Zeev: AC is converted to DC using an "inverter". Someone the Yahoo MKTY thread said that one the right size for the home fuel cell presently retails for $4000. If that person is right (I don't know what they go for) then it sure looks bleak for Plug Power. Inverters are already produced in reasonably large volumes, for example, for boats/yachts who want to run their microwave, etc., off of battery power, and many solar power to battery to appliance applications. So it isn't clear that, even at high production rates for home fuel cells, the price of the inverters will drop that much.
BTW, have you noticed how a standard element in many cockamamie development stage companies is the use of the semiconductor analogy, i.e., that costs will plummet as soon as they produce in volume? Yes, nearly all costs go down with volume, but most products don't have a cost/volume line remotely as steep as semiconductors. These home fuel cells, for example, besides the inverter, need wires, pumps for the natural gas, heat exchangers, and plain old sheet metal, all of which are already produced in volumes such that the little extra volume Plug Power can provide is not going to affect their price much. |
