Exide’s Recent Price Collapse Was Unjustified
John Petersen After the market closed on Monday, Exide Technologies (XIDE) released surprisingly poor second quarter results, a $3.6 million loss that included a $5.7 million charge for several years of reporting irregularities at a small Portuguese recycling subsidiary. The market's reaction was absolutely savage as the stock collapsed from Monday's close of $4.48 to Friday's close of $3.01. In my view, the reaction was unjustified and has set up a tremendous buying opportunity for investors who are willing to look beyond the headlines and focus on core business fundamentals. To put things in perspective, Exide's...
Plug-in Vehicles Will Be Dirtier Than HEVs
John Petersen On June 22nd Scientific American rolled-out a Web-only article titled "The Dirty Truth about Plug-in Hybrids, Made Interactive" that summarizes a January 2008 report from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and shows why plug-in vehicles in the U.S. will, on average, be just a little bit dirtier than gasoline HEVs. You read that right – dirtier, not cleaner! I first raised the issue in an August 2009 article titled PHEVs and EVs, Plugging Into a Lump of Coal, where I estimated that plug-in vehicles would be about 25% cleaner than HEVs, but the marginal cost...
A123’s Elegant Financing Transaction
John Petersen On Friday A123 Systems (AONE) announced a direct registered offering that's an elegant example of a well-structured financing transaction in a difficult market. A123 had a solid financial base before the offering and the stock was starting to turn a critical corner into an upward trend. The new financing should add momentum to that trend. The first stage deal terms are pretty straightforward. The investors will buy units consisting of one share of common stock and one common stock purchase warrant for $2.034 per unit, a 10% discount from the closing price of A123's common...
Nemaska: A Lithium Bargain
Nemaska Lithium (NMKEF: OTC/PK, NMX: TO) is a newcomer to the lithium industry. The company recently came to the market with battery-grade lithium from spodumene rock carved out of its Whabouchi mine in northern Quebec, Canada and converted in a proprietary electrochemical process to battery-grade lithium material at an in-house facility in Shawinigan to the south. The company filled its first orders in Summer 2018.
The company expected to produce over 200,000 metric tons of lithium-bearing spodumene concentrate from its Whabouchi mine with an average 6.25% lithium oxide content. The mine is expected to remain productive for over three decades at that extraction rate. The processing plant in...
Alternative Energy Storage: Cheap is Outperforming Cool
John Petersen After devoting several months to articles on arcane technical and economic issues that normal investors should not have to endure, I declared a cease fire last week and advised readers that I was done with technology and planned to focus on more interesting topics like the future of the energy storage sector and making money from energy storage investments. I've spent enough time discussing trees. Now I want to evaluate the forest and show investors how to position their portfolios for the coming of cleantech, the sixth industrial revolution. I hope old friends and new...
Electro Energy Receives U.S. Dept. of Energy Contract to Continue Development of Bipolar Nickel...
Electro Energy Inc (EEEI) announced receipt of a $1,050,000 contract with the U.S. DoE for the further development of its Bipolar Nickel Metal Hydride energy storage battery. These 2nd generation prototype test units, rated from 150 Volts, 20AHr to 500 Volts, 6AHr, will be constructed and tested at EEEI, and subsequently delivered to Sandia for further testing. Units of this size have potential applications for utility, wind, solar and customer side load regulation and back up power. This stock has been in a long term down trend and this contract was a much needed win to...
Are Energy Storage Investors Chasing Their Tails?
John Petersen I didn't learn about normal bell shaped curves in kindergarten but I developed a pretty solid understanding of the concept by the second or third grade because at report-card time A's were worth a quarter, B's were worth a dime and C's had no value at all. By the time I reached college I was chasing the right hand tail of the bell curve on my own initiative. Law school and the competitive nature of my profession merely pushed my drive for the right hand tail up a notch. Old habits die hard, so I...
Lead-acid Batteries and How Cheap Beat Cool at Google
On April 1st CNET News published a story about a previously secret technology that Google (GOOG) has patented and implemented system-wide. The technology, which Ben Jai of Google reportedly described as their "Manhattan Project," builds a 12-volt battery into each server to provide backup power. The point that fascinates me is Google's choice of small format valve regulated lead-acid batteries to keep its servers running. When an ultra-sophisticated company like Google picks cheap over cool for a mission critical function, I think it speaks volumes about the future direction of the energy storage industry. Stephen Shankland of...
Are Advanced Battery Technologies’ Financial Statements Accurate?
Eiad Asbahi, CFA In this article, I’m going to analyze Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. (ABAT) and provide evidence that the company is inflating its financial statements. This article summarizes key points that we have put together in a longer report available here (.pdf). An alternative copy for backup purposes is available here. A video summary of the findings, along with discussions with certain customers, are available at the following links: ABAT Analysis Video 1 of 2 ABAT Analysis Video 2 of 2 ABAT Customer Interview 1 ABAT Customer Interview 2 (Video 1 of 2)...
Will A123’s Batteries Make the Great Leap from Design Bench to Store Shelf?
by Debra Fiakas CFA In my last post Paper Power I outlined the attempt to develop a battery using carbon nanotubes and paper. The materials seemed a bit unbelievable and it sent me into the history books to look at the battery. In the mid-1700s Ben Franklin may have been the one who first coined the term battery to describe the capacitors had strung together for his experiments. We all know about the scientist, turned politician. What is less well known is that the ancients may have also attempted a battery-like instrument now called the “Baghdad Battery.” ...
The Cruel Realities of EV Range
John Petersen An English proverb teaches us to hope for the best but plan for the worst. With the imminent introduction of a variety of plug-in vehicles that will begin hitting showroom floors in the next few months, the phobia du jour is range anxiety, an entirely rational terror that an EV will get you to your destination in eco-chic style but only get you home with the help of a tow-truck. Sadly, most people who extol the virtues of electric drive are incurable optimists that have little or no regard for the risks inherent in complex systems...
Electro Energy Inc. Announces New Development Agreement With In-Q-Tel
Electro Energy Inc (EEEI) and In-Q-Tel, a private, not-for-profit venture group funded by the Central Intelligence Agency, today announced a new technology development agreement for advanced rechargeable bipolar lithium ion (BPLI) batteries. The resulting BPLI battery is intended to exhibit both high-specific energy and high-specific power, due to the efficiency of the EEEI bipolar cell and battery design. In previous work, EEEI has demonstrated BPLI cells with a specific energy greater than 200 Wh/kg and an energy density greater than 400 Wh/l. The development will be conducted at EEEI's battery manufacturing facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ...
Alternative Energy Storage: Cheap is Still Outperforming Cool
John Petersen The next couple months are shaping up as a time of extraordinary change in the energy storage sector. Events that will drive the change include: Press reports indicate that the Department of Energy will be ready to announce it's preliminary decisions on the allocation of $2 billion in ARRA battery manufacturing grants sometime this week; We've seen numerous reports on automaker's plans to begin manufacturing PHEVs and EVs in limited volumes for testing and demonstration purposes; New tailpipe emission standards in Europe and accelerated CAFE standards...
Will New CAFE Standards Make Stop-Start Engine Technology Standard Equipment?
John Petersen On April 1st the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a joint final rule establishing fuel economy standards for all light duty vehicles sold in the United States. Since the existing standards don't apply to light trucks, I used vehicle sales forecasts from the Energy Information Administration's "Annual Energy Outlook 2010" to estimate a current baseline fuel economy of 19.6 mpg. The new rules will be phased in over a five-year period beginning with the 2012 Model Year and are certain to drive rapid evolution in the auto industry....
White House Report: GM Volt is Not Ready for Prime Time
In it's March 30, 2009 summary determination that GM had failed to propose a viable bankruptcy alternative, the President's auto industry task force said:"GM is at least one generation behind Toyota on advanced, "green" powertrain development. In an attempt to leapfrog Toyota, GM has devoted significant resources to the Chevy Volt. While the Volt holds promise, it is currently projected to be much more expensive than its gasoline-fueled peers and will likely need substantial reductions in manufacturing cost in order to become commercially viable." This extraordinary conclusion has been public for weeks but I've not seen it...
Nick Hodge’s Night Time Solar Energy Tease
Tom Konrad, CFA NiMH battery company that's going to "make coal and oil obsolete" sleuthed out. I can't help but chuckle at the hyperbole of some promoters of alternative energy stocks. We can wish that coal and oil will be obsolete tomorrow all we want, but it ain't gonna happen. That's just what Nick Hodge was claiming in a recent teaser for Highpower Technology (HPJ). How do I know it's Highpower that Hodge is hailing as the answer to all our hopes? Because Travis Johnson, the Stock Gumshoe told me so. Travis is the same...
