate: 0.59% a year, level with the median clean energy ETF.
• The mandate points at Europe and the US, so exposure leans developed-market clean energy instead of a global sweep.
• Held wide, not concentrated: well over a hundred positions, so no single broken story dominates the basket.

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.

• VCLN Thinly traded with a small asset base, so spreads can run wide and a big order can push the price around.
• Index rivals ICLN and FRNW charge 0.39%. The active mandate here costs more every year, whatever the manager does with it.
• No index to check it against, and cash comes back once or twice a year rather than monthly.

Full IBAT profile⁠

Full VCLN profile⁠