Grid Enabled Vehicles – I Told You So!
John Petersen On Monday of this week the Electrification Coalition, a newly organized industrial lobby that styles itself as a "nonpartisan, not-for-profit group of business leaders committed to promoting policies and actions that facilitate the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale in order to combat the economic, environmental, and national security dangers caused by our nation’s dependence on petroleum" released a 170 page policy paper titled, "Electrification Roadmap, Revolutionizing Transportation and Achieving Energy Security." Like most industrial lobbies jostling for position at the Federal trough, the coalition's core membership includes a baker's dozen...
The Best Peak Oil Investments: Smart Transportation
Tom Konrad CFA What the Smart Grid will do for electricity, "Smart Transportation" will do for road-based travel. Here are eight companies making Smart Transportation a reality. Congestion and Peak Oil In late 2005 Houston was evacuated as hurricane Rita approached. The memory of Hurricane Katrina was still fresh in everyone's mind, and Houston, also called the Oil Capitol of the World, is extremely car-dependent. 100-mile traffic jams quickly formed on all the major routes out of the city. Many people were stranded as their cars ran out of gas from driving for hours just...
A PHEV – EV Demand Curve
The logic behind Plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) is that they combine the best characteristics of a Electric Vehicles (EVs), most importantly efficiency, which brings with it much lower operating costs and lower net emissions and no tailpipe emissions, with the benefits of a liquid fuel vehicle, mainly the range available with energy-dense liquid fuels. But how important is range to car buyers? PHEV advocates say that 80% of all daily car use is less than 50 miles, which is easily achievable with today's electric vehicle (EV) technology. The freeway-capable EVs being developed today have a range between 100 and...
Surprisingly Affordable Electric Vehicles
When will electric vehicles cost the same or less than gas cars? If you are buying a used vehicle, the answer is “Today.”
If you are considering buying a used car, cost is clearly important to you. That’s why you should seriously consider a used electric vehicle (EVs). Lists of cars that lose their value fastest (a good thing if you are a used car buyer) are full of electric vehicles and luxury vehicles. The first generation of electric vehicles including GM's (GM) Chevy Volt and the Nissan (NSANY) Leaf regularly appear on lists of cars that depreciate quickly. Less...
War With Iran? Buy Alternative Energy Stocks.
September is starting out as the month of speculation about a massive three day air strike on Iran. Is Bush ready to attack Iran while our troops are still trying to stabilize both Afghanistan and Iraq? In February, administration officials were denying it. The preparations now going on could simply be the stick part of a negotiating strategy; the bad cop to Russia's good cop. But Bush's chances of successful cooperation with Putin could be better. What if? If Bush does launch a massive three day air strike on Iran, what will that mean for alternative energy stocks? I...
When Airlines Run Out of Fuel
Green Energy Investing For Experts, Part IV Tom Konrad, CFA Mass air travel is incompatible with a sustainable economy. Air travel is energy and capital intensive, creates a gigantic carbon footprint, and is likely to remain dependant on the high energy density of fossil fuels much longer than surface transport. As such, it is a prime candidate for the short side of a clean energy portfolio. I'm writing this post on a United Airlines (UAUA) flight from Baltimore to Denver in a seat that cost me $99, plus $15 to check a bag. One sign of the economic...
How Growing HEV Markets Will Impact Battery Manufacturing Revenues
John Petersen For the last three weeks I've been writing about why rising oil prices, tightened CO2 emission standards in Europe and accelerated CAFE standards in the U.S. will combine to foster rapid implementation of hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) technology in the automotive industry and result in huge revenue increases for all automotive battery manufacturers. These articles have generated record numbers of comments and questions from readers that want a clearer understanding of what the rapidly changing demand picture means for battery investors. While I generally try to avoid revenue forecasts because they require pricing assumptions...
Two High-Speed Rail Stocks For The Stimulus Packages
A couple of weeks ago, we received an inquiry from a reader asking us to look into potential beneficiaries of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)'s high-speed rail (HSR) provisions. This sounded like something our readers would want to read about so I decided to do it. In a nutshell, here are the two main component's of ARRA's HSR approach: $8 billion for for HSR corridors and other intercity passenger rail service (unclear at this point how much will go into each, although the companies discussed below can benefit from both) The rules around state issuance...
Clean Car Hype and the LA Auto Show
I’ve written a fair bit about cars in the last little while, but a couple of important automotive-related news hit the wire again today ahead of the LA Auto Show’s opening on Friday. Firstly, following Ford’s hybrid vehicle announcement, GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner announced today that his company was going ahead with plans to roll out a plug-in hybrid SUV based on its existing Saturn Vue hybrid model. A plug-in version of the Vue would be about 45% more fuel efficient than an equal-sized truck with similar characteristics. Like Ford (NYSE:F), General Motors (NYSE:GM) has been rapidly loosing...
List of Efficient Vehicle Stocks
Efficient vehicle stocks are publicly traded companies that produce technologies allow cars, trucks, aircraft and ships to travel the same distance and carry the same loads using less fuel. Includes electric and hybrid electric vehicles, as well as other improvements that reduce fuel use. Similar to Alternative Transportation stocks, which reduce overall fuel use by shifting passengers or freight to more efficient types of vehicles.
This list was last updated on 8/24/21.
AeroVironment, Inc. (AVAV)
Aptiv PLC (APTV)
BorgWarner (BWA)
Blink Charging Co. (BLNK)
BYD Company, Ltd. (BYDDY)
CDTI Advanced Materials, Inc. (CDTI)
CPS Technologies Corp. (CPSH)
Enova Systems, Inc. (ENVS)
EEStor Corporation (ZNNMF)
Elio Motors, Inc. (ELIO)
Evolve Funds Automobile...
Is There Any Hope For The Big Three?
Two related pieces of news yesterday, one that was the day's headline and the other that drew a little less attention. First, the big news: auto makers, especially US-based ones, got hammered by their product mixes. As expected, Americans are responding to a rise in gasoline prices by turning away from trucks and demanding cars, especially small ones. Of course, this spells nothing but hard times for the likes of Ford, GM and Chrysler, who are still hungover from a decade-long party fueled by high-margin pick-up trucks and SUVs. Economic incentives, whether state-imposed or market-driven, work after all....
Solid Hydrogen Storage Powers a Practical Hydrogen Hybrid Vehicle
Energy Conversion Devices Inc (ENER) and ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures LLC, is demonstrating the use of its metal-hydride hydrogen storage system in a modified hydrogen-electric variant of today's best-selling hybrid sedan. The modified hydrogen hybrid will be available for test drives at the South Coast Air Quality Management District's "Hydrogen - Fueling the Clean Air Future" conference today and tomorrow, August 16 and 17, at the J.W. Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert, Calif.
A Plug for Plugs
CO2 reduction and fuel savings are not the only reasons to own a Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV.) There is real value in the ability to plug in to the electric grid which is not captured by price projections. Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA There will be gas lines. Alternative energy saw its first flowering during the 1970's and 1980's, fueled by the OPEC oil embargo and late oil shocks which followed the peaking of domestic United States oil production. Demand exceeded supply, and domestic price controls meant that the market could not balance supply and demand; instead gas was...
UQM Technologies Receives Additional Order From Carnegie Mellon for Two UQM(R) Generators to Provide...
Unique Mobility Inc (UQM) announced today that it has received an order for two UQM® generators that will provide generated power for two additional "Spinner" hybrid electric unmanned ground combat vehicles being built by a team led by the National Robotics Engineering Consortium, a unit of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute. The UQM® generators will be integrated with a small diesel engine to generate the power required by the two additional unmanned ground combat vehicles (UGCV's) which are propelled by high torque wheel-mounted UQM® propulsion motors.
Energy Storage: Q3 2012 Winners and Losers
John Petersen I usually write a quarterly recap to summarize what happened in the energy storage and vehicle electrification sectors, but Q2 was a tough enough period that I don't see much sense in dwelling on the bloodletting. So instead of focusing on the past, I'll offer a quick summary table with lots of red ink and turn my attention to Q3, which is shaping up as a time of bright opportunity for some companies and profound risk for others. I expect three companies in my tracking group to perform very well in Q3 –...
The Race For Silicon Anodes
Graphite is the most widely used material for battery anodes. The anode is the positively charged electron collector in a battery. It collects and accelerates the electronics emitted by the battery’s cathode. Graphite gets the anode job because it is has excellent electric conductivity and resists heat and corrosion. Plus it is light weight, soft and malleable.
As satisfied as manufacturers might be with graphite anodes, none would balk at an alternative material that boosts battery performance or reduces cost. Scientists believe battery capacity can be increased as much as ten times by using silicon for anodes. It requires six atoms of carbon to bind one...
