The trend of electric vehicles is hardly a new concept to Silicon Valley or Wall Street.

But the rate at which electric vehicles are growing in the United States is showing signs that this might just be the beginning.

By the numbers:

• Electric vehicles in the United States took a decade to reach the first million sales
• The next million electric vehicles being sold took two years after that
• Now, the United States is selling one million electric vehicles per year and growing
• Electric vehicles are still less than 10% of all vehicles in the United States, but that number is growing quickly

Why it matters:

• Electric vehicle adoption is arguably the leading indicator that drives momentum in other areas of clean tech, such as lithium extraction technology and battery materials
• Because electric vehicles manufactures are seeing large incentives come from the United States government there is good reason to believe adoption is going to continue to accelerate

Going deeper:

• Battery recycling and battery materials are poised to be a rapidly growing opportunity for startups in order support the adoption of electric vehicles, as lithium batteries begin to break down or need to be replaced
• Further, charging stations and increased charging capacity are another important need in the United States
• Legacy automakers are being pushed by the government to retrofit their manufacturing facilities to produce electric vehicles so there is likely to be increased investment in startups who are building technology or raw materials for battery powered vehicles

The intrigue:

• Some of America’s most prolific automakers have started to ramp up their venture capital arms of late, with many trying to take large stakes in startups across lithium direct extraction to battery recycling