Amid the transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles, the demand for the best materials stocks to buy is jumping. For U.S. equity investors, increases in the use of silver, copper and lithium are particularly pertinent. Charlie Welch, the CEO and co-founder of privately held ZapBatt, told InvestorPlace that he is seeing “rise in renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs) is driving up demand for metals like copper, silver, and lithium.”

Further, the CEO said he expects copper demand is “expected to double by 2035 due to its critical role in EVs and charging infrastructure.” He added that lithium demand is also “projected to increase by over 500% by 2030.” Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that the demand for silver for use in solar panels is expected to climb almost 170% by 2030. Here are the three best material stocks to buy to benefit from these trends.

Freeport-McMoran (FCX)

Freeport-McMoran (NYSE:FCX) was the world’s leading miner of copper last year. The company produced 4.2 billion recoverable pounds of the metal in 2023.

With the boost in demand thanks to renewable energy and EVs comes concerns around a copper shortage. Many believe that shortages could emerge in the medium to long-term due to the widespread use of artificial intelligence. That’s because a great deal of electricity is needed to power the data centers, and copper is used for electrical wiring. Spurred by that optimism, copper prices reached an all-time high last month before pulling back about 10%.

Also encouragingly, the company recently reported that it is looking to increase its output of copper by up to 20% annually. It hopes to achieve this goal through the use of new processing technologies within the next two to the years. The firm has already accomplished about 25% of that goal. This innovation is likely to meaningfully boost the company’s top and bottom lines in the long-term.

Pan American Silver (PAAS)

As I noted in the introduction to this column, The Wall Street Journal reported that the demand for silver for use in solar panels is expected to surge by nearly 170% by 2030. Moreover, in that year about 20% of the total demand for silver is expected to come from solar panel makers.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) is well-positioned to benefit from that trend. The company mined 20.4 million ounces of silver last year, and estimated that it can obtain almost 487 million ounces of the metal in the course of multiple years. Pan American also had $441 million of cash as of the end of the first quarter. As a result, I believe that it can obtain even more of the metal in the long term.

Also importantly, silver demand significantly exceeded supply last year, and industrial demand for the metal is expected to increase 9% this year to a new high.

Despite all of these positive catalysts, PAAS stock has a low enterprise value/EBITDA ratio of 15 times. As a result, Pan American is one of the best materials stocks to buy.

Albemarle (ALB)

Lithium prices tumbled 75% over the past year as many companies increased production of the metal. However, EVs accounted for 18% of total global auto sales last year, up from 14% in the previous year. The purchases of EVs should increase going forward as more chargers are deployed and charging batteries become faster. Moreover, as the use of intermittent renewable energy sources become widespread, the utilization of lithium-ion batteries should proliferate. Given all of these points, I expect lithium price to increase a great deal over the long-term.

As the world’s largest lithium miner, Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) is well-positioned to benefit from these lithium price increases going forward.

Barron’s agrees that ALB stock is attractive, as the publication told its readers to buy the shares in April. It noted that KeyBanc expected lithium prices to jump to about $21,000 by 2026, up from just over $8,000 now.

On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.